THE CHALLENGE OF 2011 \\n >A small group of anti-progress activists are trying -- again -- to stop Cincinnati from developing a streetcar system serving downtown and Over-The-Rhine. They want a disastrous city charter amendment that would -- again -- go far beyond their stated intention. \\n >In 2009, city voters overwhelmingly rejected a similar effort by the same group. The anti-progress group ignored the will of the people and continued a campaign to spread blatant falsehoods and misunderstanding. \\n >Once again, it is up to Cincinnati voters to put a stop to a destructive assault on the city charter. \\n > __ \\n> WHAT THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT WOULD DO \\n >* It would bar anyone -- including private parties – from working on any form of rail-based transportation for 10 years. That arbitrary \\\"dead period\\\" would make it illegal for the city to take advantage of new technology and new circumstances, such as the future federal stimulus dollars. Under the language of this proposal, a generation would pass before Cincinnati could hope to see light rail or commuter rail, or even the return of the inclines. \\n >* It would cost hundreds of jobs in construction of the line itself, and more importantly, jobs created by homes and businesses that will fill the area along the streetcar route. \\n >* It would lead to confusion and lawsuits, further impeding the city's ability to grow. \\n >* It would undermine the city charter, Cincinnati's version of the Constitution, by usurping the lawful functions of elected officials. It could open the door to a flood of California-style actions used by special interests to bypass the legislative process. The results in California have been tax hikes, deficits and civic paralysis. \\n >Whether you care about the streetcar plan or not, this dangerous charter amendment must not pass.\",\n \"Summary: Get the Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC\\n\\nPost: I have a customer, a wedding photographer, who owns the Nikkor 17-55 2.8. His tripod blew over outside and he had to get it sent in for service. He pondered buying a spare Nikon, but I convinced him to try the Tamron out; he could always bring it back for the Nikon if he didn't find it up to snuff. \\n Here are his comments: \\n \\n Sharpness - The Tamron is, in real world conditions, every bit as good as the Nikon. \\n Color - The Nikon outperforms the Tamron marginally, but nothing that would survive a trip from either lens through Photoshop. \\n AF Speed - The Nikon focuses faster than the Tamron and is more quiet. \\n Build Quality - The Nikon has a better feel and looks \\\"more professional.\\\" That didn't help much when the tripod fell over. \\n \\n I asked him, once he had used it on a couple of gigs and the Nikon was back from service, \\\"If you had to do it all over again, what would you have done?\\\" \\n \\\"The Tamron is a third the cost. The Nikon is not 3 times better. I would buy the Tamron.\\\" He told me that he is glad he has the Nikon; it is a better lens. He didn't tell me that he'd rather have the better lens than a thousand dollars in his wallet. (That's a pair of SB-900's- now that can really impact your photos in a way that the slight differences in the lenses cannot.) \\n Last note- Get the VC version. The stabilization system that Tamron uses is really quite something. In our store I've used the stablization by both Nikon and Canon; the Tamron just \\\"locks\\\" onto the subject better. (Canon is my least favorite form of IS, if you ask me - too floaty.) It generally costs around $150 more than w/o the stabilization; rebates are available now too. \\n Edit:\",\n \"Summary: Texhnolyze, from a narrative construction point of view, ranks with the best fiction of any genre.\\n\\nPost: I personally love Texhnolyze, especially when we finally see aboveground. It hits so hard at the Nietzschen \\\"God is Dead\\\" theme of the show and pulls the viewer into sharp focus that the City is all there fucking is , and it doesn't matter how good or bad that it is. There is no escape from it except death. Just like life. There are other showier scenes from the series, but the radio really hits home. \\n It's great because it uses the ever-so-effective narrative device of \\\"Show, don't tell.\\\" Anime can get a little talky in its themes (GitS, I'm looking at you ), but Texhnolyze is the greatest anime for developing its theme without overly resorting to tropes, cliché, or having an author avatar, like so many others.\",\n \"Summary: Why chose between them? Get both with the NEX-7 and LA-EA2.\\n\\nPost: I bought the Sony NEX-7 because it has the best IQ of any mirrorless camera on the market and because it can use the LA-EA2 AF adapter, which uses the same translucent mirror found in Sony's A65 DSLR(T). That lets me use my Minolta/Sony mount lenses with full autofocus or just put on the Sigma 19mm 2.8 (a steal at $200) and go really light for street or social work. The resolution of the camera lets me crop like nothing else, turning the lens into a 19-76 for all intents and purposes if I'm printing at anything smaller than an 11x14. \\n The AF adapter made the deal for me. I have a choice of both the convenience and size of mirrorless cameras and the speed of AF of a DSLR. \\n Also, the 7 has the same OLED viewfinder found in the A65 and A77. There are pages worth of discussion over which is better, EVF or pentaprism, but the fact that we're having the discussion at all says wonders about how good these electronic viewfinders are. Personally, I love having all the data (including white balance preview) in my viewfinder.\",\n \"Summary: Minolta's engineers, now Sony's engineers, have always been doing cool new stuff with cameras.\\n\\nPost: Nah, this is the team that innovated non-stop for almost 60 years. Let's look at an abridged list of firsts: \\n Bayonet mount? Minolta. \\nAutofocus? Minolta. \\nWireless TTL flash? Minolta. \\nIn-body stabilization? Minolta. \\n Then they ran out of money for R&D, and sold that team to Sony, who made their sensors all along. Since then, they have had the first usable live view, the firstfull frame for under $2,000, the first useable autofocus during video, an excellent set of underrated primed for under $300 each, and the best sensors in the mirrorless business. \\n Say what you will about every other Sony division, a team of engineers that kept their imaging company afloat through constant innovation and revolution (Minolta) got to go work for a company that prizes R&D (Sony) and have been making strides in the camera business ever since, with the exception of anything with a CCD since the A300 generation. The Ax30/90 line is pretty shabby, but a good value for a camera with some features left out of Canikon's entry line, like wireless flash. \\n The current SLT line is simply the next step of a long history of innovation that the Minolta engineers have been making. Interestingly enough, they're being about as well received as autofocus SLR's were, if you can remember that debate. \\n If you look even at their work during the end of film, cameras like the Maxxum 5 had all of the headline features of the N80 plus wireless flash for substantially less money and their flagships were amongst the best ever made. Please, someone give me a Maxxum 7.\",\n \"Summary: Tamron - Sharp. Sigma - Fast. Nikkor 80-200 2.8 - Underrated, no hood. Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR II - Nothing wrong with this lens but price. Get a monopod.\\n\\nPost: Retail Guy Here. Here's how I boil this down for my customers, based on my experiences with these lenses. Also, you have 4 primary choices, if you include the Nikkor 80-200 2.8. \\n \\n Tamron 70-200 2.8 - $769 - Describing this lens in a single word: Sharp. It is almost as sharp as the Nikkor or Canon L 70-200's. This lens is perfect for anything that you don't require the fastest focusing for. It's faster to focus than your 28-75 2.8, but not by a whole lot. It is sharper than the 28-75 2.8. It doesn't have stabilization, but for the price difference between it and any other 70-200 with stabilization, you could buy several carbon fiber monopods, a studio kit, the SB-910, or a very nice call girl. What you do with your savings is up to you. In the final print, you will not be able to tell that this wasn't any other 70-200. The glass is great , the rest is budget. Also remember that stabilization shouldn't matter for sports. The 1/250 sec or greater will be fast enough to freeze motion or your hand movement. \\n \\n Sigma 70-200 2.8 OS - $1300 - This lens does everything the Tamron doesn't. It is fast to focus and stabilized. Unfortunately, it is the softest 70-200 commonly available. You just can't win them all. It works well for sports because it focuses very quickly. \\n \\n Nikkor 80-200 2.8 - $1225, - This lens is a slight improvement over several of the areas in which the Tamron is a little weak. They are optically very similar. The Nikkor is made out of metal, unlike the Tamron. It focuses a little faster, even though it doesn't have AF-S. It will not AF with cheap bodies, like D40's through D5100's. Your D90 will love this lens, though. Oddly, it doesn't come with the lens hood. Every other 70-200 does. It should cost about $46. I don't think this focuses as fast as the Sigma and the Nikkor doesn't have stabilization. It is significantly sharper, though. \\n \\n Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR II - $2399 - There is no reason outside of budget not to buy this lens. It is the sharpest (it does edge out the Tamron, but it's close). It is the fastest to focus (again, edging out the Sigma). It will work with every Nikon body (unlike the Nikkor 80-200). This lens is perfect . Every other lens will leave you wanting this lens at one point or another. The Tamron will leave you wanting the speed and stabilization (but not optical quality- the Tamron is quite nice in the glass). The Sigma will leave you wanting optical quality. The other Nikkor will leave you wanting speed and stabilization, but not as badly as the Tamron in this category. This lens is weather sealed, so if you get a D7000 or greater, you will be able to shoot sports in the rain without too much worry.\",\n \"Summary: The fan was framed by the gas.\\n\\nPost: Another source I read once claimed that it was sometimes from the under-floor gas heating in the homes. If the pilot light went out then one could die from the natural gas. In a room that has all of its windows and doors shut, there is no way for the gas to escape. This kills the victim.\",\n \"Summary: Does anyone have any non-photographic uses for photofinish, the minilab go-to cleaner?\\n\\nPost: Photographic Solutions' Photofinish is a cleaner that I've used in every lab to maintain the racks and clean them of gunk that built up. I'd use it on the exterior to remove stains. \\n The lab I'm working in is switching from a wet process (Fuji Frontier) to a dry, inkjet based printing. We're getting rid of all of the wet lab accoutrements; I snagged a jar of photofinish for personal use. \\n The thing is, I don't have any C-41 machines or other minilab equipments in my apartment. I have this odd idea that photofinish might work well on grout or hard water stains, but I'd like to know if anyone else has had any experience with \\\"at-home\\\" uses for the cleaner. I know it's abrasive, so I'd keep it away from glass or anything I don't want scratched up too bad.\",\n \"Summary: Does anyone have any non-photographic uses for photofinish, the minilab go-to cleaner?\\n\\nPost: Photographic Solutions' Photofinish is a cleaner that I've used in every lab to maintain the racks and clean them of gunk that built up. I'd use it on the exterior to remove stains. \\n The lab I'm working in is switching from a wet process (Fuji Frontier) to a dry, inkjet based printing. We're getting rid of all of the wet lab accoutrements; I snagged a jar of photofinish for personal use. \\n The thing is, I don't have any C-41 machines or other minilab equipments in my apartment. I have this odd idea that photofinish might work well on grout or hard water stains, but I'd like to know if anyone else has had any experience with \\\"at-home\\\" uses for the cleaner. I know it's abrasive, so I'd keep it away from glass or anything I don't want scratched up too bad.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":46,"string":"46"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":88,"string":"88"}}},{"rowIdx":89,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"borez"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the content for a reddit post The music industry just ain't doing it for me any more. What to do? \n Edit: Oh and I also got a tune that was blowing up rejected from radio 1 the other week because, get this, (verbatim, from a plugger I'd paid a fortune for): the vocal sounds a bit dated because it doesn't have that autotune stuff on it, can you fix this please?"},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"OK, so I've been a dance producer for 15 odd years now, I've had countless club hits, a few British top 40's, I run a label, worked with some of the worlds top DJ's blah blah blah, but lately I've completely lost it. I just can't be bothered with the whole thing, in fact I think it's all a bit childish so I just can't get motivated. FTR I'm also 9/10ths of the way through an album which I really can't be bothered to finish. \n I can't work it out, is it because I'm sick of the idiots in the music business, or that there's no money in sales any more, or the egos, or I'm sick of dealing with the narcissistic selfish children on my label, is it that the most successful music company in the world is now some poncy do-goody computer manufacturer ( Apple, iTunes) or is it that I'm just not feeling it any more? It's seriously doing my head in. \n Eg: I was at the Plasa live show in Earls Court London yesterday ( I'm also a festival FOH sound engineer which FTR I have no problem with, love the job ) and I saw this bunch of kids ( obviously some new band nobody's heard of yet ) getting out of a Limo, strutting their stuff like they're the absolute bollocks and I'm thinking: Great, you're playing a trade show full of people who really couldn't give a fuck who you are quite frankly, and then inside there's this group of DJ's demonstrating some new software controller, again standing there like they're gods gift to music with egos the size of a house but... you're just playing a couple of records, who gives a shit. \n Seriously though, is it possible to get myself out of this mind set, I can't seem to do it. I'm on the verge of never writing another piece of music again here. What is that about? Need something to help me realise that it hasn't just been one big waste of time. ] \n FTR: I'm not feeling sorry for myself either, far from it."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"OK, so I've been a dance producer for 15 odd years now, I've had countless club hits, a few British top 40's, I run a label, worked with some of the worlds top DJ's blah blah blah, but lately I've completely lost it. I just can't be bothered with the whole thing, in fact I think it's all a bit childish so I just can't get motivated. FTR I'm also 9/10ths of the way through an album which I really can't be bothered to finish. \n I can't work it out, is it because I'm sick of the idiots in the music business, or that there's no money in sales any more, or the egos, or I'm sick of dealing with the narcissistic selfish children on my label, is it that the most successful music company in the world is now some poncy do-goody computer manufacturer ( Apple, iTunes) or is it that I'm just not feeling it any more? It's seriously doing my head in. \n Eg: I was at the Plasa live show in Earls Court London yesterday ( I'm also a festival FOH sound engineer which FTR I have no problem with, love the job ) and I saw this bunch of kids ( obviously some new band nobody's heard of yet ) getting out of a Limo, strutting their stuff like they're the absolute bollocks and I'm thinking: Great, you're playing a trade show full of people who really couldn't give a fuck who you are quite frankly, and then inside there's this group of DJ's demonstrating some new software controller, again standing there like they're gods gift to music with egos the size of a house but... you're just playing a couple of records, who gives a shit. \n Seriously though, is it possible to get myself out of this mind set, I can't seem to do it. I'm on the verge of never writing another piece of music again here. What is that about? Need something to help me realise that it hasn't just been one big waste of time. ] \n FTR: I'm not feeling sorry for myself either, far from it."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Summary: I don't like the place.\n\nPost: Sorry, been out. \n I mean the preface is interesting but it's full of hard core whinging misogynists. In fact it's a misogynists circle jerk. \n I frontpaged it once for a week to see what it was about and got into so many arguments and downvote scraps that I got rid to be honest. \n You don't follow the party line there and you get outed by closed minded idiots. \n Personally I love women and I like being a gentleman and having shit unequal. \n Some of its members even followed me onto other subreddits and continued the downvoting and hate campaign. Which, to be honest, was uber fucking childish. \n One redditor even followed me to 2x and tried to out me there as a women hater. Bitchy hypocrisy... from a \"so called\" man. \n Never been back again. \n Each to their own and all that, but it wasn't a place I enjoyed personally. \n Now you can downvote me all you like but it won't change my opinion, however try and out me there and...","Summary: Falsely accusing someone of rape turns their lives into a living hell. \n And on a lighter note... ain't it a miserable day out there, it's pissing it down in London?\n\nPost: And so she should. Falsely accusing someone of rape completely ruins their lives. End of. \n Let me tell you a brief anecdotal story about a French DJ guy I used to know when I lived in Portobello road ( we'll call him Nick, obviously not his real name ) really nice guy, always happy, not a care in the World till one night he went home with some girl he knew after a gig, they got a bit too drunk, had sex and the next morning when her boyfriend turned up unannounced, not able to find any other excuse she cried rape. \n Now obviously the boyfriend went ballistic ( as he would ) and chased my mate out of their pad, but by then the seed had been sown, she was marched down to the police station on his insistence and basically confessed to something that had never happened in the first place. I'll also add that this girls boyfriends best friend ( a club promoter ) just happened to be Nicks flatmate at the time i.e. they all knew each other in the first place. \n Nicks life from then on in turned into a living hell, he was arrested, questioned, released on bail after giving up his passport and came home to find all of his stuff thrown into the street, records, clothes etc. He couldn't even argue his case because no one was prepared to listen. He effectively became homeless overnight and spent the next 8 months sleeping on mine and a few others couches in rotation. \n Now because the flatmate who turfed him out was a fairly successful promoter, the word got around the clubs that he was a \" rapists\" and all of his work dried up too. \n Hero to zero in a couple of weeks flat and he couldn't even go home to France. Obviously knowing Nick and knowing that this girl had been flirtatious with him on many occasion there was a group of us who knew that what he was being accused of was way off character and we believed it to be bullshit from the off, but the girls boyfriend was so convinced she was telling the truth it didn't matter, he was guilty. \n 8 months of pure hell for the guy, he couldn't even be seen anywhere around west London. I mean there's a lot more to this story including harassment, a pretty nasty beating and a small bit of press attention ( he was quite a well known DJ ) but I don't have all day to go into it really. Let's just say his life became a living hell and in some ways the people protecting him, myself included, got some of it directed our way too. Put it this way, protecting an accused rapist is not a good look and it was even starting to affect my own relationship at one point. \n Anyway cut to, a couple of days before Nicks first court date, the girl buckled under pressure and the truth came out, she was too drunk and she'd led him on, but by then the damage was done. The girl got away with just a slap on the wrist for wasting police time, he went back to France a completely broken man, his reputation in London shattered beyond repair. \n Now I'm not saying that every case is like Nicks, rape happens, for sure. But for those accused falsely it's a major fucking deal, as I said before it tears their lives apart. No doubt.","Summary: Get a referral, see a specialist.\n\nPost: Honestly, you need to see a specialist. Get a referral immediately. GP's are fucking clueless when it comes to major skin complaints. They'll palm you off with heavy steroid creams ( Betnovate, Dermovate etc. ) that thin the skin and make it worse; if it gets infected, you're in a world of shit bud. \n It basically took me 3 months to see a skin specialist ( from referral to appointment ) when I had seriously bad eczema a few years ago - like my legs weeping because it became infected bad. I came back to the UK on a tour bus from Snowbombing in Austria and it was the most uncomfortable 15 hour experience I've ever had in my life, I was literally clawing my skin off. \n I really had to push my GP to get a referral, but once I saw the specialist it was cured in three weeks. \n FTR: He took one look at my skin and prescribed a specialized dose of Arithromicin ( antibiotic for the infection ) Fucibet cream, Dermol to wash with and Eumovate cream ( a non heavy steroid ) \n Also: I will add that I sopped drinking 9 months ago and I haven't had one sign of eczema since; for the first time in 15 years.","Summary: yes it's completely normal.\n\nPost: Yes. I had an auntie who died and I was completely emotionless about her death, which always bothers me as I had a great respect for her and still do. \n However when my parents died ( over ten years ago ) I was torn apart, and I still am to some degree.","Summary: this idea IMO sucks. \n Edit: Also the price point. Ha!\n\nPost: That would be great as a DAW controller but for FOH though, Nah, I'm not feeling it at all. \n Live is not like mixing in a DAW where you've got the time to fuck around with a mouse, Live you want stuff instantly at your fingertips. These kind of systems are moving away from that and I'm sorry, but I'm really not into that at all as a mixing philosophy and workflow solution. \n Sure you can probably bring the EQ etc down onto those rotary encoders and it'll tell you the parameters in the little windows. But seriously, the most I'm happy with is having say the whole eq section in a dedicated space on the board so it's hands on. It pisses me off even having to bump a pot to get to the Q value on an SC48. \n If I came into a venue and saw one of these then sure I'm familiar with the Venue software layout, doesn't mean I want to mix a damn gig navigating around it with a mouse or flipping through layer after layer trying to find simple parameters like a send and then its return, a frequency that's feeding back, or an overworked compressor mid gig. \n Imagine trying to do monitors FOH that way? Awful. \n In fact, it's just a crap idea. \n Call me oldschool, but this technology is going completely the wrong way in meeting my needs as a FOH engineer. \n What Avid really need to be concentrating on is something similar to the Soundcraft SI compact surface that can control Venue software and not an Artist series DAW controller for live work. \n It seems like their R&D department hasn't even bothered consulting with working FOH engineers on this; that's the only logical conclusion I can reach here.","Summary: The Croatians don't really like us.\n\nPost: Horror stories, plenty, they're usually after the gig in the VIP area though due to drunk artists. \n One particularly memorable bad gig was a couple of years ago in Croatia with the Dub Pistols ( a very rock-n-roll band to say the least ) 2500 people in a disused hanger. We had soundchecked the day before so I thought it was going to be a cakewalk, I'd already had a run in with the support bands engineer ( we were headlining ) because he wasn't happy about not having full use of the desk and all the effects, tough mate, you're the support band, deal with it. \n Turns out though that this band were super famous in Croatia and had reformed just for this gig after a ten year break, still though to me they were just the support band. \n So the next day is gig day and we're all backstage, the band are getting drunk as per usual, but not so drunk they can't perform, the Croatian band are due off in the next twenty minutes after an hour time slot so the band are all hyped to go on stage, it's 1am, I'm about to go up to the console, it's all set-up from the day before ( I've already checked a couple of hours ago ) But...the Croatian band do one last song, then another, then another, then another, in fact another hour and a half's worth of songs. By this time the Dub Pistols are tired, drunk and in a foul mood, Barry ( the lead singer ) is going fucking ballistic at the Stage manager who is basically trying to get this band off stage and they aren't having any of it. Then, to make matters worse, the Croatian bands lead singer starts to slag off the Dub Pistols to the crowd, I have no idea what he was saying, I don't speak Croatian but by the time the extremely drunk Dub Pistols got on stage at 3am the crowd were booing them, not a good look. \n Anyway, back in time 20mins, the Croatian band have left the stage so I go FOH for the 10min change over, but... this bands engineer has basically reset the whole fucking desk and ripped off all of my channel strip tape and side notes in a 'fuck you' kind of way. Wanker. I'm just like WTF! He was still doing it as I walked up to the desk and, to be honest, I was in a foul mood myself and very tired so I grabbed him by the neck and literally threw him out of the way. I can't stand that level of ego, there's absolutely no need for it. No time to be fucking around here... at all. I had to visualise what channels were what and bring the silent mix up on the board from memory, no mean feat at the best of times. The band get on stage and the lead singers mic is working, all good, I can work it back from there. \n So band on Stage, mix up, crowd booing, second song in and Barry loses it, he gets on the mic complete pollatic drunk and says in front of 2500 booing Croatian's : \"Well at least I don't go around killing all my fucking neighbours, you fucking cunts!\" and then proceeds to fall off the stage taking with him the full front row of the monitors. Oh dear. Then, as he getting back on stage he grabs the winch handle of the line array system to help him up and knocks it off its ratchet, the whole lot comes tumbling down inches from where he's standing. The monitor guy ( and rig owner ) comes pelting over the stage towards Barry and a huge fight breaks out. Well that's it, gig over really, no monitors, half a rig, fights are breaking out everywhere, I just walk away and go backstage in the midst of complete fucking chaos. \n Crotia though, being Croatia, the security team are actually the Army ( or secret Police, they all look the same to me ) complete with Sub machine guns etc. So they step in to halt the fighting, Barry is screaming at this 6ft 5 giant of a man who's holding a machine gun pointed at him and that's that, we're all marched off, put on the bus, escorted to the airport and put back on the first flight to London with Barry still screaming at the Army types. \n So yeah, kicked out of Croatia, without being paid, don't think we'll be going back there again any time soon. \n Edit: I have to go out now, excuse any grammar/typos I'll fix them Later.","Summary: So what my point here? Well yeah, in this country it's too difficult to get help if you're an alcoholic, you basically have to be right on the edge and sometimes once people get to that stage it's just too late, you can't come back. \n And also, I start my own training as a drug and alcohol mentor and counsellor in December, I intend to put my knowledge of this back into the system and try and change it as much as I can, because it's not right that we have such a massive culture of heavy drinking which leads people into all sorts of trouble yet it's so difficult trying to find help once you're there. \n FTR: I don't believe in minimum pricing or any of that other bullshit either, but I do believe that alcoholic drinks manufacturers should be made to return a minimal share of their profits back into centres like WDP\n\nPost: Long comment here but... \n I happen to agree with a lot of his points. I'm an ex dependant alcoholic and trying to get help in the UK is very difficult. I'd been drinking for years and it was coming to a head a few years ago, I was drinking a lot and knew I had an issue ( anyway, it's a long story ) but I eventually got help through WDP ( Westminster Drug and alcohol project ) but in order to get help I really had to prove I was an alcoholic and attend session after session to even get through the door. I reckon even with WDP's help it would have taken me at least another year to get anywhere near rehab. \n Put it this way, I was drinking dusk till dawn 3 to 4 bottles of wine a day with a bottle of rum chaser, I was a real fucking out of control mess. Proper dependant alcoholic. \n But... I got lucky ( if you can even call it lucky ) my girl took me to A&E as I was getting chest pains and having major panic attacks so they ran an ECG and decided I wasn't having a heart attack. They were about to send me home when the doctor who ran the A&E happened to walk past the booth I was in and asked me what the issue was. My girl told him I was an out of control alcoholic and all the issues I was having and he, on the spot, decided to keep me in and detox me on librium over the course of a week or two. \n FTR this never happens on the NHS, I was very lucky. \n Anyway, the first 48hours they stuck me in this terminal cancer ward as it was the only bed they could find, it was fucking scary in that room so I had a walk around. People hours from death ( two people died the first night I was there ) surrounded by their grieving immediate family and I had ( I dunno what you'd call it ) an epiphany. I realised that I could still turn this around, I wasn't like these people, I had a choice. Like that film says I guess: Live or die. \n So I did it. With the help of a Librium detox, on a drip, having my blood pressure and heart rate constantly monitored ( it was through the roof, Stage 2 Hypertensive ) I stopped drinking and I haven't drank since. \n As I said though, I was very lucky to get that kind of treatment on the NHS and in most cases that's all it takes, a week or two being monitored, away from booze and you break the cycle. \n Also because I'd been detoxed I was moved up the ladder with WDP from someone still an alcoholic or drug addict to someone who's stopped. That's when you get the proper care, completely different building, completely different world, a sea of calm because they now see you as someone taking your shit seriously.","Summary: Clamping the clamper's.\n\nPost: Good for him. \n Another anecdotal story, but when I lived in Richmond ( Surrey ) my landlady got clamped over unpaid parking fees on her own driveway, the guys parked behind her car to stop her reversing out as they applied said clamp. \n Anyway the guy who lived in the flat below me ( Dave, an ex marine ) saw this happening, rushed out to his van and grabbed his own wheel clamp ( he was an electrician with a lot of expensive gear in his van ) and in-turn clamped the clamper's van for parking illegal on my landladies driveway. \n Hilarity ensued and a big stand-off erupted on the driveway between my landlady ( a sixty year old woman who took no shit from anyone ) and the clamper's with no one budging an inch. Dave and I sat on the front steps all afternoon drinking cups of tea and taking the piss out of the clamper's. \n Cut to a council official arrived with the Police who refused to do anything as it was a civil matter ( or something, can't remember their terminology to be honest. ) and the stand-off continued now pulling quite a crowd of onlookers. It was only resolved hours later when a journalist turned up from the local press. The council, of course, then removed the clamp in record time and Dave let them out to cheers from the crowd. \n Stand-off over, the landladies car was locked firmly in her garage from then on in. Two weeks later however the council got their revenge by pulling down her street facing 10ft brick garden wall after deeming it unsafe to pedestrians passing by. There were tree roots growing through it so yeah, it was kinda unsafe. But still... fuckers. \n Still though as she said it was worth every penny to see these clamper's given a shot of their own medicine and squirming all afternoon. \n And on that note, I'm going for a pint.","Summary: Nah, it's great getting older.\n\nPost: I've noticed a recent trend on reddit where it seems that adult life... sucks. \n I wouldn't say that at all, I've just turned 40 and I love it. I'm a festival sound engineer and ( after 15 years and thousand of hours of experience of doing it ) I'm fucking good at it, to the point where I can walk onto any festival site or large scale venue in the world with any size rig and any mixing desk (digital or analogue) and just do the job required, sorry if that comes across as a little arrogant, but it's true. \n I run a small record label, still produce music, I have a new GF ( of 8 Months ) a British Journalist and, because we've both been in disastrous relationships before, we know what to expect and just get on with it without all the crap you get when you're younger and also the sex is fantastic. She has her own money, I have my own money and that makes a huge difference. \n Sometime I worry about my health, I mean after 20 years in the music business I've definitely burnt the candle at both ends, I ran a London West End Nightclub for 8 years and that means a lot of drinking and socialising. So I could probably say that's left me somewhat of an ( in control ) alcoholic, I do like a drink + I've also had cocaine problems in the past and that kinda bothers me as to how much damage that did, but fuck it, it is what it is. \n I will also say that you really stop giving a shit about stupid things as you get older like, for example, material wealth and stupid vanity issues. That Ferrari/yaught/mansion you once coveted becomes meaningless. You also gain a wealth of knowledge along the way, I kinda pride myself on knowing lots of shit about shit ( for want of a phrase ) \n I mean I sometimes look back ( ha, look back... I ain't dead yet ) and think I could have done things differently, but hey, it is what it is. The only thing I really get bitter about is politics, I hate politicians, they just get in the way. \n I will point out though that I don't have children, and I think not having children makes a big difference, a lot of my mates seem burnt out by this. You basically have to trade your life for theirs and that kinda makes you bitter and resentful I guess. \n But in general, I'm good.","Summary: Tosser of a promoter oversold the venue to the point where people nearly died.\n\nPost: I hate promoters like this. In the venue I used to run we had this Asian guy come down wanting to book the venue for New Years eve for an R&B gig with some great artists and well known international Dj's, he had all the patter and looked the part ie. flashy car, flashy suit, you know the type. \n Anyway it comes to New Years and the guy turns up early to set up the venue then disappears and says he'll be back later. FTR the night has all been sold on tickets, no walk up. \n There's some big acts turning up so I set up the stage with a few radio mics and monitors. In my experience R&B acts never sound check, it's always a few mics and playback and they just turn up, do the gig and then fuck off. Not a problem. \n The first sign of trouble I see is when some guy and his mates are in the queue ranting on about why he's queuing when he has VIP access to the champagne bar he's paid £50 extra for, but... there is no champagne bar? \n He hands me his ticket and flyer: Holy shit, there is all sorts on this flyer ( that I've never seen until now ) that doesn't exist in the club; champagne bar, exotic dancers, three separate rooms ( we had three rooms, but only opened one this night ) VIP area, cocktail bar, lazer show, underfloor lighting, fireworks, 100K soundsystem etc. etc. etc. all sorts of shit non of which exists. To top it all off, on the flyer is not a picture of our venue, but one in fucking Ibiza that I only recognise because I've worked there before. \n Holy fucking shit. \n And then the punters turn up, around 5000 of them. Now bear in mind that with only one room open this place holds around 1500 tops and you can start to imagine the absolute chaos that unfolded that night. Some of these punters have paid around £120 and they can't get in, in fact 3000 of them can't get in and it's already 12.30am and more are turning up by the minute, in fact enough to shut down a whole section of London to traffic. \n The promoter had basically sold the venue easily 4 or 5 times over ( maybe a lot more, I've never worked it out ) and fucked off with all of the ticket money. \n We had a situation where there were so many people trying to get in ( and we've shut the doors as we were already way over capacity ) that people started turning blue as they were being squashed against the main glass doors and we knew that if we opened the doors there would be such a stampeded that people were going to start dying. \n I'm on the other side of the safety glass entrance with a team of 20 security basically watching people start to die right in front of me and there's not a fucking thing we can do about it. Horrid situation. \n You never want to see anyone holding onto their last breath like that as the air is slowly pushed out of their lungs , it's fucking awful, I can still picture it now. \n Luckily the London riot police turned up ( we called them as soon as it started to get out of control ) saw what was going on and managed to clear the street in front of the venue in a few minutes, but we still ended up with about 20 people taken to hospital including one pregnant girl who had a miscarriage right in front of us, blood everywhere ( god knows why she was out whilst that heavily pregnant ) and some guy who'd got stabbed in the queue. \n But, to be honest, we got off lightly. It could have been a major London incident. \n The promoter was never to be seen again - he just vanished from the face of the earth - but I reckon he walked off with around £400,000+ that night. Hope the bad karma eventually catches up with him. \n Oh and FTR non of the DJ's or acts advertised turned up either, they basically hadn't been booked. \n We kicked everyone out at around 1.30, shut the doors and sat there in silence trying to work out what the fuck had just happened. I can still remember the barmaids crying. Horrid. \n What a fucking moron. \n I'd like to get my hands on that prick for sure.","Summary: Ticketmaster are a bunch of cunts. \n Edit: Oh and while I remember, Live Nation also have an exclusive deal with Carling Lager ( so shit it actually sobers you up ) so if you're looking for the reason as to why UK festivals only ever serve shit beer nowadays, this is it.\n\nPost: Pro tip ( from a touring Live sound engineer ) don't give the O2 arena any money, the acoustics in there are some of the worst on the live circuit by far. Horrid place to see a band. \n Also as far as large live shows are going, Ticketmaster just merged with Live Nation ( who were once know by the name 'Clear Channel' a live US entertainment company with a notorious track record ) to become Live Nation Entertainment. Both companies have/had a reputation in the US of monopolising both Artists and venues to push ticket prices through the roof giving you no alternative but to buy from them. And now that they are one company, you can expect these prices to go higher. \n There is even an [anti-merger hate website]( on the subject. \n In the UK they formed 'Live Nation UK' to get around the competition laws, who bought up the Mean fiddler group ( the last bastion of independent live show promotion ) and now own Hard Rock Calling, Wireless festival, Download Festival ( part of ) Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds Festivals, everything that happens in Hyde Park, every mid to large sized London venue and most of the large main venues up and down this country. \n Now to really get your head around how this company operates, when I used to run the Quad Live venue for LSE ( London School of Economics, capacity 1500 in the main room ) we booked several large acts to play the venue over the course of one summer, promoted the events, sold the tickets, spent a fortune, but the acts mysteriously started to pull out at the last minute. Not one for lying down down and taking bullshit I phoned one of the guitarists I personally know from one of the bands ( not mentioning any names ) to find out what the fuck was going on, only to be told that they had been pulled to one side side by a representative of ( at the time ) Clear Channel and told in not so many words that: Play that gig and you don't get to play another show in London again. Period. \n So, fearing their careers as live bands, they all pulled out. \n We lost a fortune. \n WTF! \n We did try and work with Clear Channel for a while, but found their methods to be completely \"Hands in the till\" We promote the gig, we get the artists, we take all the money, you get a percentage of the bar take. It was like, hold the fuck on a minute here, we own the fucking venue, not you? So they moved on... and left us with a huge central London venue, smack bang in the middle of Holborn where nobody would ( or could ) play. \n So that in a nutshell is who Ticketmaster are, i.e. US corporate bullshit with their predatory business tactics and methods invading our country and monopolising our live music scene and culture. \n As the Americans are so found of saying: Go fucking figure.","Summary: Line checked a band on a digital desk I've never used doing monitors from FOH in about 5mins flat. Thank gawd for adrenalin.\n\nPost: So, I've just come off the back of a 5 day tour with a pretty grueling schedule (read: bed at 11pm, up at 3am, sleep anywhere in between kind of thing ) \n One date in Prague, back to the UK for another 4 dates ( two on one day, driving at least 4-6hours between gigs ) \n Last day and we get through the first festival gig. 3.15am stage end time and then a 5 1/2 hour drive to the last gig which starts at 9.30 with a line check at 9 so therefore 30mins to get everything sorted and I'm thinking: Thank fuck for that, 8 hours in the hotel and then I'm on my way back to London, should be an easy gig. All good. \n We make the gig by the skin of our teeth after a 80-100mph journey down the A1M. \n Get there and it's a kinda medium corporate festival gig; 600-800 crowd, 20k rig, Midas Pro 6 desk ( which I haven't really used before but no biggie, I can learn it in 1/2 an hour and it should have a generic patch from the last band. ) I do a recce and I'm like, OK where the fuck is the monitor desk? So off I trot to find the in-house guy to ask about monitors. OK, no monitor desk, monitors FOH, again doable, but we're the only band on and the guy hasn't done a fucking patch. \n The pressure's on. \n I get a quick crash course on the Pro6 from the in-house. \n There's a DJ playing so I basically knock up a quick FOH patch for the band and we can sort the monitors out in the 30mins line check. \n But no, that would be way too fucking easy. \n The muppet stage manager has decided to run one 10 min acoustic set and another 10 min girl singer with a couple of her mates dancing to a backing track in our allotted changeover time. \n We have a band meeting. The leader is going nuts about the stage manager and the changeover time and we're seriously going to have to wing this. \n So I have to line check, get the monitors running, get the FOH up, get the Eq's and gates and compression and effects running on a desk I've never used before in 5mins. And to top it all off, this band rely heavily on a laptop backing track to vibe off i.e. the monitors have to be loud which we also send a click and backing to the drummer through several DI boxes via splits but... the PA company don't have DI's with thru's on them. \n Fuck! \n OK then, we rig 4 DI's instead of two and re-route the audio card outs. \n In the meantime I'm wasting time on-stage when I'm supposed to be getting the mix up FOH. \n If I pull this off it's going to be a fucking miracle. \n Then...the clueless stage manger ( no idea where they got him from, but he'd obviously never been near a stage in his life ) starts screaming that the band must start. \n And I ain't anywhere near the FOH yet. \n Double fuck! \n Anyway it was all hands to the pumps (and then some ) but by the middle of the first song I manage to get everything up and running and it's sounding pretty good. Minor heart attack over. \n Ok, the band play their 1 hour set and it goes down a storm. 10 minutes after the band leave the stage, lights on, Pro6 struck, everyone can go home. Job done. \n Oh no, I get backstage and this tit of a stage manager wants the band to go back on and do another couple of numbers. But... the Pro 6 has been struck, reset, nulled, there's nothing on the fucking board, it's like, blank. It's even powered down, so is the PA. \n I explain that it basically can't be done but this guy is having non of it and is now screaming at the band to get back on. \n I will point out at this point that this is a big corporate company and the band don't want to piss off the promoter so they have no choice. \n So they do, and I get back FOH and start all over again. \n Honestly, I could have killed this guy, what a stupid twat. \n The upshot of all this is that I was chatting to the corporate promoter at the end of the gig and he's asking me was the PA and desk OK, how were the team, how can we improve this event? \n My immediate response: Do yourself a favour mate, sack the stage manger, he's absolutely fucking cluless. \n But I guess I now know the Pro 6 pretty well, it won't be an issue next time. Lovely desk too FTR. \n So yeah, under pressure... big time.","Summary: Line checked a band on a desk I've never used doing monitors from FOH in about 5mins flat. Thank gawd for adrenalin.\n\nPost: So, I've just come off the back of a 5 day tour with a pretty grueling schedule (read: bed at 11pm, up at 3am, sleep anywhere in between kind of thing ) \n One date in Prague, back to the UK for another 4 dates ( two on one day, driving at least 4-6hours between gigs ) \n Last day and we get through the first festival gig. 3.15am stage end time and then a 5 1/2 hour drive to the last gig which starts at 9.30 with a line check at 9 so therefore 30mins to get everything sorted and I'm thinking: Thank fuck for that, 8 hours in the hotel and then I'm on my way back to London, should be an easy gig. All good. \n We make the gig by the skin of our teeth after a 80-100mph journey down the A1M. \n Get there and it's a kinda medium corporate festival gig; 600-800 crowd, 20k rig, Midas Pro 6 desk ( which I haven't really used before but no biggie, I can learn it in 1/2 an hour and it should have a generic patch from the last band. ) I do a recce and I'm like, OK where the fuck is the monitor desk? So off I trot to find the in-house guy to ask about monitors. OK, no monitor desk, monitors FOH, again doable, but we're the only band on and the guy hasn't done a fucking patch. \n The pressure's on. \n I get a quick crash course on the Pro6 from the in-house. \n There's a DJ playing so I basically knock up a quick FOH patch for the band and we can sort the monitors out in the 30mins line check. \n But no, that would be way too fucking easy. \n The muppet stage manager has decided to run one 10 min acoustic set and another 10 min girl singer with a couple of her mates dancing to a backing track in our allotted changeover time. \n We have a band meeting. The leader is going nuts about the stage manager and the changeover time and we're seriously going to have to wing this. \n So I have to line check, get the monitors running, get the FOH up, get the Eq's and gates and compression and effects running on a desk I've never used before in 5mins. And to top it all off, this band rely heavily on a laptop backing track to vibe off i.e. the monitors have to be loud which we also send a click and backing to the drummer through several DI boxes via splits but... the PA company don't have DI's with thru's on them. \n Fuck! \n OK then, we rig 4 DI's instead of two and re-route the audio card outs. \n In the meantime I'm wasting time on-stage when I'm supposed to be getting the mix up FOH. \n If I pull this off it's going to be a fucking miracle. \n Then...the clueless stage manger ( no idea where they got him from, but he'd obviously never been near a stage in his life ) starts screaming that the band must start. \n And I ain't anywhere near the FOH yet. \n Double fuck! \n Anyway it was all hands to the pumps (and then some ) but by the middle of the first song I manage to get everything up and running and it's sounding pretty good. Minor heart attack over. \n Ok, the band play their 1 hour set and it goes down a storm. 10 minutes after the band leave the stage, lights on, Pro6 struck, everyone can go home. Job done. \n Oh no, I get backstage and this tit of a stage manager wants the band to go back on and do another couple of numbers. But... the Pro 6 has been struck, reset, nulled, there's nothing on the fucking board, it's like, blank. It's even powered down, so is the PA. \n I explain that it basically can't be done but this guy is having non of it and is now screaming at the band to get back on. \n I will point out at this point that this is a big corporate company and the band don't want to piss off the promoter so they have no choice. \n So they do, and I get back FOH and start all over again. \n Honestly, I could have killed this guy, what a stupid twat. \n The upshot of all this is that I was chatting to the corporate promoter at the end of the gig and he's asking me was the PA and desk OK, how were the team, how can we improve this event? \n My immediate response: Do yourself a favour mate, sack the stage manger, he's absolutely fucking cluless. \n But I guess I now know the Pro 6 pretty well, it won't be an issue next time. \n So yeah, under pressure... big time.","Summary: I'm pretty sure both my girl and I were blatantly refused NHS treatment for a pretty serious eye issue because of budgeting cuts.\n\nPost: OK so I developed a viral eye infection a month ago and ended up in a hideous state. I couldn't see, constantly bumping into things, nightmare itchiness and I looked like I'd been beaten in. My regular doctor missed it was viral, gave me antibiotics and anti bacterial eye drops which made the whole thing worse. So I decided to go to the eye hospital in Marylebone ( London ) \n Cut to four hours later I'm seen by this doctor who tells me there's nothing that can be done as it's viral, I'm just going to have to ride it out and prescribed me no treatment. Not really happy about this I just think \" OK, doctor knows best\" \n It got worse and worse to the point where I couldn't see at all so I thought \" fuck this\" and went to another eye hospital in Kingston ( Surrey ) for a second opinion. \n Another four or so hours and I walk out armed with a bunch of eye cremes and different eye drops, one week on and I'm a lot better. Non treatable... bullshit. FTR the doctor was pretty disgusted that I was given nothing by the other eye hospital. She said it was dangerous to leave it untreated, this is my sight for fucks sake. \n In the interim my GF develops the same thing ( obviously from sharing towels or something ) so she goes to Marylebone hospital too, waits four hours and is told the same thing by a different doctor, it's untreatable. Knowing my story however my GF kicks off with the doctor saying that what she's been told is basically bullshit, she produces the list of meds I'm on, again though the doctor stubbornly won't budge and she comes out with nothing. I mean WTF? \n So...we've been away on a press trip for four days ( very nice, all five star hotels, all free and we were looked after like kings, but I digress...that's another story ) my GF spent the whole time in agony and she's in bed today, both her eyes are in one hell of a mess, completely closed up and I'm having to look after her because she's basically blind at present so ( again ) I'm taking her to Kingston hospital instead tomorrow... to actually get some fucking treatment. \n So what's my point here? Well the only reason I can think of is that Marylebone hospital is suffering from cuts and Kingston hospital isn't. I mean prescribed eye treatment can't be cheap can it? I can't think of another reason why we'd both be refused treatment at the same place. \n And... if this is the case how many other people are being misdiagnosed and refused treatment on this basis? Because if they are, then this is disgusting. \n WTF is going on?","Summary: Turns out this manager had completely blagged and bullshitted his shitty band past security, into the venue, past the duty manager, past me and onto that stage. \n And we still have no idea who they were. \n I'll get my coat.\n\nPost: Had a great show the other night, band were fantastic, venue was packed, place turns into a club for a few hours as an aftershow party. \n I've pulled the XLR's and stage boxes, broken down most of the stage, put away the mics, unplugged and put away the monitors, flattened and loaded the DJ only profile into the desk. Basically everything I can do until the club night is finished when the band pack their own kit away and I can start coiling cables. \n My job is basically done for the moment. I'm on the home straight and as there's not much to do the others 2 guys and the lampie have left and I've volunteered for the late shift as it pays quite a bit more. \n It's 12 midnight. \n I'm in the backline cupboard backstage doing my thing and this guy walks in and says: OK, we need three vocal mics, 6 monitors and here's the input list for the two percussionist and keyboards. There's like 10 mics per percussionist and it's a 24 input stage list. \n I just stare at him. You need what? \n He repeats himself. We're supporting our DJ. \n Now, I have absolutely no knowledge of this either from the manager or in the email thread about the night. \n I was like: Err sorry mate, I'm done here, there's no one else going on. The stage has been broken down, the desk has been flattened and to be honest, I have no idea who you are? \n This guy kicks off ( he's basically this acts manager ) saying he's been booked to play and \"this is a fucking joke isn't it, you're taking the piss. You're going to have to set the stage up again, we're going on, do your fucking job! \" Rude prick basically. \n The venue duty manager turns up and he knows nothing about this either. The promoter by this point has left too. The bands manager is going crazy saying we're \"taking the fucking piss here!\" He keeps dropping the main managers name and how he's going to sue as they've travelled miles to the gig and it's their album launch and, and, etc. etc. etc. \n Typical manager flying off the handle in a tiz bullshit. \n Big standoff, the main manager is not answering his phone, neither is the promoter. \n So basically I have to go back out, set the stage and monitors up again and knock up a basic mix to get this crap up and running and I'm having to do this by myself, in the dark, through a mess of uncoiled XLR's, stage boxes, beer bottles, towels, wet floor and the main acts kit. \n As you do. \n All the while the club is in full swing with 400 people enjoying the DJ and after party. \n I get back to FOH and the whole time this manager is hovering over the desk being an utter dick about what the band needs and how I \"obviously don't understand their music!\" ( well apart from the fact I haven't even heard anything yet.. ) He just won't leave me alone to actually do my job here. \n OK, we take the main DJ off ( to his protests ) and this act go on and they're fucking terrible; terrible singers, terrible percussion, terrible keys and their own terrible DJ. The manager is still hovering over the desk: you need reverb here, this bit needs delay, can you make the vocals warmer, she's too quiet, have you done this job before etc. etc. etc. \n Just being an absolute dick. \n As you can imagine I'm trying to pull up a mix as I go along. Not easy with a flattened desk and no sound check at the best of times, even without the hassle. \n And I'm having to do FOH and lighting at the same time so he's on me over that too: light this bit, more on the singer, you've never done lights either have you? \n What am I, a fucking octopus? \n My head is pretty much done in here, this act are trash. I mean, it clears the dancefloor and people start leaving trash. I'm really trying not to lose it with this arrogant dickhead too. \n Night over and the extra shit has cost me at least another hour by the time I get the venue cleared. Not a problem, I'll invoice extra for it. \n I get home at 5am, knackered. Basically a fantastic night that turned into a shit night so I'm pretty pissed off. \n Anyway, next morning I ring the venue manager: Mate I don't mind doing stuff like that, but can you at least give me a heads up if there's another act coming in so I don't prematurely break down the stage and flatten the desk, that was a nightmare last night having to re-do everything for this other act and their manager was an utter dick about it. \n What other act!? He says.","Summary: My Glastonbury is fucked because of typical music industry bullshit.\n\nPost: So, at the start of the year I had two gigs at Glastonbury, one on the Fri and one on the Sunday, pretty big gigs, two main stages. \n Now I have no gigs... and it's basically my own fault for relying on other people. I'm a festival sound engineer. \n It kinda goes like this: First band has a gate pass for me, so does the second but first band realises this and says to me ( six months ago ) would you mind ( considering you have two passes ) if we give your gate pass to our mate and you get sent your other gate pass from the other band to get you on site. \n No problem I said. \n Big fucking mistake. \n FTR A gate pass will get you on site at Glastonbury, all the other passes you get once inside for the various stages, but a gate pass is the one that gets you passed ( the pretty hardcore ) perimeter security. \n Glastonbury gate passes for bands are like gold dust, only bands and their crew get them. \n Anyway I rang up band 2's agent a few weeks ago to ask where my pass was, it hasn't arrived yet. They then inform me that band 2's lead singer had fired them four weeks ago so you'll: \"Have to speak to said person yourself, they have the passes.\" Thanks for the heads up, thanks a fucking bunch...morons. \n OK, minor panic, not a problem. So I rang said person in band 2 to make sure they post me the gate pass, after a long and drawn out rant from lead singer I get to the bottom of it, he's already given my gate pass to a mate and said mate is already on site. \n Holy Shit... WTF? \n I go back to band 1: \"Mate, you're going to have to get that gate pass back from your mate, band 2 has fucked it right up, I don't have one?\" \n Band 1: Aww shit... that guys gone down early, he's already on site. \n So basically I have no way to get in and absolutely no way of getting in either ( Glastonbury are tight as fuck with passes and anyway explaining this would make me look like I'm trying to blag an extra pass i.e. not going to happen ) so I've had to cancel both gigs and find engineers ( who are mates of mine and already have gate passes. ) to do my job and ( also ) claim my wages, which is fair enough. \n To say I'm a little pissed is an understatement, but it's basically my own fault, I said yes to giving away a Glastonbury gate pass to someone I don't even fucking know... as a favour. \n The moral of this story: two bands at one festival... don't fuck yourself up and give any of your passes to any of their mates. Ever. No matter what the circumstances are.","Summary: We're running out of oil pretty damn fast.\n\nPost: OK, so I sat down and actually worked this out from figures available from the CIA factbook and various other sources. (Just a simple exercise that took an hour or so for my own interests. ) \n After totting it per country it becomes apparent the World is using approx 31 billion barrels of oil per year ( 85m/day x 365 days = 31 bn / year. ) this figure is rising due to increased Asian demand and World population growth. \n We seemingly have 1,300 bn barrels of oil total; but after taking the time to calculate I estimated the actual recoverable oil per field, of all the known oil fields was closer to 620bn of remaining reserve. \n Where the other 700bn barrels come from I don't know, I couldn't find it, probably shale or some other unrecoverable source ( FTR this is only my estimation as the real recoverable data is kept a mystery so as to control oil price on the world markets, but we all know this right? ) \n Now considering that we've found all of the large remaining fields, and you could factor in increased usage being greater than the available output of discoverable fields; I conclude the we have 620bn reserve /31bn barrels used per year, or....just over 20 odd years supply left. \n 20years supply with no real viable manufacturing alternative; yes we can build windfarms and solar for energy, but when the oil runs out... what with exactly ? \n That's some scary fucking shit... right there. \n Please do feel free to tear my figures apart... I'd love to know what I just missed here? \n But...","Summary: BT are doing my fucking head in and I have a business to run.\n\nPost: So a month ago I had my BT line cut off, contract cancelled ( it's for my internet, nothing else, £11/month ) Anyway, it turns out my flatmate ( twat that moved out owing me a small fortune ) at the time hadn't paid the installation costs and subsequently I owed £290, so I paid them and they gave me a new line and a new number which took a week to reconnect + another week to reconnect my ISP. \n Anyway, all good, well until this morning when I'm informed by my ISP ( not by BT ) that BT are about to cut my fucking line off again, so I call BT ( call centre India ) I owe them a measly fucking £22, no warning, no calls, no overdue bill, it's going off. I pay them the £22 instantly on my card+ £150 deposit because I'm a bad customer now and... they're still going to cut my line off and reconnect another line ( I run a business from home and really can't afford the bullshit downtime ) \n All I want is a standard socket for the internet, I have my own ISP and make no calls, and for this I have to pay £150 fucking deposit. \n Anyway to cut a long story short, I've paid them the money, the line is ( at present ) still on, but it's going off at any time and then I'll have to wait another week for a new line and a new number and another week after that for my ISP to reconnect me, WTF? All the time the BT help guy in India is more interested in selling me BT broadband than helping me keep my line on ( which is still fucking on ) \n All it would take is a call to an engineer to say my bill is paid and the line can stay on. But no, that would be too easy, wouldn't it. \n Stupid doesn't even cover it. \n Anyone else experienced this level of insane bullshit from BT? It's bang out of order quite frankly."],"string":"[\n \"Summary: I don't like the place.\\n\\nPost: Sorry, been out. \\n I mean the preface is interesting but it's full of hard core whinging misogynists. In fact it's a misogynists circle jerk. \\n I frontpaged it once for a week to see what it was about and got into so many arguments and downvote scraps that I got rid to be honest. \\n You don't follow the party line there and you get outed by closed minded idiots. \\n Personally I love women and I like being a gentleman and having shit unequal. \\n Some of its members even followed me onto other subreddits and continued the downvoting and hate campaign. Which, to be honest, was uber fucking childish. \\n One redditor even followed me to 2x and tried to out me there as a women hater. Bitchy hypocrisy... from a \\\"so called\\\" man. \\n Never been back again. \\n Each to their own and all that, but it wasn't a place I enjoyed personally. \\n Now you can downvote me all you like but it won't change my opinion, however try and out me there and...\",\n \"Summary: Falsely accusing someone of rape turns their lives into a living hell. \\n And on a lighter note... ain't it a miserable day out there, it's pissing it down in London?\\n\\nPost: And so she should. Falsely accusing someone of rape completely ruins their lives. End of. \\n Let me tell you a brief anecdotal story about a French DJ guy I used to know when I lived in Portobello road ( we'll call him Nick, obviously not his real name ) really nice guy, always happy, not a care in the World till one night he went home with some girl he knew after a gig, they got a bit too drunk, had sex and the next morning when her boyfriend turned up unannounced, not able to find any other excuse she cried rape. \\n Now obviously the boyfriend went ballistic ( as he would ) and chased my mate out of their pad, but by then the seed had been sown, she was marched down to the police station on his insistence and basically confessed to something that had never happened in the first place. I'll also add that this girls boyfriends best friend ( a club promoter ) just happened to be Nicks flatmate at the time i.e. they all knew each other in the first place. \\n Nicks life from then on in turned into a living hell, he was arrested, questioned, released on bail after giving up his passport and came home to find all of his stuff thrown into the street, records, clothes etc. He couldn't even argue his case because no one was prepared to listen. He effectively became homeless overnight and spent the next 8 months sleeping on mine and a few others couches in rotation. \\n Now because the flatmate who turfed him out was a fairly successful promoter, the word got around the clubs that he was a \\\" rapists\\\" and all of his work dried up too. \\n Hero to zero in a couple of weeks flat and he couldn't even go home to France. Obviously knowing Nick and knowing that this girl had been flirtatious with him on many occasion there was a group of us who knew that what he was being accused of was way off character and we believed it to be bullshit from the off, but the girls boyfriend was so convinced she was telling the truth it didn't matter, he was guilty. \\n 8 months of pure hell for the guy, he couldn't even be seen anywhere around west London. I mean there's a lot more to this story including harassment, a pretty nasty beating and a small bit of press attention ( he was quite a well known DJ ) but I don't have all day to go into it really. Let's just say his life became a living hell and in some ways the people protecting him, myself included, got some of it directed our way too. Put it this way, protecting an accused rapist is not a good look and it was even starting to affect my own relationship at one point. \\n Anyway cut to, a couple of days before Nicks first court date, the girl buckled under pressure and the truth came out, she was too drunk and she'd led him on, but by then the damage was done. The girl got away with just a slap on the wrist for wasting police time, he went back to France a completely broken man, his reputation in London shattered beyond repair. \\n Now I'm not saying that every case is like Nicks, rape happens, for sure. But for those accused falsely it's a major fucking deal, as I said before it tears their lives apart. No doubt.\",\n \"Summary: Get a referral, see a specialist.\\n\\nPost: Honestly, you need to see a specialist. Get a referral immediately. GP's are fucking clueless when it comes to major skin complaints. They'll palm you off with heavy steroid creams ( Betnovate, Dermovate etc. ) that thin the skin and make it worse; if it gets infected, you're in a world of shit bud. \\n It basically took me 3 months to see a skin specialist ( from referral to appointment ) when I had seriously bad eczema a few years ago - like my legs weeping because it became infected bad. I came back to the UK on a tour bus from Snowbombing in Austria and it was the most uncomfortable 15 hour experience I've ever had in my life, I was literally clawing my skin off. \\n I really had to push my GP to get a referral, but once I saw the specialist it was cured in three weeks. \\n FTR: He took one look at my skin and prescribed a specialized dose of Arithromicin ( antibiotic for the infection ) Fucibet cream, Dermol to wash with and Eumovate cream ( a non heavy steroid ) \\n Also: I will add that I sopped drinking 9 months ago and I haven't had one sign of eczema since; for the first time in 15 years.\",\n \"Summary: yes it's completely normal.\\n\\nPost: Yes. I had an auntie who died and I was completely emotionless about her death, which always bothers me as I had a great respect for her and still do. \\n However when my parents died ( over ten years ago ) I was torn apart, and I still am to some degree.\",\n \"Summary: this idea IMO sucks. \\n Edit: Also the price point. Ha!\\n\\nPost: That would be great as a DAW controller but for FOH though, Nah, I'm not feeling it at all. \\n Live is not like mixing in a DAW where you've got the time to fuck around with a mouse, Live you want stuff instantly at your fingertips. These kind of systems are moving away from that and I'm sorry, but I'm really not into that at all as a mixing philosophy and workflow solution. \\n Sure you can probably bring the EQ etc down onto those rotary encoders and it'll tell you the parameters in the little windows. But seriously, the most I'm happy with is having say the whole eq section in a dedicated space on the board so it's hands on. It pisses me off even having to bump a pot to get to the Q value on an SC48. \\n If I came into a venue and saw one of these then sure I'm familiar with the Venue software layout, doesn't mean I want to mix a damn gig navigating around it with a mouse or flipping through layer after layer trying to find simple parameters like a send and then its return, a frequency that's feeding back, or an overworked compressor mid gig. \\n Imagine trying to do monitors FOH that way? Awful. \\n In fact, it's just a crap idea. \\n Call me oldschool, but this technology is going completely the wrong way in meeting my needs as a FOH engineer. \\n What Avid really need to be concentrating on is something similar to the Soundcraft SI compact surface that can control Venue software and not an Artist series DAW controller for live work. \\n It seems like their R&D department hasn't even bothered consulting with working FOH engineers on this; that's the only logical conclusion I can reach here.\",\n \"Summary: The Croatians don't really like us.\\n\\nPost: Horror stories, plenty, they're usually after the gig in the VIP area though due to drunk artists. \\n One particularly memorable bad gig was a couple of years ago in Croatia with the Dub Pistols ( a very rock-n-roll band to say the least ) 2500 people in a disused hanger. We had soundchecked the day before so I thought it was going to be a cakewalk, I'd already had a run in with the support bands engineer ( we were headlining ) because he wasn't happy about not having full use of the desk and all the effects, tough mate, you're the support band, deal with it. \\n Turns out though that this band were super famous in Croatia and had reformed just for this gig after a ten year break, still though to me they were just the support band. \\n So the next day is gig day and we're all backstage, the band are getting drunk as per usual, but not so drunk they can't perform, the Croatian band are due off in the next twenty minutes after an hour time slot so the band are all hyped to go on stage, it's 1am, I'm about to go up to the console, it's all set-up from the day before ( I've already checked a couple of hours ago ) But...the Croatian band do one last song, then another, then another, then another, in fact another hour and a half's worth of songs. By this time the Dub Pistols are tired, drunk and in a foul mood, Barry ( the lead singer ) is going fucking ballistic at the Stage manager who is basically trying to get this band off stage and they aren't having any of it. Then, to make matters worse, the Croatian bands lead singer starts to slag off the Dub Pistols to the crowd, I have no idea what he was saying, I don't speak Croatian but by the time the extremely drunk Dub Pistols got on stage at 3am the crowd were booing them, not a good look. \\n Anyway, back in time 20mins, the Croatian band have left the stage so I go FOH for the 10min change over, but... this bands engineer has basically reset the whole fucking desk and ripped off all of my channel strip tape and side notes in a 'fuck you' kind of way. Wanker. I'm just like WTF! He was still doing it as I walked up to the desk and, to be honest, I was in a foul mood myself and very tired so I grabbed him by the neck and literally threw him out of the way. I can't stand that level of ego, there's absolutely no need for it. No time to be fucking around here... at all. I had to visualise what channels were what and bring the silent mix up on the board from memory, no mean feat at the best of times. The band get on stage and the lead singers mic is working, all good, I can work it back from there. \\n So band on Stage, mix up, crowd booing, second song in and Barry loses it, he gets on the mic complete pollatic drunk and says in front of 2500 booing Croatian's : \\\"Well at least I don't go around killing all my fucking neighbours, you fucking cunts!\\\" and then proceeds to fall off the stage taking with him the full front row of the monitors. Oh dear. Then, as he getting back on stage he grabs the winch handle of the line array system to help him up and knocks it off its ratchet, the whole lot comes tumbling down inches from where he's standing. The monitor guy ( and rig owner ) comes pelting over the stage towards Barry and a huge fight breaks out. Well that's it, gig over really, no monitors, half a rig, fights are breaking out everywhere, I just walk away and go backstage in the midst of complete fucking chaos. \\n Crotia though, being Croatia, the security team are actually the Army ( or secret Police, they all look the same to me ) complete with Sub machine guns etc. So they step in to halt the fighting, Barry is screaming at this 6ft 5 giant of a man who's holding a machine gun pointed at him and that's that, we're all marched off, put on the bus, escorted to the airport and put back on the first flight to London with Barry still screaming at the Army types. \\n So yeah, kicked out of Croatia, without being paid, don't think we'll be going back there again any time soon. \\n Edit: I have to go out now, excuse any grammar/typos I'll fix them Later.\",\n \"Summary: So what my point here? Well yeah, in this country it's too difficult to get help if you're an alcoholic, you basically have to be right on the edge and sometimes once people get to that stage it's just too late, you can't come back. \\n And also, I start my own training as a drug and alcohol mentor and counsellor in December, I intend to put my knowledge of this back into the system and try and change it as much as I can, because it's not right that we have such a massive culture of heavy drinking which leads people into all sorts of trouble yet it's so difficult trying to find help once you're there. \\n FTR: I don't believe in minimum pricing or any of that other bullshit either, but I do believe that alcoholic drinks manufacturers should be made to return a minimal share of their profits back into centres like WDP\\n\\nPost: Long comment here but... \\n I happen to agree with a lot of his points. I'm an ex dependant alcoholic and trying to get help in the UK is very difficult. I'd been drinking for years and it was coming to a head a few years ago, I was drinking a lot and knew I had an issue ( anyway, it's a long story ) but I eventually got help through WDP ( Westminster Drug and alcohol project ) but in order to get help I really had to prove I was an alcoholic and attend session after session to even get through the door. I reckon even with WDP's help it would have taken me at least another year to get anywhere near rehab. \\n Put it this way, I was drinking dusk till dawn 3 to 4 bottles of wine a day with a bottle of rum chaser, I was a real fucking out of control mess. Proper dependant alcoholic. \\n But... I got lucky ( if you can even call it lucky ) my girl took me to A&E as I was getting chest pains and having major panic attacks so they ran an ECG and decided I wasn't having a heart attack. They were about to send me home when the doctor who ran the A&E happened to walk past the booth I was in and asked me what the issue was. My girl told him I was an out of control alcoholic and all the issues I was having and he, on the spot, decided to keep me in and detox me on librium over the course of a week or two. \\n FTR this never happens on the NHS, I was very lucky. \\n Anyway, the first 48hours they stuck me in this terminal cancer ward as it was the only bed they could find, it was fucking scary in that room so I had a walk around. People hours from death ( two people died the first night I was there ) surrounded by their grieving immediate family and I had ( I dunno what you'd call it ) an epiphany. I realised that I could still turn this around, I wasn't like these people, I had a choice. Like that film says I guess: Live or die. \\n So I did it. With the help of a Librium detox, on a drip, having my blood pressure and heart rate constantly monitored ( it was through the roof, Stage 2 Hypertensive ) I stopped drinking and I haven't drank since. \\n As I said though, I was very lucky to get that kind of treatment on the NHS and in most cases that's all it takes, a week or two being monitored, away from booze and you break the cycle. \\n Also because I'd been detoxed I was moved up the ladder with WDP from someone still an alcoholic or drug addict to someone who's stopped. That's when you get the proper care, completely different building, completely different world, a sea of calm because they now see you as someone taking your shit seriously.\",\n \"Summary: Clamping the clamper's.\\n\\nPost: Good for him. \\n Another anecdotal story, but when I lived in Richmond ( Surrey ) my landlady got clamped over unpaid parking fees on her own driveway, the guys parked behind her car to stop her reversing out as they applied said clamp. \\n Anyway the guy who lived in the flat below me ( Dave, an ex marine ) saw this happening, rushed out to his van and grabbed his own wheel clamp ( he was an electrician with a lot of expensive gear in his van ) and in-turn clamped the clamper's van for parking illegal on my landladies driveway. \\n Hilarity ensued and a big stand-off erupted on the driveway between my landlady ( a sixty year old woman who took no shit from anyone ) and the clamper's with no one budging an inch. Dave and I sat on the front steps all afternoon drinking cups of tea and taking the piss out of the clamper's. \\n Cut to a council official arrived with the Police who refused to do anything as it was a civil matter ( or something, can't remember their terminology to be honest. ) and the stand-off continued now pulling quite a crowd of onlookers. It was only resolved hours later when a journalist turned up from the local press. The council, of course, then removed the clamp in record time and Dave let them out to cheers from the crowd. \\n Stand-off over, the landladies car was locked firmly in her garage from then on in. Two weeks later however the council got their revenge by pulling down her street facing 10ft brick garden wall after deeming it unsafe to pedestrians passing by. There were tree roots growing through it so yeah, it was kinda unsafe. But still... fuckers. \\n Still though as she said it was worth every penny to see these clamper's given a shot of their own medicine and squirming all afternoon. \\n And on that note, I'm going for a pint.\",\n \"Summary: Nah, it's great getting older.\\n\\nPost: I've noticed a recent trend on reddit where it seems that adult life... sucks. \\n I wouldn't say that at all, I've just turned 40 and I love it. I'm a festival sound engineer and ( after 15 years and thousand of hours of experience of doing it ) I'm fucking good at it, to the point where I can walk onto any festival site or large scale venue in the world with any size rig and any mixing desk (digital or analogue) and just do the job required, sorry if that comes across as a little arrogant, but it's true. \\n I run a small record label, still produce music, I have a new GF ( of 8 Months ) a British Journalist and, because we've both been in disastrous relationships before, we know what to expect and just get on with it without all the crap you get when you're younger and also the sex is fantastic. She has her own money, I have my own money and that makes a huge difference. \\n Sometime I worry about my health, I mean after 20 years in the music business I've definitely burnt the candle at both ends, I ran a London West End Nightclub for 8 years and that means a lot of drinking and socialising. So I could probably say that's left me somewhat of an ( in control ) alcoholic, I do like a drink + I've also had cocaine problems in the past and that kinda bothers me as to how much damage that did, but fuck it, it is what it is. \\n I will also say that you really stop giving a shit about stupid things as you get older like, for example, material wealth and stupid vanity issues. That Ferrari/yaught/mansion you once coveted becomes meaningless. You also gain a wealth of knowledge along the way, I kinda pride myself on knowing lots of shit about shit ( for want of a phrase ) \\n I mean I sometimes look back ( ha, look back... I ain't dead yet ) and think I could have done things differently, but hey, it is what it is. The only thing I really get bitter about is politics, I hate politicians, they just get in the way. \\n I will point out though that I don't have children, and I think not having children makes a big difference, a lot of my mates seem burnt out by this. You basically have to trade your life for theirs and that kinda makes you bitter and resentful I guess. \\n But in general, I'm good.\",\n \"Summary: Tosser of a promoter oversold the venue to the point where people nearly died.\\n\\nPost: I hate promoters like this. In the venue I used to run we had this Asian guy come down wanting to book the venue for New Years eve for an R&B gig with some great artists and well known international Dj's, he had all the patter and looked the part ie. flashy car, flashy suit, you know the type. \\n Anyway it comes to New Years and the guy turns up early to set up the venue then disappears and says he'll be back later. FTR the night has all been sold on tickets, no walk up. \\n There's some big acts turning up so I set up the stage with a few radio mics and monitors. In my experience R&B acts never sound check, it's always a few mics and playback and they just turn up, do the gig and then fuck off. Not a problem. \\n The first sign of trouble I see is when some guy and his mates are in the queue ranting on about why he's queuing when he has VIP access to the champagne bar he's paid £50 extra for, but... there is no champagne bar? \\n He hands me his ticket and flyer: Holy shit, there is all sorts on this flyer ( that I've never seen until now ) that doesn't exist in the club; champagne bar, exotic dancers, three separate rooms ( we had three rooms, but only opened one this night ) VIP area, cocktail bar, lazer show, underfloor lighting, fireworks, 100K soundsystem etc. etc. etc. all sorts of shit non of which exists. To top it all off, on the flyer is not a picture of our venue, but one in fucking Ibiza that I only recognise because I've worked there before. \\n Holy fucking shit. \\n And then the punters turn up, around 5000 of them. Now bear in mind that with only one room open this place holds around 1500 tops and you can start to imagine the absolute chaos that unfolded that night. Some of these punters have paid around £120 and they can't get in, in fact 3000 of them can't get in and it's already 12.30am and more are turning up by the minute, in fact enough to shut down a whole section of London to traffic. \\n The promoter had basically sold the venue easily 4 or 5 times over ( maybe a lot more, I've never worked it out ) and fucked off with all of the ticket money. \\n We had a situation where there were so many people trying to get in ( and we've shut the doors as we were already way over capacity ) that people started turning blue as they were being squashed against the main glass doors and we knew that if we opened the doors there would be such a stampeded that people were going to start dying. \\n I'm on the other side of the safety glass entrance with a team of 20 security basically watching people start to die right in front of me and there's not a fucking thing we can do about it. Horrid situation. \\n You never want to see anyone holding onto their last breath like that as the air is slowly pushed out of their lungs , it's fucking awful, I can still picture it now. \\n Luckily the London riot police turned up ( we called them as soon as it started to get out of control ) saw what was going on and managed to clear the street in front of the venue in a few minutes, but we still ended up with about 20 people taken to hospital including one pregnant girl who had a miscarriage right in front of us, blood everywhere ( god knows why she was out whilst that heavily pregnant ) and some guy who'd got stabbed in the queue. \\n But, to be honest, we got off lightly. It could have been a major London incident. \\n The promoter was never to be seen again - he just vanished from the face of the earth - but I reckon he walked off with around £400,000+ that night. Hope the bad karma eventually catches up with him. \\n Oh and FTR non of the DJ's or acts advertised turned up either, they basically hadn't been booked. \\n We kicked everyone out at around 1.30, shut the doors and sat there in silence trying to work out what the fuck had just happened. I can still remember the barmaids crying. Horrid. \\n What a fucking moron. \\n I'd like to get my hands on that prick for sure.\",\n \"Summary: Ticketmaster are a bunch of cunts. \\n Edit: Oh and while I remember, Live Nation also have an exclusive deal with Carling Lager ( so shit it actually sobers you up ) so if you're looking for the reason as to why UK festivals only ever serve shit beer nowadays, this is it.\\n\\nPost: Pro tip ( from a touring Live sound engineer ) don't give the O2 arena any money, the acoustics in there are some of the worst on the live circuit by far. Horrid place to see a band. \\n Also as far as large live shows are going, Ticketmaster just merged with Live Nation ( who were once know by the name 'Clear Channel' a live US entertainment company with a notorious track record ) to become Live Nation Entertainment. Both companies have/had a reputation in the US of monopolising both Artists and venues to push ticket prices through the roof giving you no alternative but to buy from them. And now that they are one company, you can expect these prices to go higher. \\n There is even an [anti-merger hate website]( on the subject. \\n In the UK they formed 'Live Nation UK' to get around the competition laws, who bought up the Mean fiddler group ( the last bastion of independent live show promotion ) and now own Hard Rock Calling, Wireless festival, Download Festival ( part of ) Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds Festivals, everything that happens in Hyde Park, every mid to large sized London venue and most of the large main venues up and down this country. \\n Now to really get your head around how this company operates, when I used to run the Quad Live venue for LSE ( London School of Economics, capacity 1500 in the main room ) we booked several large acts to play the venue over the course of one summer, promoted the events, sold the tickets, spent a fortune, but the acts mysteriously started to pull out at the last minute. Not one for lying down down and taking bullshit I phoned one of the guitarists I personally know from one of the bands ( not mentioning any names ) to find out what the fuck was going on, only to be told that they had been pulled to one side side by a representative of ( at the time ) Clear Channel and told in not so many words that: Play that gig and you don't get to play another show in London again. Period. \\n So, fearing their careers as live bands, they all pulled out. \\n We lost a fortune. \\n WTF! \\n We did try and work with Clear Channel for a while, but found their methods to be completely \\\"Hands in the till\\\" We promote the gig, we get the artists, we take all the money, you get a percentage of the bar take. It was like, hold the fuck on a minute here, we own the fucking venue, not you? So they moved on... and left us with a huge central London venue, smack bang in the middle of Holborn where nobody would ( or could ) play. \\n So that in a nutshell is who Ticketmaster are, i.e. US corporate bullshit with their predatory business tactics and methods invading our country and monopolising our live music scene and culture. \\n As the Americans are so found of saying: Go fucking figure.\",\n \"Summary: Line checked a band on a digital desk I've never used doing monitors from FOH in about 5mins flat. Thank gawd for adrenalin.\\n\\nPost: So, I've just come off the back of a 5 day tour with a pretty grueling schedule (read: bed at 11pm, up at 3am, sleep anywhere in between kind of thing ) \\n One date in Prague, back to the UK for another 4 dates ( two on one day, driving at least 4-6hours between gigs ) \\n Last day and we get through the first festival gig. 3.15am stage end time and then a 5 1/2 hour drive to the last gig which starts at 9.30 with a line check at 9 so therefore 30mins to get everything sorted and I'm thinking: Thank fuck for that, 8 hours in the hotel and then I'm on my way back to London, should be an easy gig. All good. \\n We make the gig by the skin of our teeth after a 80-100mph journey down the A1M. \\n Get there and it's a kinda medium corporate festival gig; 600-800 crowd, 20k rig, Midas Pro 6 desk ( which I haven't really used before but no biggie, I can learn it in 1/2 an hour and it should have a generic patch from the last band. ) I do a recce and I'm like, OK where the fuck is the monitor desk? So off I trot to find the in-house guy to ask about monitors. OK, no monitor desk, monitors FOH, again doable, but we're the only band on and the guy hasn't done a fucking patch. \\n The pressure's on. \\n I get a quick crash course on the Pro6 from the in-house. \\n There's a DJ playing so I basically knock up a quick FOH patch for the band and we can sort the monitors out in the 30mins line check. \\n But no, that would be way too fucking easy. \\n The muppet stage manager has decided to run one 10 min acoustic set and another 10 min girl singer with a couple of her mates dancing to a backing track in our allotted changeover time. \\n We have a band meeting. The leader is going nuts about the stage manager and the changeover time and we're seriously going to have to wing this. \\n So I have to line check, get the monitors running, get the FOH up, get the Eq's and gates and compression and effects running on a desk I've never used before in 5mins. And to top it all off, this band rely heavily on a laptop backing track to vibe off i.e. the monitors have to be loud which we also send a click and backing to the drummer through several DI boxes via splits but... the PA company don't have DI's with thru's on them. \\n Fuck! \\n OK then, we rig 4 DI's instead of two and re-route the audio card outs. \\n In the meantime I'm wasting time on-stage when I'm supposed to be getting the mix up FOH. \\n If I pull this off it's going to be a fucking miracle. \\n Then...the clueless stage manger ( no idea where they got him from, but he'd obviously never been near a stage in his life ) starts screaming that the band must start. \\n And I ain't anywhere near the FOH yet. \\n Double fuck! \\n Anyway it was all hands to the pumps (and then some ) but by the middle of the first song I manage to get everything up and running and it's sounding pretty good. Minor heart attack over. \\n Ok, the band play their 1 hour set and it goes down a storm. 10 minutes after the band leave the stage, lights on, Pro6 struck, everyone can go home. Job done. \\n Oh no, I get backstage and this tit of a stage manager wants the band to go back on and do another couple of numbers. But... the Pro 6 has been struck, reset, nulled, there's nothing on the fucking board, it's like, blank. It's even powered down, so is the PA. \\n I explain that it basically can't be done but this guy is having non of it and is now screaming at the band to get back on. \\n I will point out at this point that this is a big corporate company and the band don't want to piss off the promoter so they have no choice. \\n So they do, and I get back FOH and start all over again. \\n Honestly, I could have killed this guy, what a stupid twat. \\n The upshot of all this is that I was chatting to the corporate promoter at the end of the gig and he's asking me was the PA and desk OK, how were the team, how can we improve this event? \\n My immediate response: Do yourself a favour mate, sack the stage manger, he's absolutely fucking cluless. \\n But I guess I now know the Pro 6 pretty well, it won't be an issue next time. Lovely desk too FTR. \\n So yeah, under pressure... big time.\",\n \"Summary: Line checked a band on a desk I've never used doing monitors from FOH in about 5mins flat. Thank gawd for adrenalin.\\n\\nPost: So, I've just come off the back of a 5 day tour with a pretty grueling schedule (read: bed at 11pm, up at 3am, sleep anywhere in between kind of thing ) \\n One date in Prague, back to the UK for another 4 dates ( two on one day, driving at least 4-6hours between gigs ) \\n Last day and we get through the first festival gig. 3.15am stage end time and then a 5 1/2 hour drive to the last gig which starts at 9.30 with a line check at 9 so therefore 30mins to get everything sorted and I'm thinking: Thank fuck for that, 8 hours in the hotel and then I'm on my way back to London, should be an easy gig. All good. \\n We make the gig by the skin of our teeth after a 80-100mph journey down the A1M. \\n Get there and it's a kinda medium corporate festival gig; 600-800 crowd, 20k rig, Midas Pro 6 desk ( which I haven't really used before but no biggie, I can learn it in 1/2 an hour and it should have a generic patch from the last band. ) I do a recce and I'm like, OK where the fuck is the monitor desk? So off I trot to find the in-house guy to ask about monitors. OK, no monitor desk, monitors FOH, again doable, but we're the only band on and the guy hasn't done a fucking patch. \\n The pressure's on. \\n I get a quick crash course on the Pro6 from the in-house. \\n There's a DJ playing so I basically knock up a quick FOH patch for the band and we can sort the monitors out in the 30mins line check. \\n But no, that would be way too fucking easy. \\n The muppet stage manager has decided to run one 10 min acoustic set and another 10 min girl singer with a couple of her mates dancing to a backing track in our allotted changeover time. \\n We have a band meeting. The leader is going nuts about the stage manager and the changeover time and we're seriously going to have to wing this. \\n So I have to line check, get the monitors running, get the FOH up, get the Eq's and gates and compression and effects running on a desk I've never used before in 5mins. And to top it all off, this band rely heavily on a laptop backing track to vibe off i.e. the monitors have to be loud which we also send a click and backing to the drummer through several DI boxes via splits but... the PA company don't have DI's with thru's on them. \\n Fuck! \\n OK then, we rig 4 DI's instead of two and re-route the audio card outs. \\n In the meantime I'm wasting time on-stage when I'm supposed to be getting the mix up FOH. \\n If I pull this off it's going to be a fucking miracle. \\n Then...the clueless stage manger ( no idea where they got him from, but he'd obviously never been near a stage in his life ) starts screaming that the band must start. \\n And I ain't anywhere near the FOH yet. \\n Double fuck! \\n Anyway it was all hands to the pumps (and then some ) but by the middle of the first song I manage to get everything up and running and it's sounding pretty good. Minor heart attack over. \\n Ok, the band play their 1 hour set and it goes down a storm. 10 minutes after the band leave the stage, lights on, Pro6 struck, everyone can go home. Job done. \\n Oh no, I get backstage and this tit of a stage manager wants the band to go back on and do another couple of numbers. But... the Pro 6 has been struck, reset, nulled, there's nothing on the fucking board, it's like, blank. It's even powered down, so is the PA. \\n I explain that it basically can't be done but this guy is having non of it and is now screaming at the band to get back on. \\n I will point out at this point that this is a big corporate company and the band don't want to piss off the promoter so they have no choice. \\n So they do, and I get back FOH and start all over again. \\n Honestly, I could have killed this guy, what a stupid twat. \\n The upshot of all this is that I was chatting to the corporate promoter at the end of the gig and he's asking me was the PA and desk OK, how were the team, how can we improve this event? \\n My immediate response: Do yourself a favour mate, sack the stage manger, he's absolutely fucking cluless. \\n But I guess I now know the Pro 6 pretty well, it won't be an issue next time. \\n So yeah, under pressure... big time.\",\n \"Summary: I'm pretty sure both my girl and I were blatantly refused NHS treatment for a pretty serious eye issue because of budgeting cuts.\\n\\nPost: OK so I developed a viral eye infection a month ago and ended up in a hideous state. I couldn't see, constantly bumping into things, nightmare itchiness and I looked like I'd been beaten in. My regular doctor missed it was viral, gave me antibiotics and anti bacterial eye drops which made the whole thing worse. So I decided to go to the eye hospital in Marylebone ( London ) \\n Cut to four hours later I'm seen by this doctor who tells me there's nothing that can be done as it's viral, I'm just going to have to ride it out and prescribed me no treatment. Not really happy about this I just think \\\" OK, doctor knows best\\\" \\n It got worse and worse to the point where I couldn't see at all so I thought \\\" fuck this\\\" and went to another eye hospital in Kingston ( Surrey ) for a second opinion. \\n Another four or so hours and I walk out armed with a bunch of eye cremes and different eye drops, one week on and I'm a lot better. Non treatable... bullshit. FTR the doctor was pretty disgusted that I was given nothing by the other eye hospital. She said it was dangerous to leave it untreated, this is my sight for fucks sake. \\n In the interim my GF develops the same thing ( obviously from sharing towels or something ) so she goes to Marylebone hospital too, waits four hours and is told the same thing by a different doctor, it's untreatable. Knowing my story however my GF kicks off with the doctor saying that what she's been told is basically bullshit, she produces the list of meds I'm on, again though the doctor stubbornly won't budge and she comes out with nothing. I mean WTF? \\n So...we've been away on a press trip for four days ( very nice, all five star hotels, all free and we were looked after like kings, but I digress...that's another story ) my GF spent the whole time in agony and she's in bed today, both her eyes are in one hell of a mess, completely closed up and I'm having to look after her because she's basically blind at present so ( again ) I'm taking her to Kingston hospital instead tomorrow... to actually get some fucking treatment. \\n So what's my point here? Well the only reason I can think of is that Marylebone hospital is suffering from cuts and Kingston hospital isn't. I mean prescribed eye treatment can't be cheap can it? I can't think of another reason why we'd both be refused treatment at the same place. \\n And... if this is the case how many other people are being misdiagnosed and refused treatment on this basis? Because if they are, then this is disgusting. \\n WTF is going on?\",\n \"Summary: Turns out this manager had completely blagged and bullshitted his shitty band past security, into the venue, past the duty manager, past me and onto that stage. \\n And we still have no idea who they were. \\n I'll get my coat.\\n\\nPost: Had a great show the other night, band were fantastic, venue was packed, place turns into a club for a few hours as an aftershow party. \\n I've pulled the XLR's and stage boxes, broken down most of the stage, put away the mics, unplugged and put away the monitors, flattened and loaded the DJ only profile into the desk. Basically everything I can do until the club night is finished when the band pack their own kit away and I can start coiling cables. \\n My job is basically done for the moment. I'm on the home straight and as there's not much to do the others 2 guys and the lampie have left and I've volunteered for the late shift as it pays quite a bit more. \\n It's 12 midnight. \\n I'm in the backline cupboard backstage doing my thing and this guy walks in and says: OK, we need three vocal mics, 6 monitors and here's the input list for the two percussionist and keyboards. There's like 10 mics per percussionist and it's a 24 input stage list. \\n I just stare at him. You need what? \\n He repeats himself. We're supporting our DJ. \\n Now, I have absolutely no knowledge of this either from the manager or in the email thread about the night. \\n I was like: Err sorry mate, I'm done here, there's no one else going on. The stage has been broken down, the desk has been flattened and to be honest, I have no idea who you are? \\n This guy kicks off ( he's basically this acts manager ) saying he's been booked to play and \\\"this is a fucking joke isn't it, you're taking the piss. You're going to have to set the stage up again, we're going on, do your fucking job! \\\" Rude prick basically. \\n The venue duty manager turns up and he knows nothing about this either. The promoter by this point has left too. The bands manager is going crazy saying we're \\\"taking the fucking piss here!\\\" He keeps dropping the main managers name and how he's going to sue as they've travelled miles to the gig and it's their album launch and, and, etc. etc. etc. \\n Typical manager flying off the handle in a tiz bullshit. \\n Big standoff, the main manager is not answering his phone, neither is the promoter. \\n So basically I have to go back out, set the stage and monitors up again and knock up a basic mix to get this crap up and running and I'm having to do this by myself, in the dark, through a mess of uncoiled XLR's, stage boxes, beer bottles, towels, wet floor and the main acts kit. \\n As you do. \\n All the while the club is in full swing with 400 people enjoying the DJ and after party. \\n I get back to FOH and the whole time this manager is hovering over the desk being an utter dick about what the band needs and how I \\\"obviously don't understand their music!\\\" ( well apart from the fact I haven't even heard anything yet.. ) He just won't leave me alone to actually do my job here. \\n OK, we take the main DJ off ( to his protests ) and this act go on and they're fucking terrible; terrible singers, terrible percussion, terrible keys and their own terrible DJ. The manager is still hovering over the desk: you need reverb here, this bit needs delay, can you make the vocals warmer, she's too quiet, have you done this job before etc. etc. etc. \\n Just being an absolute dick. \\n As you can imagine I'm trying to pull up a mix as I go along. Not easy with a flattened desk and no sound check at the best of times, even without the hassle. \\n And I'm having to do FOH and lighting at the same time so he's on me over that too: light this bit, more on the singer, you've never done lights either have you? \\n What am I, a fucking octopus? \\n My head is pretty much done in here, this act are trash. I mean, it clears the dancefloor and people start leaving trash. I'm really trying not to lose it with this arrogant dickhead too. \\n Night over and the extra shit has cost me at least another hour by the time I get the venue cleared. Not a problem, I'll invoice extra for it. \\n I get home at 5am, knackered. Basically a fantastic night that turned into a shit night so I'm pretty pissed off. \\n Anyway, next morning I ring the venue manager: Mate I don't mind doing stuff like that, but can you at least give me a heads up if there's another act coming in so I don't prematurely break down the stage and flatten the desk, that was a nightmare last night having to re-do everything for this other act and their manager was an utter dick about it. \\n What other act!? He says.\",\n \"Summary: My Glastonbury is fucked because of typical music industry bullshit.\\n\\nPost: So, at the start of the year I had two gigs at Glastonbury, one on the Fri and one on the Sunday, pretty big gigs, two main stages. \\n Now I have no gigs... and it's basically my own fault for relying on other people. I'm a festival sound engineer. \\n It kinda goes like this: First band has a gate pass for me, so does the second but first band realises this and says to me ( six months ago ) would you mind ( considering you have two passes ) if we give your gate pass to our mate and you get sent your other gate pass from the other band to get you on site. \\n No problem I said. \\n Big fucking mistake. \\n FTR A gate pass will get you on site at Glastonbury, all the other passes you get once inside for the various stages, but a gate pass is the one that gets you passed ( the pretty hardcore ) perimeter security. \\n Glastonbury gate passes for bands are like gold dust, only bands and their crew get them. \\n Anyway I rang up band 2's agent a few weeks ago to ask where my pass was, it hasn't arrived yet. They then inform me that band 2's lead singer had fired them four weeks ago so you'll: \\\"Have to speak to said person yourself, they have the passes.\\\" Thanks for the heads up, thanks a fucking bunch...morons. \\n OK, minor panic, not a problem. So I rang said person in band 2 to make sure they post me the gate pass, after a long and drawn out rant from lead singer I get to the bottom of it, he's already given my gate pass to a mate and said mate is already on site. \\n Holy Shit... WTF? \\n I go back to band 1: \\\"Mate, you're going to have to get that gate pass back from your mate, band 2 has fucked it right up, I don't have one?\\\" \\n Band 1: Aww shit... that guys gone down early, he's already on site. \\n So basically I have no way to get in and absolutely no way of getting in either ( Glastonbury are tight as fuck with passes and anyway explaining this would make me look like I'm trying to blag an extra pass i.e. not going to happen ) so I've had to cancel both gigs and find engineers ( who are mates of mine and already have gate passes. ) to do my job and ( also ) claim my wages, which is fair enough. \\n To say I'm a little pissed is an understatement, but it's basically my own fault, I said yes to giving away a Glastonbury gate pass to someone I don't even fucking know... as a favour. \\n The moral of this story: two bands at one festival... don't fuck yourself up and give any of your passes to any of their mates. Ever. No matter what the circumstances are.\",\n \"Summary: We're running out of oil pretty damn fast.\\n\\nPost: OK, so I sat down and actually worked this out from figures available from the CIA factbook and various other sources. (Just a simple exercise that took an hour or so for my own interests. ) \\n After totting it per country it becomes apparent the World is using approx 31 billion barrels of oil per year ( 85m/day x 365 days = 31 bn / year. ) this figure is rising due to increased Asian demand and World population growth. \\n We seemingly have 1,300 bn barrels of oil total; but after taking the time to calculate I estimated the actual recoverable oil per field, of all the known oil fields was closer to 620bn of remaining reserve. \\n Where the other 700bn barrels come from I don't know, I couldn't find it, probably shale or some other unrecoverable source ( FTR this is only my estimation as the real recoverable data is kept a mystery so as to control oil price on the world markets, but we all know this right? ) \\n Now considering that we've found all of the large remaining fields, and you could factor in increased usage being greater than the available output of discoverable fields; I conclude the we have 620bn reserve /31bn barrels used per year, or....just over 20 odd years supply left. \\n 20years supply with no real viable manufacturing alternative; yes we can build windfarms and solar for energy, but when the oil runs out... what with exactly ? \\n That's some scary fucking shit... right there. \\n Please do feel free to tear my figures apart... I'd love to know what I just missed here? \\n But...\",\n \"Summary: BT are doing my fucking head in and I have a business to run.\\n\\nPost: So a month ago I had my BT line cut off, contract cancelled ( it's for my internet, nothing else, £11/month ) Anyway, it turns out my flatmate ( twat that moved out owing me a small fortune ) at the time hadn't paid the installation costs and subsequently I owed £290, so I paid them and they gave me a new line and a new number which took a week to reconnect + another week to reconnect my ISP. \\n Anyway, all good, well until this morning when I'm informed by my ISP ( not by BT ) that BT are about to cut my fucking line off again, so I call BT ( call centre India ) I owe them a measly fucking £22, no warning, no calls, no overdue bill, it's going off. I pay them the £22 instantly on my card+ £150 deposit because I'm a bad customer now and... they're still going to cut my line off and reconnect another line ( I run a business from home and really can't afford the bullshit downtime ) \\n All I want is a standard socket for the internet, I have my own ISP and make no calls, and for this I have to pay £150 fucking deposit. \\n Anyway to cut a long story short, I've paid them the money, the line is ( at present ) still on, but it's going off at any time and then I'll have to wait another week for a new line and a new number and another week after that for my ISP to reconnect me, WTF? All the time the BT help guy in India is more interested in selling me BT broadband than helping me keep my line on ( which is still fucking on ) \\n All it would take is a call to an engineer to say my bill is paid and the line can stay on. But no, that would be too easy, wouldn't it. \\n Stupid doesn't even cover it. \\n Anyone else experienced this level of insane bullshit from BT? It's bang out of order quite frankly.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":18,"string":"18"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":89,"string":"89"}}},{"rowIdx":90,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"illusorywall"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the content for a reddit post Good news is I'm more confident than ever in my ability to self-spawn Vagrants when I want to, having successfully created one or more in 10/10 testing sessions. Bad news is, I was hoping to solve the humanity criteria, but it looks impossible."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I did a bunch more testing recently, and was surprised by the results. In the past, I only ever intentionally spawned Evil Vagrants using 99 humanity. Not knowing what the minimum required amount was, I figured I'd start my testing off with an amount that had to be sufficient. \n So I finally worked my way down. Abandoning the following amounts over and over, I was able to eventually spawn Vagrants when losing 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 19, 10, and even 9 humanity (in the form of a lost bloodstain). \n Remember that the game manual says that a \"large\" amount of humanity has to be lost: \n I'd be surprised if anything under 10 actually qualifies as a large amount, which makes me think it's not as simple as \"lose >x humanity, a Vagrant has a chance to spawn for someone\". \n I think instead it's probably doing one of two other things: \n \n There's a personal, hidden build-up meter that has to be surpassed, but it can be surpassed by collective losses. In other words, if it requires 50 or more lost humanity, you could lose 49 humanity in a bloodstain, then lose just 1 in another bloodstain, and losing that \"1\" could trigger a Vagrant for a stranger online. \n There's a collective build-up meter, meaning at least X of humanity has to be lost before one is triggered, but it draws from everyone's losses in the area online, not just your own. \n \n Even if the former is true, with the way that self-spawning Vagrants works, we won't be able to figure it out (barring possible mods on the PC version that could help)."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I did a bunch more testing recently, and was surprised by the results. In the past, I only ever intentionally spawned Evil Vagrants using 99 humanity. Not knowing what the minimum required amount was, I figured I'd start my testing off with an amount that had to be sufficient. \n So I finally worked my way down. Abandoning the following amounts over and over, I was able to eventually spawn Vagrants when losing 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 19, 10, and even 9 humanity (in the form of a lost bloodstain). \n Remember that the game manual says that a \"large\" amount of humanity has to be lost: \n I'd be surprised if anything under 10 actually qualifies as a large amount, which makes me think it's not as simple as \"lose >x humanity, a Vagrant has a chance to spawn for someone\". \n I think instead it's probably doing one of two other things: \n \n There's a personal, hidden build-up meter that has to be surpassed, but it can be surpassed by collective losses. In other words, if it requires 50 or more lost humanity, you could lose 49 humanity in a bloodstain, then lose just 1 in another bloodstain, and losing that \"1\" could trigger a Vagrant for a stranger online. \n There's a collective build-up meter, meaning at least X of humanity has to be lost before one is triggered, but it draws from everyone's losses in the area online, not just your own. \n \n Even if the former is true, with the way that self-spawning Vagrants works, we won't be able to figure it out (barring possible mods on the PC version that could help)."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Summary: Find Token of Spite \n-Duel in BoB Arena \n-No sin will be acquired \n Bear in mind that BoB ranking up requires net wins in the arena. If you lose more often than you win, you'll never rank up.\n\nPost: Only winning BoB arena duels counts towards ranking up in BoB, which does not come with sin. \n Killing players with Cracked Red Eye Orbs does give you sin, but that doesn't contribute at all towards ranking up, so it's unnecessary. You also do not need to kill any players to get Tokens of Spite- you can find one in the environment and it works permanently (BoB duels do not consume the tokens of spite, 1 is enough for infinite matches).","Summary: Topics show up based on a combination of how recent and upvoted they are. \n Within topics, upvoting/downvoting individual posts helps bring content to the top or pushes it to the bottom, respectively.\n\nPost: Anyone can upvote or downvote both topics and individual posts. \n Reddit uses some kind of formula to determine what reaches the \"hot\" section of a subreddit, which is like the subreddit's front page. It's a combination of how new and well received (upvoted) it is. \n To clarify- by default, you're likely in the \"hot\" section already, notice there are links to other pages (found beneath the \"Dark Souls\" header) titled: hot/ new/ rising/ controversial / etc. \n If a topic is brand new and has a few upvotes, it'll likely appear on the front page/\"hot\". If it only got a few upvotes but is already hours old, then it may be bumped down to the second page or further back. If it is a day old but got lots of upvotes it'll probably still be present on the front page, since its age is countered by its popularity. \n Does that make sense?","Summary: If your weapon's attack is a straight thrusting stab/jab/poke, and not a slashing or bashing motion, it is capable of doing counter damage and being boosted further by the Leo Ring. Bolts + Arrows included.\n\nPost: You can read more information here- \n When you attack an enemy with a thrust or piercing attack (anything that looks like a straight stab/poke, as opposed to a slash), you can do bonus 20% damage if you hit them within a specific window of time. You need to hit them at the same time they're attacking you- landing your blow the same moment their weapon extends outwards, or very quickly afterwards. \n To practice counter damage, try attacking an enemy while they aren't attacking, then try again at the same time. An attack that only does 100 damage should do 120 if counter was triggered. \n The Leo Ring boosts counter damage even further by 40%- in other words, for the attack that did 100 damage without counter, it's the 120 number that gets boosted again by another 40%, turning 100 damage into 168 damage (68% boost). \n \n Note that the Leo Ring is claimed to give a boost to \"pierce weapons\". You can mostly ignore this, don't think about weapons in terms of their class, but their individual movesets instead. Weapons that are advertised as thrusting weapons are obviously a good choice, but it technically works with anything that does a straight thrusting motion. \n For example, the Bandit's Knife is titled as a Slashing weapon, with most of its attacks only being slashes. However, the rolling R1 attack is a straight jab, which is capable of doing counter damage.","Summary: don't spam your sign in either DaS1 nor 2... And things are better/faster in 2 regardless.\n\nPost: Spamming signs didn't help in Dark Souls 1. It didn't cycle you through \"servers\" faster nor impact your IP pool. It was just a common rumor. Putting down your sign once and simply waiting was the best thing to do. \n There is only one server per platform in Dark Souls 2, so there is still no need to ever spam a summon sign. Matchmaking is much faster and more reliable than in a Dark Souls 1 because of this. If someone is in range of you and the right conditions are met, your sign is basically guaranteed to show up for them within 30 seconds of being cast (maybe taking up to a minute sometimes). It's very very rare for it to take longer. And new people who enter the area where your sign was already down can also see it.","Summary: The words \"Hollow, abyss, and everlasting\" are all in one song. I think as far as songs that remind me of Dark Souls, I don't think that can be topped (without going down the road of blatant fantasy story-telling, of course).\n\nPost: There are 2 songs by Björk that reminded me of the Souls games. Yes, I must be playing these games too much as well... \n \n Her song [Oceania]( has this following lyric - \n \n > Stingrays are floating across the sky. Little ones... \n I don't know if the mental image of a flying stingray in the sky is more relatable to some other piece of media or culture, but it's not anything I've ever seen outside of Demon's Souls. And while they don't seem small at first (\"little ones\"), the flying stringrays are babies, and tiny compared to the full-sized version. I realize \"little ones\" is probably referring to the next line in the music and not the flying stingrays, but I can't un-hear it. \n Complete lyrics are: \n > One breath away from mother Oceania \n> Your nimble feet make prints in my sands \n> You have done good for yourselves \n> Since you left my wet embrace \n> And crawled ashore \n> Every boy, is a snake is a lily \n> Every pearl is a lynx, is a girl \n> Sweet like harmony made into flesh \n> You dance by my side \n> Children sublime \n> You show me continents \n> I see islands \n> You count the centuries \n> I blink my eyes \n> Hawks and sparrows race in my waters \n> Stingrays are floating \n> Across the sky \n> Little ones, my sons and my daughters \n> Your sweat is salty \n> I am why \n The song is completely made of voices, fun little bonus (whole album, actually). All music is beatboxing, choir, weird Mike Patton vocal samples, etc. If that's up your alley... \n \n \n The song [Hollow]( \n \n This one is a bit more interesting than the one visual image the other song conjures of Demon's Souls. It's not only called Hollow, but I can relate the first several lines, and a couple more: \n > Hollow, my ancestors have access \n> Hollow, I'm falling down the abyss \n> Hollow, looking for some answers \n> Generations of mothers sailing in \n> Somehow they all were shipfolks \n> Hollow, the ground is opening up \n> Swallows, me up, the trunk of DNA \n> The trunk of DNA, trunk \n> Now come forth, all species \n> Hollow like a bead in necklace \n> Thread me upon this chain \n> I'm part of it, ohh \n> The everlasting necklace \n> Jewels after jewels after jewels after \n> Jewels after jewels after jewels \n> I yearn to belong, let me belong, let me belong \n \"Hollow, my ancestors have access\" reminds me of hollows and their ancestry (the pygmy). What is it that hollows have access to, exactly? Could be a number of things... \n \"Hollow, I'm falling down the abyss\", enough said. \n \"Hollow, looking for some answers...\" could be the motive of several NPCs in the world of Dark Souls. I believe it was also meant to be a theme of the game that wasn't fully developed, the idea that you, the player-character, is searching for a sort of 'cure' for the Undead Curse. Something was said vaguely along these lines in early, poorly-translated Dark Souls promo-texts, and might possibly be the actual plot of Dark Souls 2 this time around. \n \"Hollow, the ground is opening up...\" sort of reminds me of the spreading abyss in Oolacile; swallowing the town and opening up holes in the ground of the Royal Wood. \n \"The trunk of DNA, the trunk of DNA, trunk...\". In this line, the word \"trunk\" is used the most often, and it's also talking about DNA. This reminds me of the sort-of Yggdrasil-inspired world in Dark Souls. Heavy use of the word \"trunk\" reminds of the trees and branches that support the world above, and DNA as an oblique connection to life growing from (or literally on-top of) the trees. \n \"Hollow like a bead in necklace, thread me upon this chain...\" could be about how not all hollows will be the chosen undead, you're just one of many in a long line of cursed undead. Also, the word \"everlasting\" happens to be in there. \n Obviously there is no real connection between these lyrics and the souls games, but Hollow can be interpreted to make several references, not just one.","Summary: It was rushed and more poorly designed than other areas.\n\nPost: From Demon Ruins into Lost Izalith, you begin to have more open spaces with what seems like less care regarding enemy placement. A bunch of Taurus Demons, Capra Demons, Demonic Statues, and Bounding Demons... most of which seem to be placed somewhat randomly. It's almost as if you could place them anywhere else in the level and it wouldn't make much of a difference. There's less cohesion between the map and the enemies. \n > Upon launch, the Bounding Demons could see you from extremely far away, making the lava area of Lost Izalith a hellish nightmare. Instead of just reducing the aggro distance a bit, they nerfed it by a ton. The complete 180 on how that area played out showed that they had no interest in committing to how it was originally, probably indicating that they were unhappy with it themselves. \n > They also admitted to time constraints and apologized for the Bed of Chaos. They were developing an alternate version that was mobile, but instead opted for the \"puzzle\" version we got.","Summary: Wait till we understand things better before we jump to making things like petitions.\n\nPost: It's very possible there are some flaws that will need addressing, however we need some time for the meta to mature to really have a better understanding of A) What needs to be improved, and B) How it would best be improved. \n For example, we don't have a full understanding of how soul memory restrictions work, and how all the items and level ranges work either. People are saying Soul Memory gets removed in NG+, but it's certainly NOT just a +/- 50k souls in regular NG either.","Summary: Ratings aren't always consistent, violence has a trend of becoming more acceptable, and there's no evidence Dark Souls 2 was dumbed down to avoid the M rating. Certainly the giant's faces would have no bearing on that.\n\nPost: Obviously bullshit sadly \n No way. The Souls games straddle the \"M\" rating to begin with. It's not a surprise that another game that's very similar to Dark Souls 1 could get a lesser rating. \n It's also a newer game, so it's possible that the ratings are becoming a bit more lax. We're talking about whether or not a souls game deserves the same rating as a GTA game. Perfectly understandable if the fantasy violence of x Souls doesn't reach into that category. \n Take movies, for example. As recent as the early 90s, some horror films would have to cut scenes of people being shot in the head (even zombies!) to keep an R rating instead of getting an X rating. Only a decade later, we wound up with Rambo 4, which somehow managed an R rating when including scenes of babies and infants being shot, impaled, thrown into fires, etc. It was way, WAY more violent than something like the Night of the Living Dead remake, which had to censor itself to keep it R.","Summary: It's recommended that you be somewhere between levels 105 - 187 when doing Darkmoon invasions. 105 can invade 34-125, 187 can invade 100-215. No matter what you should try to include the 100-125 playerbase within your range, and then it's up to you if you want to aim higher or lower around that.\n\nPost: You'll want to be a higher level if you're going to use the Blue Eye Orb (and even then, it still requires patience to sit through failed invasions). \n There's a couple reasons for this- \n 1) The Blue Eye Orb has a larger downwards range than an upwards range. A level 20 person using the BEO can invade levels 1 - 32, a level 80 person using the BEO can invade levels 14 - 98. See the massive difference in the # of levels available? This is because the former has its downwards range being wasted and capping at level 1. 63 is the highest level that can invade down to level 1, so you should never ever be lower than level 63 if you're trying to use the Blue Eye Orb because you're unnecessarily limiting your range. \n So you're recommending level 63? \n Not quite! ... \n 2) It's not as common for lower level players to rack up Sin, meaning a level 1 player is less likely to be invade-able than a level 120 player. So I wouldn't bother trying to target low level players to begin with. \n If you want to know the range of players you're targeting, there's an explanation of the level range [here]( and a [calculator here](","Summary: They messed up, and any diagram \"explaining\" the transition should basically be saying how it should be how it would make the most sense. But not how it's literally laid out. \n edit: I now realize OP is making the case that the elevator makes sense to him because of the diagram. But again, that really only works if you really stretch the geography and don't take it literally. We can look at the map data and see how wrong it is. :)\n\nPost: Ah yes, it's not really going to work either way because the map data just doesn't support it. \n I think the diagram is okay if we accept that geography just doesn't match up 1:1 in this game. We walk a really short distance to go from Majula to Heide's Tower of Flame, yet it looks pretty far off in the distance from Majula. We can look at the diagram and say the Iron Keep expanse is supposed to be nestled further back and somehow crammed into that small space, because that's what's implied, but it's definitely not literally there in the map data. \n From the director- \n > Tanimura: The idea is that the lake of magma is actually on the upper strata, like a caldera lake on a plateau. However, looking down from the top it was far too wide, that and the fact that there isn’t an adequate transition between locations meant we didn’t really communicate the idea as well as we could have.","Summary: There's a bunch of stuff allowed there that I want to see gone, or at least wrapped up in tighter rules. I don't make the rules, I was invited to delete spoilers and unallowed content, but I think I have a few ideas that are hopefully okay with the other mods. They wouldn't turn the board around 100%, but I'd love to steer the ship away from r/gaming as much as possible if I can.\n\nPost: Be more like /u/illusorywall and at least try to foster a good environment. \n Hey thanks dude! I dislike the repetitive, low-quality content just as much as anyone else, so I always try to post something new. I have to admit that I don't feel totally in sync with r/shittydarksouls though, I think I'm more bothered by other things I don't see being made fun of as much here (unless I'm just missing it). So much derision for 'Sif makes me cry' posts, which usually just make me laugh. But things like screenshots of text messages and 'funny ragdoll' pictures clog up the board and bury discussion more often. \n I think the basic problem with r/darksouls isn't a laziness in active moderation, just that the rules haven't been reworked to match the huge subscriber base. When the board was smaller, and there wasn't nearly as much shitposting, the community was more unified in downvoting stuff that were borderline violations of the rules, or just crappy in general. The rules weren't more strict or better enforced back then, it's just that the system of downvoting actually helped where the rules didn't. \n That time is now long gone, and the mods are only continuing to primarily remove topics that are technically in violation of the rules. I know I and some of the others are checking the \"new\" section frequently, looking for things to remove. So the reason you still see lots of shitty topics isn't because we're not trying, but because we're not enabled by the rules to do more. This is the problem. \n Just take a look at this crappy repost: \n I removed it, but didn't have any rules to cite or back me up. I just did it anyways, because we all know that sort of thing shouldn't be allowed.","Summary: Snipe 2, poison 2. Using Dung Pies I believe it takes 3 solid hits to poison them, and three poisoning events are needed to kill one. This means you need at least 9 per Salamander assuming you don't miss. So you need a bit of a stockpile.\n\nPost: My strategy was similar, but a little different. \n 1) - Kill the one that snipes you from the cave-hallway (the one you usually meet first unless you look down from the above area earlier) 15 times. Now it's gone I don't have to deal with more than 1 from the cave area. \n A good way to do this is use the opened door in the cave hallway to block the fireballs. Step a bit to the right for a projectile shot, then move back to the left. \n 2) Snipe the Salamander from step 2 just like you said. \n 3) Drop in using the Cat Ring. I land on the rubble at the far end for the least amount of fall damage. \n 4) Throw dung pies or cast toxic at salamander blocking cave, run back to behind pillar incase you catch its aggro and it shoots at you (it often doesn't with dung pies if you do it from the far enough away). \n 5) Enter the cave, throw a single dung pie at the salamander. This time it catches its aggro, unlike the other, so only throw one. Lock on and back up out towards the cave entrance. Throw 2 more dung pies when you have an opening for it. Run back out when poison triggers, go back for more and repeat until dead.","Summary: Asking for documentation regarding debated topics is the sensible thing to do.\n\nPost: It's been known for a long ass time that alternating R2/L2 breaks grapples quicker in most From games. \n Only in Dark Souls 1, and it didn't actually require alternating any buttons. This is exactly why we need better testing & information, because there's a lot of assumptions or things just kind of being taken for granted. \n OP has since tested it, and found an instance where the grab animation ended more quickly but damage was not reduced. If it doesn't reduce damage, then it's not remotely as effective as people are assuming.","Summary: 1) Escape the prison and get to the Duke's Archives bonfire. Don't kill Seath yet. \n 2) Warp to Undead Parish. Warp Back to Duke's Archives. \n 3) Kill the nearest hollow for 1 free humanity. \n 4) Repeat steps 2 and 3. \n I realize this still would take quite some time with the nature of TwichPlaysDark, but with the dupe glitch probably out of the picture, this is a way that humanity can be farmed much , much faster than killing enemies the normal way.\n\nPost: Every time you escape the Prison in Duke's Archvies, the first hollow you kill automatically gives you 1 soft humanity. This is kind of independent of the system where killing a bunch of enemies gives you soft humanity, it's a special event. Probably a consolation gift for the \"forced\" death of the first Seath encounter. \n Anyways, Duke's Archives wasn't always a warpable location from the start, that was patched in (and from that probably comes this oversight/ glitch). For some reason, warping in from the Undead Parish bonfire tricks the game into thinking you've just escaped the prison again. This means that the first hollow you kill here rewards the humanity again, every time. As long as Seath isn't dead yet.","Summary: Is it possible to figure out how to force their spawning if modders get their hands on a save file that loads up a Vagrant?\n\nPost: It'd be pretty cool if there was a mod that forced Vagrants to always appear at every possible spawn location. \n How would it be done? \n I don't have the PC version nor any knowhow when it comes to modding, but isn't it typically done by poking around into the memory and figuring out how to force their triggers? Like the gravelorded mod. For that to have been figured out in the first place, someone must have gotten gravelorded on purpose and looked for the relevant data, right? \n The issue with Vagrants is that they're rare and most people don't know how to spawn one reliably for themselves, making it seem impossible. However, I've done a crapload of Vagrant testing, and if anyone on the PC is interested, I could walk you through it and get both types of Vagrants to show up for you. \n Getting save data with a Vagrant in it? \n One barrier would be getting a copy of the right save data, I'd think. There have been a few reports of people seeing Vagrants offline, which if true, means that it should be possible to get your hands on a copy of a save file that always has a Vagrant every time you load it. \n The issue is that it'd be a little tricky to know when, exactly, the Vagrant is received by the player. You can't save the game while a Vagrant is present and expect it to still be there when you reload the file. The Vagrant is most likely sent to the player before it actually spawns, spawning upon reloading the area (death, warping). \n You'd have to magically know when the game has saved that a Vagrant is incoming... or, if it's possible to have it so that the game writes a new save file every time it autosaves (instead of overwriting the save file), then if you spawn a Vagrant you should have the right moment saved in there somewhere. I know there are automated save backups for PC, but are they capable of writing a new file literally every time it autosaves? If so, something like that should make it possible. \n \n I'm not requesting that anyone actually does this, I realize the interest probably isn't there. However, I think that most modders (the ones capable of making something like the gravelorded mod) would probably turn away due to the logistics of working with Vagrants. I'm just wondering if what I've laid out is a viable way to actually pull it off.","Summary: Find a range that works in NG+, it also works in NG. Find a range that doesn't work in NG, it doesn't work in NG+ either. \n credit goes to /u/OpTic_Niko, [Hellkite Drake]( and /u/eur0pa for helping me with testing. Niko has endured a lot of it... we've done a lot more than what's currently referenced in this post. More to come.\n\nPost: I'm planning on making a SM \"Mega Thread\" hopefully sometime soon. There's a lot of confusion and misinformation regarding it, so I'm working on a comprehensive testing project to get all the nuts and bolts worked out. \n There's a fair amount of more work that has to be done, though, as well as testing to make sure nothing's changed with the new patch, so I figured this can warrant its own topic in the mean time. \n Soul Memory works the same in NG+ \n The most cited reason for people believing in NG+ dropping requirements was \"but I paired with someone who was millions of Soul Memory away!\" Testing has demonstrated that this also happens in regular NG, if you manage to stick around NG long enough and get SM that high. You can even reach a \"top tier\" of Soul Memory in regular NG, allowing you to connect to others who are literally hundreds of millions of Soul Memory away. So the idea that \"being able to connect millions away\" didn't strike me as decent evidence for the NG+ theory at all. \n There was zero reassurance that: \n \n A specific range from specific values that failed in regular NG became possible in NG+ \n A specific range that's possible in NG+ wasn't also possible in regular NG. \n \n Those are the kind of things that needed to be tested in order to actually know if there was a difference. Here are the results: \n \n \n (Test #1) - WSS, without Name-Engraved Ring \n \n In regular NG: \n SM 5m Phantom using WSS did not have sign show up for 10m Host. \nSM 6m Phantom using WSS did not have sign show up for 10m Host. \nSM 7m Phantom using WSS DID have the sign finally show up for 10m Host. \n In NG+: \n Exact same results. \n \n (Test #2) - WSS, without Name-Engraved Ring \n \n In regular NG: \n SM 100k Phantom using WSS did not have sign show up for 40k Host. \nSM 100k Phantom using WSS DID have the sign show up for 50k Host. \n In NG+: \n Exact same results. \n \n (Test #3) - WSS, with Name-Engraved Ring \n \n In regular NG: \n SM 8m Phantom using WSS did not have sign show up for 15m Host. \nSM 9m Phantom using WSS DID have the sign show up for 15m Host. \n In NG+: \n Exact same results.","Summary: 1) It's a neat menu in the debug interface, and \n2) I still have no idea how Item Discovery scales exactly. But just tell yourself 410 Item Discovery increases drop rates somewhere in the ballpark of 3.5x compared to base Item Discovery for a lot of items, and that's close enough. \n edit: Oh, duh. This explains the discrepancies. I can take a look at it later to probably figure out the exact scaling: \n \n But wait, there's more! \n There's an accumulator value for certain enemies that may affect drop rates based on the number of times you kill an enemy! Wulf pointed this out to me. This isn't expected to come into play for any of the items tested here, but it seems to be the value that forces the drop of certain \"rare\" items after killing the last of a certain enemy type (getting the guaranteed Symbol of Avarice from the last Mimic, the Sack from the last Butcher, etc). We still need to take a closer look at that system to see if there are any surprises.\n\nPost: I found this interesting because I've never seen anything concrete on how Item Discovery scales. We already have the values for the exact drop rates of all items at base Item Discovery (that info is found in [the game's data]( but I haven't seen a formula or values to demonstrate how increasing Item Discovery affects it. \n Thanks to help I got from a translator, we found a menu called \"Item Lottery System\" that I'd missed due to it (and everything in it) being in Japanese. \n You input an enemy's ID, and can set the number of times you roll- each roll being one kill. It lets you do up to 10,000 at once, and logs the accumulative result. It even spits out a percentage for each item for you. Here's what it looks like: \n After \"killing\" 10,000 rats with 100 Item Discovery, you can see that I got nothing 9,476 times, and 1x humanity 524 times. According to the data the drop rate is 5%, and this test session resulted in 5.24%. So far so good. \n But what happens if you increase Item Discovery to max? I made a doc after testing several items- \n I tested the Balder Side Sword at every possible in-game value of Item Discovery, then I also tested the Titanite Slab, Channeler's Trident, Ghost Blade, and White Titanite Slab just at min and max Item Discovery. I also tested each one 10 times and averaged the result, to get the values from killing 100,000 enemies instead of just 10,000. \n What seems to be the case is that between 100-300 Item Discovery, it scales evenly. 200 Item Discovery should give you roughly 2x the drops as 100, 300 should give you roughly 3x the drops. \n But after that, it seems to have some kind of diminishing return. At 410 Item Discovery, the Balder Side side dropped ~3.86x more often, the Titanite Slab dropped only ~2.97x more often, the Channeler's Trident managed almost 4x, and the White Slab got only ~3.3x. \n Why these differ so much I'm not sure, maybe it's the nature of RNG (see edit/ link below), but it's pretty clear that staying under 4.1x is the norm, so there is some kind of diminishing return in there somewhere. \n Another way to spot it is with the cells I've highlighted blue and red. A cell is blue if that individual test is equal to or higher than what the average drop rate should be. It's red if it's lower, and we're assuming that for max ID that it should be 4.1x times better. You can see that the Max Item discovery tests are full of red cells, showing that they are averaging around some kind of lower value.","Summary: When your cooldown timer ends, a secondary timer begins \n You can be invaded while the secondary timer is running, and if you do, you increase your \"Limit Level\", which results in cooldown timers of increasing lengths \n Everything is set back down to 0 if the secondary timer runs out, or you use dried fingers/ conduct an invasion yourself, etc. So this is nothing permanent or that you'd have to worry about. Just a detail we didn't really understand before. \n \n \n \n After Invasion Ends \n Limit Level \n Cooldown Timer \n obTimer \n \n \n \n \n 1st \n 1 \n 15m \n 10m \n \n \n 2nd \n 2 \n 15m \n 10m \n \n \n 3rd \n 3 \n 20m \n 8m \n \n \n 4th \n 4 \n 20m \n 8m \n \n \n 5th \n 5 \n 20m \n 8m \n \n \n 6th \n 6 \n 25m \n 5m \n \n \n 7th \n 7 \n 25m \n 5m \n \n \n 8th \n 8 \n 25m \n 5m \n \n \n 9th \n 9 \n 30m \n 3m \n \n \n 10th \n 10 \n 30m \n 3m \n \n \n \n edit: Everything else here should still be accurate, I just need to update it to include the correct timers and not just leave it at 15 minutes-\n\nPost: This is something I overlooked when testing the cooldown timer before. I think because when clearing the timer to test it, I was unwittingly clearing the corresponding \"limit level\" as well, which made me never see this effect. \n So how this works is you have three values relating to your cooldown: \nA) Limit Level \nB) Cooldown Timer \nC) obTimer (think of it as the \"follow up\" timer) \n Let's say you just had an invasion end. All three of those values will update accordingly. So if it's your first invasion in this session, your Limit Level becomes 1, your cooldown timer starts counting down from 15 minutes, and your obTimer is frozen at 10 minutes. \n Once the cooldown timer that was set to 15 minutes clears, you can be invaded again. But when that happens, the obTimer starts counting down. If that timer clears before getting invaded again, everything clears out back down to 0, and you won't build up your Limit Level. If you get invaded again before obTimer clears, then this next invasion session will end by adding plus 1 to your Limit Level. Reaching higher Limit Levels will increase the length of your cooldown timer. Oddly enough, the obTimer will also decrease in length, making it harder to build up/ keep the longer cooldown timers if you manage to get there in the first place.","Summary: It looks like there would have been an alternate summoning system where your friendliness or hostility to the host was determined by if your character tendency was similar or not. \n There would have been two status effect buffs to increase your odds of being summoned as either phantom type, but instead they were replaced with simply buffing your damage as either phantom type. \n The removal of this system decreased the relevance of Character Tendency, however it was likely for the betterment of the co-op/ PvP system.\n\nPost: This is pretty odd! This text was found next to the description of another unused game mode. It's almost like a small graveyard of game concepts... \n > * If the alignment of a living player is close to a ghost, they will be summoned as a white ghost \n > * If the alignment of a living player is far from a ghost, they will be summoned as a black ghost \n (white ghost and black ghost refer to the Blue and Black-Red phantom types as we know them, this is clarified) \n So I believe what this is saying, is that depending on how similar or dissimilar a ghost is to a host will determine whether or not they are friendly or or hostile to them. In other words: \n \n host w/ white character tendency summoning phantom w/ white character tendency = co-op phantom summoned \n host w/ black character tendency summoning phantom w/ black character tendency = co-op phantom summoned \n host w/ white character tendency summoning phantom w/ black character tendency (and vice versa) = hostile phantom summoned \n \n I mean, that's what the quote is saying, right? \n That might also mean that the host wouldn't know what they were summoning in advance, unless the color of the sign adjusted automatically for them. But in that case anyways, the player casting their sign wouldn't know what color sign they're sending out to others, meaning you don't know if you're winding up in co-op or PvP until you get there. \n \n Something else that supports this is the explanation of some status effects under a \"test' section. The text dump lists out the status effects more than once. One of the lists looks like what we'd recognize. Stuff like: \n > Equip Weight UP \n> HP Recovery \n> * Fall Damage DOWN \netc \n The other list is mostly identical, but it's more descriptive: \n > Highest possible weight of equipable items rises \n> HP continues to recover. Weak version of cleric's Regenerate magic \n> * Decreases damage & sound from falls (Fatal falling height remains the same) \netc \n However, one of the key differences between these two lists is the status effects for \"Phantom Power UP\" and \"Black Phan. Pwr UP\". \n These effects come from equipping the Friend or Foe's Ring, but they also occur based on Character Tendency . I don't recall if the status icons show up like when you equip the rings, but nevertheless you get co-op damage bonus with white tendency and black phantom damage bonus with black tendency. \n The second list does NOT include these status effects. In their place (the list is mostly in the same order), these effects are listed instead: \n \n Higher probability of being summoned and becoming a White Ghost \n Higher probability of being summoned and becoming a Black Ghost"],"string":"[\n \"Summary: Find Token of Spite \\n-Duel in BoB Arena \\n-No sin will be acquired \\n Bear in mind that BoB ranking up requires net wins in the arena. If you lose more often than you win, you'll never rank up.\\n\\nPost: Only winning BoB arena duels counts towards ranking up in BoB, which does not come with sin. \\n Killing players with Cracked Red Eye Orbs does give you sin, but that doesn't contribute at all towards ranking up, so it's unnecessary. You also do not need to kill any players to get Tokens of Spite- you can find one in the environment and it works permanently (BoB duels do not consume the tokens of spite, 1 is enough for infinite matches).\",\n \"Summary: Topics show up based on a combination of how recent and upvoted they are. \\n Within topics, upvoting/downvoting individual posts helps bring content to the top or pushes it to the bottom, respectively.\\n\\nPost: Anyone can upvote or downvote both topics and individual posts. \\n Reddit uses some kind of formula to determine what reaches the \\\"hot\\\" section of a subreddit, which is like the subreddit's front page. It's a combination of how new and well received (upvoted) it is. \\n To clarify- by default, you're likely in the \\\"hot\\\" section already, notice there are links to other pages (found beneath the \\\"Dark Souls\\\" header) titled: hot/ new/ rising/ controversial / etc. \\n If a topic is brand new and has a few upvotes, it'll likely appear on the front page/\\\"hot\\\". If it only got a few upvotes but is already hours old, then it may be bumped down to the second page or further back. If it is a day old but got lots of upvotes it'll probably still be present on the front page, since its age is countered by its popularity. \\n Does that make sense?\",\n \"Summary: If your weapon's attack is a straight thrusting stab/jab/poke, and not a slashing or bashing motion, it is capable of doing counter damage and being boosted further by the Leo Ring. Bolts + Arrows included.\\n\\nPost: You can read more information here- \\n When you attack an enemy with a thrust or piercing attack (anything that looks like a straight stab/poke, as opposed to a slash), you can do bonus 20% damage if you hit them within a specific window of time. You need to hit them at the same time they're attacking you- landing your blow the same moment their weapon extends outwards, or very quickly afterwards. \\n To practice counter damage, try attacking an enemy while they aren't attacking, then try again at the same time. An attack that only does 100 damage should do 120 if counter was triggered. \\n The Leo Ring boosts counter damage even further by 40%- in other words, for the attack that did 100 damage without counter, it's the 120 number that gets boosted again by another 40%, turning 100 damage into 168 damage (68% boost). \\n \\n Note that the Leo Ring is claimed to give a boost to \\\"pierce weapons\\\". You can mostly ignore this, don't think about weapons in terms of their class, but their individual movesets instead. Weapons that are advertised as thrusting weapons are obviously a good choice, but it technically works with anything that does a straight thrusting motion. \\n For example, the Bandit's Knife is titled as a Slashing weapon, with most of its attacks only being slashes. However, the rolling R1 attack is a straight jab, which is capable of doing counter damage.\",\n \"Summary: don't spam your sign in either DaS1 nor 2... And things are better/faster in 2 regardless.\\n\\nPost: Spamming signs didn't help in Dark Souls 1. It didn't cycle you through \\\"servers\\\" faster nor impact your IP pool. It was just a common rumor. Putting down your sign once and simply waiting was the best thing to do. \\n There is only one server per platform in Dark Souls 2, so there is still no need to ever spam a summon sign. Matchmaking is much faster and more reliable than in a Dark Souls 1 because of this. If someone is in range of you and the right conditions are met, your sign is basically guaranteed to show up for them within 30 seconds of being cast (maybe taking up to a minute sometimes). It's very very rare for it to take longer. And new people who enter the area where your sign was already down can also see it.\",\n \"Summary: The words \\\"Hollow, abyss, and everlasting\\\" are all in one song. I think as far as songs that remind me of Dark Souls, I don't think that can be topped (without going down the road of blatant fantasy story-telling, of course).\\n\\nPost: There are 2 songs by Björk that reminded me of the Souls games. Yes, I must be playing these games too much as well... \\n \\n Her song [Oceania]( has this following lyric - \\n \\n > Stingrays are floating across the sky. Little ones... \\n I don't know if the mental image of a flying stingray in the sky is more relatable to some other piece of media or culture, but it's not anything I've ever seen outside of Demon's Souls. And while they don't seem small at first (\\\"little ones\\\"), the flying stringrays are babies, and tiny compared to the full-sized version. I realize \\\"little ones\\\" is probably referring to the next line in the music and not the flying stingrays, but I can't un-hear it. \\n Complete lyrics are: \\n > One breath away from mother Oceania \\n> Your nimble feet make prints in my sands \\n> You have done good for yourselves \\n> Since you left my wet embrace \\n> And crawled ashore \\n> Every boy, is a snake is a lily \\n> Every pearl is a lynx, is a girl \\n> Sweet like harmony made into flesh \\n> You dance by my side \\n> Children sublime \\n> You show me continents \\n> I see islands \\n> You count the centuries \\n> I blink my eyes \\n> Hawks and sparrows race in my waters \\n> Stingrays are floating \\n> Across the sky \\n> Little ones, my sons and my daughters \\n> Your sweat is salty \\n> I am why \\n The song is completely made of voices, fun little bonus (whole album, actually). All music is beatboxing, choir, weird Mike Patton vocal samples, etc. If that's up your alley... \\n \\n \\n The song [Hollow]( \\n \\n This one is a bit more interesting than the one visual image the other song conjures of Demon's Souls. It's not only called Hollow, but I can relate the first several lines, and a couple more: \\n > Hollow, my ancestors have access \\n> Hollow, I'm falling down the abyss \\n> Hollow, looking for some answers \\n> Generations of mothers sailing in \\n> Somehow they all were shipfolks \\n> Hollow, the ground is opening up \\n> Swallows, me up, the trunk of DNA \\n> The trunk of DNA, trunk \\n> Now come forth, all species \\n> Hollow like a bead in necklace \\n> Thread me upon this chain \\n> I'm part of it, ohh \\n> The everlasting necklace \\n> Jewels after jewels after jewels after \\n> Jewels after jewels after jewels \\n> I yearn to belong, let me belong, let me belong \\n \\\"Hollow, my ancestors have access\\\" reminds me of hollows and their ancestry (the pygmy). What is it that hollows have access to, exactly? Could be a number of things... \\n \\\"Hollow, I'm falling down the abyss\\\", enough said. \\n \\\"Hollow, looking for some answers...\\\" could be the motive of several NPCs in the world of Dark Souls. I believe it was also meant to be a theme of the game that wasn't fully developed, the idea that you, the player-character, is searching for a sort of 'cure' for the Undead Curse. Something was said vaguely along these lines in early, poorly-translated Dark Souls promo-texts, and might possibly be the actual plot of Dark Souls 2 this time around. \\n \\\"Hollow, the ground is opening up...\\\" sort of reminds me of the spreading abyss in Oolacile; swallowing the town and opening up holes in the ground of the Royal Wood. \\n \\\"The trunk of DNA, the trunk of DNA, trunk...\\\". In this line, the word \\\"trunk\\\" is used the most often, and it's also talking about DNA. This reminds me of the sort-of Yggdrasil-inspired world in Dark Souls. Heavy use of the word \\\"trunk\\\" reminds of the trees and branches that support the world above, and DNA as an oblique connection to life growing from (or literally on-top of) the trees. \\n \\\"Hollow like a bead in necklace, thread me upon this chain...\\\" could be about how not all hollows will be the chosen undead, you're just one of many in a long line of cursed undead. Also, the word \\\"everlasting\\\" happens to be in there. \\n Obviously there is no real connection between these lyrics and the souls games, but Hollow can be interpreted to make several references, not just one.\",\n \"Summary: It was rushed and more poorly designed than other areas.\\n\\nPost: From Demon Ruins into Lost Izalith, you begin to have more open spaces with what seems like less care regarding enemy placement. A bunch of Taurus Demons, Capra Demons, Demonic Statues, and Bounding Demons... most of which seem to be placed somewhat randomly. It's almost as if you could place them anywhere else in the level and it wouldn't make much of a difference. There's less cohesion between the map and the enemies. \\n > Upon launch, the Bounding Demons could see you from extremely far away, making the lava area of Lost Izalith a hellish nightmare. Instead of just reducing the aggro distance a bit, they nerfed it by a ton. The complete 180 on how that area played out showed that they had no interest in committing to how it was originally, probably indicating that they were unhappy with it themselves. \\n > They also admitted to time constraints and apologized for the Bed of Chaos. They were developing an alternate version that was mobile, but instead opted for the \\\"puzzle\\\" version we got.\",\n \"Summary: Wait till we understand things better before we jump to making things like petitions.\\n\\nPost: It's very possible there are some flaws that will need addressing, however we need some time for the meta to mature to really have a better understanding of A) What needs to be improved, and B) How it would best be improved. \\n For example, we don't have a full understanding of how soul memory restrictions work, and how all the items and level ranges work either. People are saying Soul Memory gets removed in NG+, but it's certainly NOT just a +/- 50k souls in regular NG either.\",\n \"Summary: Ratings aren't always consistent, violence has a trend of becoming more acceptable, and there's no evidence Dark Souls 2 was dumbed down to avoid the M rating. Certainly the giant's faces would have no bearing on that.\\n\\nPost: Obviously bullshit sadly \\n No way. The Souls games straddle the \\\"M\\\" rating to begin with. It's not a surprise that another game that's very similar to Dark Souls 1 could get a lesser rating. \\n It's also a newer game, so it's possible that the ratings are becoming a bit more lax. We're talking about whether or not a souls game deserves the same rating as a GTA game. Perfectly understandable if the fantasy violence of x Souls doesn't reach into that category. \\n Take movies, for example. As recent as the early 90s, some horror films would have to cut scenes of people being shot in the head (even zombies!) to keep an R rating instead of getting an X rating. Only a decade later, we wound up with Rambo 4, which somehow managed an R rating when including scenes of babies and infants being shot, impaled, thrown into fires, etc. It was way, WAY more violent than something like the Night of the Living Dead remake, which had to censor itself to keep it R.\",\n \"Summary: It's recommended that you be somewhere between levels 105 - 187 when doing Darkmoon invasions. 105 can invade 34-125, 187 can invade 100-215. No matter what you should try to include the 100-125 playerbase within your range, and then it's up to you if you want to aim higher or lower around that.\\n\\nPost: You'll want to be a higher level if you're going to use the Blue Eye Orb (and even then, it still requires patience to sit through failed invasions). \\n There's a couple reasons for this- \\n 1) The Blue Eye Orb has a larger downwards range than an upwards range. A level 20 person using the BEO can invade levels 1 - 32, a level 80 person using the BEO can invade levels 14 - 98. See the massive difference in the # of levels available? This is because the former has its downwards range being wasted and capping at level 1. 63 is the highest level that can invade down to level 1, so you should never ever be lower than level 63 if you're trying to use the Blue Eye Orb because you're unnecessarily limiting your range. \\n So you're recommending level 63? \\n Not quite! ... \\n 2) It's not as common for lower level players to rack up Sin, meaning a level 1 player is less likely to be invade-able than a level 120 player. So I wouldn't bother trying to target low level players to begin with. \\n If you want to know the range of players you're targeting, there's an explanation of the level range [here]( and a [calculator here](\",\n \"Summary: They messed up, and any diagram \\\"explaining\\\" the transition should basically be saying how it should be how it would make the most sense. But not how it's literally laid out. \\n edit: I now realize OP is making the case that the elevator makes sense to him because of the diagram. But again, that really only works if you really stretch the geography and don't take it literally. We can look at the map data and see how wrong it is. :)\\n\\nPost: Ah yes, it's not really going to work either way because the map data just doesn't support it. \\n I think the diagram is okay if we accept that geography just doesn't match up 1:1 in this game. We walk a really short distance to go from Majula to Heide's Tower of Flame, yet it looks pretty far off in the distance from Majula. We can look at the diagram and say the Iron Keep expanse is supposed to be nestled further back and somehow crammed into that small space, because that's what's implied, but it's definitely not literally there in the map data. \\n From the director- \\n > Tanimura: The idea is that the lake of magma is actually on the upper strata, like a caldera lake on a plateau. However, looking down from the top it was far too wide, that and the fact that there isn’t an adequate transition between locations meant we didn’t really communicate the idea as well as we could have.\",\n \"Summary: There's a bunch of stuff allowed there that I want to see gone, or at least wrapped up in tighter rules. I don't make the rules, I was invited to delete spoilers and unallowed content, but I think I have a few ideas that are hopefully okay with the other mods. They wouldn't turn the board around 100%, but I'd love to steer the ship away from r/gaming as much as possible if I can.\\n\\nPost: Be more like /u/illusorywall and at least try to foster a good environment. \\n Hey thanks dude! I dislike the repetitive, low-quality content just as much as anyone else, so I always try to post something new. I have to admit that I don't feel totally in sync with r/shittydarksouls though, I think I'm more bothered by other things I don't see being made fun of as much here (unless I'm just missing it). So much derision for 'Sif makes me cry' posts, which usually just make me laugh. But things like screenshots of text messages and 'funny ragdoll' pictures clog up the board and bury discussion more often. \\n I think the basic problem with r/darksouls isn't a laziness in active moderation, just that the rules haven't been reworked to match the huge subscriber base. When the board was smaller, and there wasn't nearly as much shitposting, the community was more unified in downvoting stuff that were borderline violations of the rules, or just crappy in general. The rules weren't more strict or better enforced back then, it's just that the system of downvoting actually helped where the rules didn't. \\n That time is now long gone, and the mods are only continuing to primarily remove topics that are technically in violation of the rules. I know I and some of the others are checking the \\\"new\\\" section frequently, looking for things to remove. So the reason you still see lots of shitty topics isn't because we're not trying, but because we're not enabled by the rules to do more. This is the problem. \\n Just take a look at this crappy repost: \\n I removed it, but didn't have any rules to cite or back me up. I just did it anyways, because we all know that sort of thing shouldn't be allowed.\",\n \"Summary: Snipe 2, poison 2. Using Dung Pies I believe it takes 3 solid hits to poison them, and three poisoning events are needed to kill one. This means you need at least 9 per Salamander assuming you don't miss. So you need a bit of a stockpile.\\n\\nPost: My strategy was similar, but a little different. \\n 1) - Kill the one that snipes you from the cave-hallway (the one you usually meet first unless you look down from the above area earlier) 15 times. Now it's gone I don't have to deal with more than 1 from the cave area. \\n A good way to do this is use the opened door in the cave hallway to block the fireballs. Step a bit to the right for a projectile shot, then move back to the left. \\n 2) Snipe the Salamander from step 2 just like you said. \\n 3) Drop in using the Cat Ring. I land on the rubble at the far end for the least amount of fall damage. \\n 4) Throw dung pies or cast toxic at salamander blocking cave, run back to behind pillar incase you catch its aggro and it shoots at you (it often doesn't with dung pies if you do it from the far enough away). \\n 5) Enter the cave, throw a single dung pie at the salamander. This time it catches its aggro, unlike the other, so only throw one. Lock on and back up out towards the cave entrance. Throw 2 more dung pies when you have an opening for it. Run back out when poison triggers, go back for more and repeat until dead.\",\n \"Summary: Asking for documentation regarding debated topics is the sensible thing to do.\\n\\nPost: It's been known for a long ass time that alternating R2/L2 breaks grapples quicker in most From games. \\n Only in Dark Souls 1, and it didn't actually require alternating any buttons. This is exactly why we need better testing & information, because there's a lot of assumptions or things just kind of being taken for granted. \\n OP has since tested it, and found an instance where the grab animation ended more quickly but damage was not reduced. If it doesn't reduce damage, then it's not remotely as effective as people are assuming.\",\n \"Summary: 1) Escape the prison and get to the Duke's Archives bonfire. Don't kill Seath yet. \\n 2) Warp to Undead Parish. Warp Back to Duke's Archives. \\n 3) Kill the nearest hollow for 1 free humanity. \\n 4) Repeat steps 2 and 3. \\n I realize this still would take quite some time with the nature of TwichPlaysDark, but with the dupe glitch probably out of the picture, this is a way that humanity can be farmed much , much faster than killing enemies the normal way.\\n\\nPost: Every time you escape the Prison in Duke's Archvies, the first hollow you kill automatically gives you 1 soft humanity. This is kind of independent of the system where killing a bunch of enemies gives you soft humanity, it's a special event. Probably a consolation gift for the \\\"forced\\\" death of the first Seath encounter. \\n Anyways, Duke's Archives wasn't always a warpable location from the start, that was patched in (and from that probably comes this oversight/ glitch). For some reason, warping in from the Undead Parish bonfire tricks the game into thinking you've just escaped the prison again. This means that the first hollow you kill here rewards the humanity again, every time. As long as Seath isn't dead yet.\",\n \"Summary: Is it possible to figure out how to force their spawning if modders get their hands on a save file that loads up a Vagrant?\\n\\nPost: It'd be pretty cool if there was a mod that forced Vagrants to always appear at every possible spawn location. \\n How would it be done? \\n I don't have the PC version nor any knowhow when it comes to modding, but isn't it typically done by poking around into the memory and figuring out how to force their triggers? Like the gravelorded mod. For that to have been figured out in the first place, someone must have gotten gravelorded on purpose and looked for the relevant data, right? \\n The issue with Vagrants is that they're rare and most people don't know how to spawn one reliably for themselves, making it seem impossible. However, I've done a crapload of Vagrant testing, and if anyone on the PC is interested, I could walk you through it and get both types of Vagrants to show up for you. \\n Getting save data with a Vagrant in it? \\n One barrier would be getting a copy of the right save data, I'd think. There have been a few reports of people seeing Vagrants offline, which if true, means that it should be possible to get your hands on a copy of a save file that always has a Vagrant every time you load it. \\n The issue is that it'd be a little tricky to know when, exactly, the Vagrant is received by the player. You can't save the game while a Vagrant is present and expect it to still be there when you reload the file. The Vagrant is most likely sent to the player before it actually spawns, spawning upon reloading the area (death, warping). \\n You'd have to magically know when the game has saved that a Vagrant is incoming... or, if it's possible to have it so that the game writes a new save file every time it autosaves (instead of overwriting the save file), then if you spawn a Vagrant you should have the right moment saved in there somewhere. I know there are automated save backups for PC, but are they capable of writing a new file literally every time it autosaves? If so, something like that should make it possible. \\n \\n I'm not requesting that anyone actually does this, I realize the interest probably isn't there. However, I think that most modders (the ones capable of making something like the gravelorded mod) would probably turn away due to the logistics of working with Vagrants. I'm just wondering if what I've laid out is a viable way to actually pull it off.\",\n \"Summary: Find a range that works in NG+, it also works in NG. Find a range that doesn't work in NG, it doesn't work in NG+ either. \\n credit goes to /u/OpTic_Niko, [Hellkite Drake]( and /u/eur0pa for helping me with testing. Niko has endured a lot of it... we've done a lot more than what's currently referenced in this post. More to come.\\n\\nPost: I'm planning on making a SM \\\"Mega Thread\\\" hopefully sometime soon. There's a lot of confusion and misinformation regarding it, so I'm working on a comprehensive testing project to get all the nuts and bolts worked out. \\n There's a fair amount of more work that has to be done, though, as well as testing to make sure nothing's changed with the new patch, so I figured this can warrant its own topic in the mean time. \\n Soul Memory works the same in NG+ \\n The most cited reason for people believing in NG+ dropping requirements was \\\"but I paired with someone who was millions of Soul Memory away!\\\" Testing has demonstrated that this also happens in regular NG, if you manage to stick around NG long enough and get SM that high. You can even reach a \\\"top tier\\\" of Soul Memory in regular NG, allowing you to connect to others who are literally hundreds of millions of Soul Memory away. So the idea that \\\"being able to connect millions away\\\" didn't strike me as decent evidence for the NG+ theory at all. \\n There was zero reassurance that: \\n \\n A specific range from specific values that failed in regular NG became possible in NG+ \\n A specific range that's possible in NG+ wasn't also possible in regular NG. \\n \\n Those are the kind of things that needed to be tested in order to actually know if there was a difference. Here are the results: \\n \\n \\n (Test #1) - WSS, without Name-Engraved Ring \\n \\n In regular NG: \\n SM 5m Phantom using WSS did not have sign show up for 10m Host. \\nSM 6m Phantom using WSS did not have sign show up for 10m Host. \\nSM 7m Phantom using WSS DID have the sign finally show up for 10m Host. \\n In NG+: \\n Exact same results. \\n \\n (Test #2) - WSS, without Name-Engraved Ring \\n \\n In regular NG: \\n SM 100k Phantom using WSS did not have sign show up for 40k Host. \\nSM 100k Phantom using WSS DID have the sign show up for 50k Host. \\n In NG+: \\n Exact same results. \\n \\n (Test #3) - WSS, with Name-Engraved Ring \\n \\n In regular NG: \\n SM 8m Phantom using WSS did not have sign show up for 15m Host. \\nSM 9m Phantom using WSS DID have the sign show up for 15m Host. \\n In NG+: \\n Exact same results.\",\n \"Summary: 1) It's a neat menu in the debug interface, and \\n2) I still have no idea how Item Discovery scales exactly. But just tell yourself 410 Item Discovery increases drop rates somewhere in the ballpark of 3.5x compared to base Item Discovery for a lot of items, and that's close enough. \\n edit: Oh, duh. This explains the discrepancies. I can take a look at it later to probably figure out the exact scaling: \\n \\n But wait, there's more! \\n There's an accumulator value for certain enemies that may affect drop rates based on the number of times you kill an enemy! Wulf pointed this out to me. This isn't expected to come into play for any of the items tested here, but it seems to be the value that forces the drop of certain \\\"rare\\\" items after killing the last of a certain enemy type (getting the guaranteed Symbol of Avarice from the last Mimic, the Sack from the last Butcher, etc). We still need to take a closer look at that system to see if there are any surprises.\\n\\nPost: I found this interesting because I've never seen anything concrete on how Item Discovery scales. We already have the values for the exact drop rates of all items at base Item Discovery (that info is found in [the game's data]( but I haven't seen a formula or values to demonstrate how increasing Item Discovery affects it. \\n Thanks to help I got from a translator, we found a menu called \\\"Item Lottery System\\\" that I'd missed due to it (and everything in it) being in Japanese. \\n You input an enemy's ID, and can set the number of times you roll- each roll being one kill. It lets you do up to 10,000 at once, and logs the accumulative result. It even spits out a percentage for each item for you. Here's what it looks like: \\n After \\\"killing\\\" 10,000 rats with 100 Item Discovery, you can see that I got nothing 9,476 times, and 1x humanity 524 times. According to the data the drop rate is 5%, and this test session resulted in 5.24%. So far so good. \\n But what happens if you increase Item Discovery to max? I made a doc after testing several items- \\n I tested the Balder Side Sword at every possible in-game value of Item Discovery, then I also tested the Titanite Slab, Channeler's Trident, Ghost Blade, and White Titanite Slab just at min and max Item Discovery. I also tested each one 10 times and averaged the result, to get the values from killing 100,000 enemies instead of just 10,000. \\n What seems to be the case is that between 100-300 Item Discovery, it scales evenly. 200 Item Discovery should give you roughly 2x the drops as 100, 300 should give you roughly 3x the drops. \\n But after that, it seems to have some kind of diminishing return. At 410 Item Discovery, the Balder Side side dropped ~3.86x more often, the Titanite Slab dropped only ~2.97x more often, the Channeler's Trident managed almost 4x, and the White Slab got only ~3.3x. \\n Why these differ so much I'm not sure, maybe it's the nature of RNG (see edit/ link below), but it's pretty clear that staying under 4.1x is the norm, so there is some kind of diminishing return in there somewhere. \\n Another way to spot it is with the cells I've highlighted blue and red. A cell is blue if that individual test is equal to or higher than what the average drop rate should be. It's red if it's lower, and we're assuming that for max ID that it should be 4.1x times better. You can see that the Max Item discovery tests are full of red cells, showing that they are averaging around some kind of lower value.\",\n \"Summary: When your cooldown timer ends, a secondary timer begins \\n You can be invaded while the secondary timer is running, and if you do, you increase your \\\"Limit Level\\\", which results in cooldown timers of increasing lengths \\n Everything is set back down to 0 if the secondary timer runs out, or you use dried fingers/ conduct an invasion yourself, etc. So this is nothing permanent or that you'd have to worry about. Just a detail we didn't really understand before. \\n \\n \\n \\n After Invasion Ends \\n Limit Level \\n Cooldown Timer \\n obTimer \\n \\n \\n \\n \\n 1st \\n 1 \\n 15m \\n 10m \\n \\n \\n 2nd \\n 2 \\n 15m \\n 10m \\n \\n \\n 3rd \\n 3 \\n 20m \\n 8m \\n \\n \\n 4th \\n 4 \\n 20m \\n 8m \\n \\n \\n 5th \\n 5 \\n 20m \\n 8m \\n \\n \\n 6th \\n 6 \\n 25m \\n 5m \\n \\n \\n 7th \\n 7 \\n 25m \\n 5m \\n \\n \\n 8th \\n 8 \\n 25m \\n 5m \\n \\n \\n 9th \\n 9 \\n 30m \\n 3m \\n \\n \\n 10th \\n 10 \\n 30m \\n 3m \\n \\n \\n \\n edit: Everything else here should still be accurate, I just need to update it to include the correct timers and not just leave it at 15 minutes-\\n\\nPost: This is something I overlooked when testing the cooldown timer before. I think because when clearing the timer to test it, I was unwittingly clearing the corresponding \\\"limit level\\\" as well, which made me never see this effect. \\n So how this works is you have three values relating to your cooldown: \\nA) Limit Level \\nB) Cooldown Timer \\nC) obTimer (think of it as the \\\"follow up\\\" timer) \\n Let's say you just had an invasion end. All three of those values will update accordingly. So if it's your first invasion in this session, your Limit Level becomes 1, your cooldown timer starts counting down from 15 minutes, and your obTimer is frozen at 10 minutes. \\n Once the cooldown timer that was set to 15 minutes clears, you can be invaded again. But when that happens, the obTimer starts counting down. If that timer clears before getting invaded again, everything clears out back down to 0, and you won't build up your Limit Level. If you get invaded again before obTimer clears, then this next invasion session will end by adding plus 1 to your Limit Level. Reaching higher Limit Levels will increase the length of your cooldown timer. Oddly enough, the obTimer will also decrease in length, making it harder to build up/ keep the longer cooldown timers if you manage to get there in the first place.\",\n \"Summary: It looks like there would have been an alternate summoning system where your friendliness or hostility to the host was determined by if your character tendency was similar or not. \\n There would have been two status effect buffs to increase your odds of being summoned as either phantom type, but instead they were replaced with simply buffing your damage as either phantom type. \\n The removal of this system decreased the relevance of Character Tendency, however it was likely for the betterment of the co-op/ PvP system.\\n\\nPost: This is pretty odd! This text was found next to the description of another unused game mode. It's almost like a small graveyard of game concepts... \\n > * If the alignment of a living player is close to a ghost, they will be summoned as a white ghost \\n > * If the alignment of a living player is far from a ghost, they will be summoned as a black ghost \\n (white ghost and black ghost refer to the Blue and Black-Red phantom types as we know them, this is clarified) \\n So I believe what this is saying, is that depending on how similar or dissimilar a ghost is to a host will determine whether or not they are friendly or or hostile to them. In other words: \\n \\n host w/ white character tendency summoning phantom w/ white character tendency = co-op phantom summoned \\n host w/ black character tendency summoning phantom w/ black character tendency = co-op phantom summoned \\n host w/ white character tendency summoning phantom w/ black character tendency (and vice versa) = hostile phantom summoned \\n \\n I mean, that's what the quote is saying, right? \\n That might also mean that the host wouldn't know what they were summoning in advance, unless the color of the sign adjusted automatically for them. But in that case anyways, the player casting their sign wouldn't know what color sign they're sending out to others, meaning you don't know if you're winding up in co-op or PvP until you get there. \\n \\n Something else that supports this is the explanation of some status effects under a \\\"test' section. The text dump lists out the status effects more than once. One of the lists looks like what we'd recognize. Stuff like: \\n > Equip Weight UP \\n> HP Recovery \\n> * Fall Damage DOWN \\netc \\n The other list is mostly identical, but it's more descriptive: \\n > Highest possible weight of equipable items rises \\n> HP continues to recover. Weak version of cleric's Regenerate magic \\n> * Decreases damage & sound from falls (Fatal falling height remains the same) \\netc \\n However, one of the key differences between these two lists is the status effects for \\\"Phantom Power UP\\\" and \\\"Black Phan. Pwr UP\\\". \\n These effects come from equipping the Friend or Foe's Ring, but they also occur based on Character Tendency . I don't recall if the status icons show up like when you equip the rings, but nevertheless you get co-op damage bonus with white tendency and black phantom damage bonus with black tendency. \\n The second list does NOT include these status effects. In their place (the list is mostly in the same order), these effects are listed instead: \\n \\n Higher probability of being summoned and becoming a White Ghost \\n Higher probability of being summoned and becoming a Black Ghost\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":19,"string":"19"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":90,"string":"90"}}},{"rowIdx":91,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"swim_swim_swim"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the content for a reddit post You are wearing a white hat. You know this because when each brother gives up, it is because he did not have enough information to determine the color of his own hat. So, when the first brother gives up, you know that he did not see 2 black hats - he must have seen at least 1 white hat. The second brother would know this as well. This means that if the second brother were to see you wearing a black hat, he would know that his hat is white (because the first brother did not see 2 black hats). If this were the case, he would not have given up. Therefore, your hat must be white - as it is the only way that neither of your brothers would have been able to determine the color of their own hat."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"No - First off; it is an impossibility for all three brothers to have black hats - out of the 5 total hats, 3 are white, and only 2 are black. Second; it is likewise, incorrect, that you are wearing a black hat. This is why: \n When the first brother gives up, we can obviously deduce that he did not have enough information to make a determination of the color of his hat. Because this brother gave up first, the only information that was available to him was what color hats were worn by you, and the other elder brother. There are 4 possibilities for what he saw: \n \n You wearing a black hat, and the other elder brother wearing a white hat \n You wearing a white hat, and the other elder brother wearing a black hat \n Both you and the other elder brother wearing white hats; and \n Both you and the other elder brother wearing black hats \n \n Here, we should note the effects of each situation as they pertain to what hat the brother who gave up first was wearing. First, because there are 3 available white hats and two available black hats, in any of the first 3 situations listed above, there would be at least 1 white had and at least one black hat unaccounted for - meaning this brother could be wearing either. In contrast, if this brother were to have seen both you and the other elder brother wearing black hats, there would be no unaccounted for black hats - meaning this brother could only be wearing a white hat. Therefore, because this situation would have allowed this brother to determine the color of his hat, we know it must not be the case, here. \n The second brother to give up, however, has information in addition to what he can discern with his eyes - he has the knowledge that the other elder brother did not have enough information to determine his own hat color. This is important, and must be kept in mind as we move forward. We must now consider what the second brother could have seen. Again, because he eventually gave up, we know that whatever he saw did not give him enough information to determine the color of his hat. The possibilities for what this brother could have seen are the same as listed above. To determine which of these possibilities could have possibly been the case in this particular instance, we must go through, step by step, and apply what we know: \n \n As we did before, we can immediately determine that this brother did not see both you and the other elder brother wearing black hats (again - because if he had, he would not have conceded). \n Next, again like before, we will consider each of the 3 remaining scenarios/combinations possible - at least for now. \n This was the point where the aforementioned brother was forced to give up. Here though, unlike before, this brother has additional information he can make use of - he knows that the other elder brother could not discern his own hat color based on what he saw. Therefore, this brother knows that the first brother did not see 2 black hats. Specifically, he knows that it is impossible for both himself, and you, the youngest brother, to each be wearing black hats. \n \n It follows, then, that if you were wearing a black hat, this brother would have been able to determine that the color of his hat was white. If this were the case, he would not have given up. Therefore, because he did, in fact, give up, you are able to determine - even without removing your blindfold - that the hat you are wearing must be white."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"No - First off; it is an impossibility for all three brothers to have black hats - out of the 5 total hats, 3 are white, and only 2 are black. Second; it is likewise, incorrect, that you are wearing a black hat. This is why: \n When the first brother gives up, we can obviously deduce that he did not have enough information to make a determination of the color of his hat. Because this brother gave up first, the only information that was available to him was what color hats were worn by you, and the other elder brother. There are 4 possibilities for what he saw: \n \n You wearing a black hat, and the other elder brother wearing a white hat \n You wearing a white hat, and the other elder brother wearing a black hat \n Both you and the other elder brother wearing white hats; and \n Both you and the other elder brother wearing black hats \n \n Here, we should note the effects of each situation as they pertain to what hat the brother who gave up first was wearing. First, because there are 3 available white hats and two available black hats, in any of the first 3 situations listed above, there would be at least 1 white had and at least one black hat unaccounted for - meaning this brother could be wearing either. In contrast, if this brother were to have seen both you and the other elder brother wearing black hats, there would be no unaccounted for black hats - meaning this brother could only be wearing a white hat. Therefore, because this situation would have allowed this brother to determine the color of his hat, we know it must not be the case, here. \n The second brother to give up, however, has information in addition to what he can discern with his eyes - he has the knowledge that the other elder brother did not have enough information to determine his own hat color. This is important, and must be kept in mind as we move forward. We must now consider what the second brother could have seen. Again, because he eventually gave up, we know that whatever he saw did not give him enough information to determine the color of his hat. The possibilities for what this brother could have seen are the same as listed above. To determine which of these possibilities could have possibly been the case in this particular instance, we must go through, step by step, and apply what we know: \n \n As we did before, we can immediately determine that this brother did not see both you and the other elder brother wearing black hats (again - because if he had, he would not have conceded). \n Next, again like before, we will consider each of the 3 remaining scenarios/combinations possible - at least for now. \n This was the point where the aforementioned brother was forced to give up. Here though, unlike before, this brother has additional information he can make use of - he knows that the other elder brother could not discern his own hat color based on what he saw. Therefore, this brother knows that the first brother did not see 2 black hats. Specifically, he knows that it is impossible for both himself, and you, the youngest brother, to each be wearing black hats. \n \n It follows, then, that if you were wearing a black hat, this brother would have been able to determine that the color of his hat was white. If this were the case, he would not have given up. Therefore, because he did, in fact, give up, you are able to determine - even without removing your blindfold - that the hat you are wearing must be white."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Summary: Brandon Phillips swings at the first pitch of the at bat even if it's rolling into the plate, and it's hard to be a good hitter when you only get 2 strikes.\n\nPost: Brandon Phillips, and it's one of the most annoying things ever. All the casual fans know his name, and see his 103 RBIs from last season and think he's a superstar and worth every penny we pay him. But in reality his OBP from last year was .310 and he slugged UNDER .400. AS A CLEANUP HITTER. He barely eeked out 100 rbis despite the fact he was hitting behind choo and votto - who got on base more times than any other duo in the NL. Don't get me wrong, he's phenomenal and so much fun to watch on defense, but people actually think he's well above average offensively, when in reality he is average at best. The most unfortunate part is that we pay him like he's an offensive stud, and he just isn't (anymore). Hopefully now that dusty is gone we can shift our lineup around (votto second, fingers crossed) so that he might actually provide a bit more benefit offensively. Put him in a spot where his ridiculous free swinging doesn't destroy perfectly good chances at scoring runs.","Summary: my grandpa grew up poor as dirt, is a 100% self made man, and did very very well for himself and his family.\n\nPost: Agreed. I personally am lucky - Honors student through high school, Division 1 major conference swimmer while holding a 3.5 in Finance, and will be attending law school in the Fall, but my grandpa didn't have it so good, and thats why I'll always look up to him. \n He lived and was raised literally in the ghetto. Joined the marines as soon as he was allowed. He was subsequently blown up just a few weeks into his active duty in Korea. The technicalities of their disability payments essentially had him receiving the maximum amount despite the fact that he didn't have, and still doesn't have almost any disabilities (very slight limp and a tiny lack of sensation in one hand). He used that to disability money to put himself through college (Keep in mind he was still only 18 at the time - so he was still the same age as his college peers), graduated with honors, and went on to a very successful business career. He was even one of the main members of the committee that helped put up the Korean War Memorial in D.C., got to meet Ronald Reagan, and is one of very few number of people who actually knows that his face is on the memorial. Now he and my grandma are retired with a house in Cincinnati and another in Naples, where he golfs, plays cards, and gambles all day (I'll add that he might be the luckiest man I know, he ALWAYS wins). He is one of the most generous men I've ever met, had 6 kids, has a BUNCH of grandkids, lives as well as anyone could hope to live in their 70s and 80s, and he did it with literally nothing handed to him.","Summary: Treat relay starts different than flat starts. Jump a little higher, and go a little deeper on relay starts. Really work on entry and breakout angles, and really learn to be conscious of your body position. Do everything you can to maintain as much momentum as possible. Try out the drill I described (relay start, no kicking, trying to glide as far as possible) - it will really help. \n \n Use your breakouts deliberately. Make your first few strokes relaxed, and your next few as a building phase to peak tempo. Adjust the lengths of your relaxed, building, and full-tempo phases based on the race and based on relay vs. flat start. \n \n And finally, as a sprinter, know exactly what you are going to do with every single individual stroke of your whole race. Make sure you work on nailing your turns and getting under your wake. Try out the \"submersion\" turn, and perfect it. Think through and practice every detail of your race so much that it becomes second nature. \n \n \n Sorry again for writing an essay, but I hope you'll take some of it to heart. It's a great way to make sure you can get something out of every single workout even if its not a tough one that leaves you exhausted. I guarantee you that if you work on even a single one of these things, that you'll see very quick results. Feel free to ask me about anything, man. Good luck!\n\nPost: Man...Relay starts are so important. I'm gonna give you some advice, just because I love the sport of swimming, I've been lucky enough to have some fantastic coaches, and I like passing on the knowledge I have. This is going to be a long post and feel free to disregard this completely if you want haha. \n In my opinion, the biggest benefit of the relay start is one that most people never really consider or work on - nailing your entry. \n I never had any idea, or even considered the importance or impact of relay start entries , breakouts, and momentum until I was a junior in college. My group had a new coach that year and he really stressed that stuff. Like... really stressed that stuff. We'd sometimes spend an entire hour at a time working on it. Specifically, we'd do a drill where all we did was a relay windup and jump, and after entering the water, we weren't allowed to kick at all. The point of the drill was to see how far you could get just solely based on your momentum. It allowed us to play around with, and learn, objectively what entry angles allow you to carry the most momentum into, and through the water. Additionally, it really forced you to be conscious of controlling your body-line. It might sound like a silly drill and just a break from getting your ass kicked, but seriously, I know for a fact that this knocked significant time off my races. \n If you have great body control/position to hold your body in a perfectly straight line, and have your feet enter through the exact same hole your hands enter through (to disrupt the minimum amount of water possible), the momentum you can carry from a relay start into your actual swim is really amazing. \n I was never much of a sprinter, so the relays I was on were the 4x200, and occasionally a 4x100 in a dual meet. I swam a completely different first 50 in my relay 200s than I did in my individual 200 frees. Specifically, when I was swimming a relay 200, I'd concentrate as much as possible on nailing the entry like I described above, and then I'd stay under all the way to 15m. I'd try to enter as cleanly as possible, and I'd try to enter at a slightly steeper angle (i.e. more of a downward angle, as opposed to a more shallow, \"jump out not up\" angle), because that type of angle allows for a cleaner entry (the \"one hole\" I described). Once I entered, I'd wait for just a brief second before I started my dolphin kicks. I found, and also have been coached that when you start kicking immediately upon entering the water, you wind up losing a lot of the momentum you got from your start by providing extra friction with the water (Think of the difference of pushing a straight pole through water, and pushing a bent object through water - the bent object won't go as far). If I was able to nail my entry, wait just briefly, and then begin dolphin kicking, I'd wind up at 15m in almost no time, and with almost no effort. You know the last 15m of a race where you basically can't feel your arms any more, and its all you can do just to keep swimming? Imagine adding an additional 15m worth of energy to the end of your race. That's exactly what you can do if you really perfect your relay start \n Next, the breakout. Make sure to come up at as shallow an angle as possible - that is, don't pop up at a steep angle. Try to get your body as parallel to the surface of the water as possible, and let your natural buoyancy bring you up. If you perfect this, you'll have so much momentum that it should only take 5 or 6 strokes to get to the wall. Try to make your breakout as smooth as possible, and try to put as little effort as possible into the first lap. It seems counter-intuitive, but I found that coming off a relay start, if I was just smooth and relaxed, my first 25 was almost always faster than if I sprinted as hard as I could. When I went from a flat start, however, I'd go for a lot shallower of an entry angle, come up a decent ways before 15m, and push that first 25 a bit more. Basically, the point is that nailing a relay start will give you so much momentum that its in your best interest to put all your effort into simply conserving that momentum. In contrast, even a great flat start won't give you nearly as much momentum, and so you'll want to work on building that up yourself on your first lap, so that you can carry it into the rest of the race. \n Now, from what you've said, it sounds like you're more of a 50/100 guy than a 200 guy, like I was. For a relay start 50, I would suggest you try the stuff I suggested, but to a lesser extent. For example, still try for a a steeper entry angle than you would from a flat start, but not quite as much as you would for a 200. I'm not sure whether or not you're much of an underwater guy (I was a big time UW person), so you also might not want to go as far as I liked to. For a relay 50, you'll want to stay a bit shallower, and come up sooner Additionally, you still probably want to break out smooth and easy like you would for a 200 - probably your first 2 strokes should be relaxed, but you want to use your next few strokes to build up to your max tempo, then just crank once you're there. \n As for a relay start 100 free, I would personally use the exact same entry, kickout distance, breakout, and first lap, with the only difference being that I'd try to reach max tempo with just my last stroke into the first wall. However, if you're less UW oriented than myself, I'd recommend still building to max tempo, but probably trying to reach it by the 15m marker, or a tiny bit past. \n A final thought... \n Specific to you as a sprinter, I cannot possibly stress enough the importance of breaking your race strategies down stroke by stroke. And I mean, literally, stroke. by. stroke. A lot - and I mean a lot - of very good swimmers never think this way; and that is what separates them from the BEST. I knew plenty of sub-20 50 freestylers who never did this - who simply dove in, and turned their arms over as fast as they possibly could until their race was over - and, whether or not they realized it, it was almost glaringly obvious, in some instances, that it had a profound limiting effect on their times. For you, as 50/100 freestyler, you should basically have a plan for every single stroke in your entire race. My advice, and obviously this varies a little based on your body type, your UW skills, and other things, is as follows: First, work on nailing your starts. Know, in your mind, the precise motions you want out of your arms and hands, out of your legs and feet, out of your shoulders, and out of your core. Know the differences you want between your flat starts and your relay starts. As a sprinter, this is a huge priority for you. Next, as I already talked about, know your entry. Know exactly - exactly - how many dolphin kicks you're going to take before your breakout. One of my coaches would always tell a story about a workout he had with the best 50 freestyler he ever coached. He said that they swam for the first 1.5 hours of practice, and were going to work on starts and breakouts for the last 30 minutes. They ended up spending 2 hours trying to decide whether the swimmer should take 4, or 5 dolphin kicks off his start. Stopwatch, underwater camera, out of water camera, the works. Once you're up and swimming, you should have a plan for every stroke in the entire race. Again, this differs between people, but I'd suggest 1-2 relaxed breakout strokes, then 2-3 strokes building tempo. Have your stroke count for the first lap (yes, a stroke count even on freestyle!) nailed down so that you know exactly how you'll hit your turn. Learn to utilize the \"dip down\", angled turn, as opposed to a simple circular turn - it will let you carry more momentum, adjust better if you're a little too close/too far from the wall, and sneak under your wake as you break out on your second lap. Push off as shallow as possible while still avoiding your wake. Your second breakout should not be as relaxed as your first. You probably only want to use 2 strokes to get to max tempo here. After that (and always, but especially on your second lap), stay very conscious of maintaining your high elbow catch despite being fatigued. Know exactly where you want you use your only breath (I recommend breathing on a 50, because the trade-off of maybe .1 for the significant benefit of lessened lactic acid buildup makes the breath worth it IMO). After you take that breath, know exactly how many strokes you need to hit the wall with perfect extension. \n Well, I kinda went off the rails there a little; sorry for that. I'll give a little summary/","Summary: Jeremy Hill's best NFL comparison might be Adrian Peterson, and they're eerily similar. Peterson has more top end speed and is a bit more agile than Hill, but they both have ridiculous vision, they both leave barely enough time for the blink of an eye between their initial cut and their hitting the hole, they both get to their max speed insanely quickly, and they both make phenomenal second level cuts for backs of their size\n\nPost: God damn that man was created to play running back. But although that video was horrifyingly impressive (and reminded me how in the fuck Peterson put up 2k with literally no passing attack and 8 men in the box on every play), the thing that struck me the most about it is that, other than being a notch less agile (but, IMO, slightly more powerful), Jeremy Hill looks like a nearly exact replication of AD when he runs. They're both tall RB's who run tall, they both have stupid ridiculous vision, and they both have phenomenal balance and are virtually impervious to arm tackles. But the two most striking similarities -- and perhaps the two strongest aspects of both of their games -- are (1) how fast they hit the hole after making their first cut, and (2) their ability to make a second cut at the next level (i.e. the linebackers) and to seemingly reach max speed within like 3 strides. \n Seriously, that AP video is chock full of examples of those last two things I mentioned, but check out the similarities in Jeremy Hill [here]( Specifically, check out the cut Hill makes at the second level on the run starting at :50. Then check out how quickly he accelerates after making his first cut in the run at 1:24. And for possibly the best example of everything I just described, go to 2:25. Other good examples of the vision, cuts, and acceleration I described are at 3:14 and 4:06. \n Obviously, now, I should qualify: I'll admit 2 major mitigating factors with that highlight reel -- first, the editing makes it a bit tough to see the vision and acceleration on many plays; and second, it's college tape, so the holes are often gaping. (Its worth noting, though, that that highlight tape came with Hill having only one season as the starter). But you can see the same insane post-cut acceleration on this the tiny hole Hill recognizes, (2) how he basically reaches top speed before he's even all the way through the hole, and (3) the cut he makes at the second level to avoid Rafael Bush (#25). If you have to pick one runner who that last rush reminds you of the most, I think its pretty difficult not to go with Peterson. \n Now, I'm not saying Jeremy Hill is or will ever be Adrian Peterson -- AD's definitely got a little more shimmy and more top end speed than Hill (though I think the difference in their combine 40's is larger than the discrepancy in their in-game speed; Hill seems to run practically the same speed in pad as not in pads) -- but damn if they aren't similar rushers. \n If I wasn't already taking a break from studying I'd try to go through and line up the most similar runs in each of those videos for comparison -- maybe I'll do that tomorrow. \n Edit: My apologies for that extremely lengthy and mostly irrelevant aside; I got a little excited once I started watching that Jeremy Hill tape... \n 2nd Edit: Went and looked up NFL draft scouting reports for each... \n \n Peterson Positives: \"His feet and body control enable him to pick his way through trash, and he keeps his feet after contact\" ... \"Likes to lower his head and drive through with his legs after contact\" ... \"Quick to attack the inside holes and has the acceleration to separate\" ... \"has the agility to ... redirect ... His quick cutting skills mean he doesn't have to gear down to change direction\" \n \n Hill Positives: \"Spins off contact, often gaining extra yardage after the initial hit\" ...\n\"Lowers his shoulder, keeps his legs churning\" ... \"Decisive runner. Attacks holes and gets downfield in a hurry ... Deceptive speed, including the ability to run away from defenders to create chunk plays\" ... \"Efficient and fluid in his cuts, showing the ability to burst through the designated hole or skip laterally to attack another.\" \n \n Peterson Negatives: \"needs to be more conscious of protecting [the ball] ... seems to be too erect in his stride taking the ball up the middle\" ... \"Will sometimes revert to trying to run over the opponent\" \n \n Hill Negatives: \"Runs higher than preferred, too often exposing his chest (and the ball) to the defender and simply attempting to run over them.\" \n \n \n 3rd Edit: Googled \"Jeremy Hill Adrian Peterson Comparison\" and apparently I'm not alone. .","Summary: As a small market team, the reds have a limited window in which it is possible for them to win. Bailey is not worth as much as Latos, and is not worth nearly as much as Cueto, but the reds window is now , and they need Bailey to win now - and the only way to keep Bailey was this contract.\n\nPost: Short Answer - the reason we threw the money at Bailey is because his contract was going to be up before Latos and Cueto, and we needed a 5th starter. \n It wasn't going to be worth it to give Arroyo the $$ he was asking for, so we needed to either keep the other 5 (Bailey, Leake, Latos, Cueto, Cingrani), or deal Bailey, and move Chapman to starter - which is actually the route I would've LOVED to see (and what I thought was going to happen for sure once we promoted Price). \n The main issue here is that the reds are a small market team. Small market teams simply cannot stay at the top for extended periods of time. The smartest way to manage a small market team is to basically build the team to be as good as possible for ~5 years, and hope like hell that they pull something off in that time period. THAT is why we threw all that money at Bailey. Because, yes, we could have filled that hole with someone below average, but not horrible - but being as this is likely one of the last seasons in which the reds' window will still be open, it wouldn't have been smart to just go with a gap-filler. \n So basically, the dilemma was we need these 5 starters, and Bailey would have been the first one to get to the end of his contract. Latos is definitely worth the Bailey money moreso than bailey himself. As for Cueto, I suspect that at this point, we're just going to ride out his current deal and dish him at some point in his last season - because the price he'll command on the open market is not one that the reds have the capability of paying. \n Bailey is a good pitcher - but not great. The plight of a small market team is that they have to sacrifice their long term future for their short term future when their important players' contracts come up. That's what happened with Votto as well. A lot of people lament the huge 10 year, 200+ million dollar deals, saying that the player isn't going to be producing like a 25mil/year player in year 10 of the contract - and those people are missing the point. The reason you agree to that contract is not because you think that, over the duration of the contract, it will be worth it; but because if you want to keep that player during the time which your window is open, you have to offer that type of deal. There might not ever be a player who winds up being worth the salary they get in the 10th year of a mega deal like that -- and if they are, I'd bet my ass they'll extend that baby before it ever even gets to year 8 or 9.","Summary: I, and many many many others, believe in God, but don't believe in religion (what people say about God), leaving us open to believe in science as well. God and science, what a novel concept...\n\nPost: do you think he might have been a closet atheist?\" \n seriously? are you that ignorant? \n People need to realize that it is possible to be religious believe that there is/could be a God out there (The ol' Davinci Code \"Do you believe in God?\" \"I'm not religious\" \"I asked if you believed in God, not in what people say about God \") and still believe basic tenants of science that are held as true. I, personally, am Catholic believe in God, and believe 100% in science. I have very similar views of the Bible as the Jesuit Professor in question, I would say that 90% of my non-atheist friends are the exact same. I would even go as far to say that 90% of all Catholics are that way. I know people who are religious to the point of not believing in evolution, and TRUST ME, they are pariahs, even in the \"religious\" community. Here at /r/atheism, you make them out to be the norm, when in reality, the norm for NON-atheists (at least in my neck of the woods, which happens to be super conservative) is beyond general acceptance of science, and closer to 100% belief in anything science can offer up. \n I know this will come back to me with \"if you and your friends believe everything about science, then you shouldn't believe in God\". The second science can definitively prove there is no such thing, then I'll accept it whole heartedly. Til then, leave it be and go back to jerking the circle.","Summary: one of these fooled me once.\n\nPost: One time I was in the car on the way to morning swim practice (it wasn't even 5 am yet) so I was definitely groggy. On my way to the pool there is one certain light that is SO MOTHERFUCKING HARD to make. Like, I've-lived-here-for-my-whole-21-year-life-and-I've-only-made-the-light-four-or-five-times hard. Anyways, its about 4:55 in the morning and I come over this hill and see that I have a shot at making the light. I deliberately speed up as I go down the hill, hoping to make it through the light. As I'm getting toward the bottom, the light turns yellow. Normally this wouldn't faze me, but out of the corner of my eye I see a cop car to my left. I SLAM on my brakes and skid out into the intersection leaving marks probably about 15-20 feet. As the light turns red, the cop car (which I now realized WASN'T a cop car, just one of those from the picture) pulls slowly through the intersection making a left turn - directly by me - at about 5 miles an hour, clearly savoring his victory. He leans his head completely out the window to look and laugh at me and yelled \"Learn to drive, asshole!\". I sat for the next 5 minutes at the worst red light ever taking in the awful smell of burnt rubber and contemplating the extremity of failure that I had achieved by 4:55 a.m.","Summary: Fuck SG and SF, get players who are good at lots of categories even if they're not standouts at one, get players who can fill multiple position slots, don't rely on superstars - go for a balanced roster, and PUNT TURNOVERS.\n\nPost: Sorry for the wall of text, but here are my general strategies. \n \n Don't go after SGs and SFs - they generally help most in categories that are easy to fill, don't help much in difficult categories, and their spots can often be filled by combo position players (see bullet 3). \n \n Go after players who contribute in 1 or more categories their position generally doesn't contribute in - and don't worry much about what they do in the categories their position is supposed to be good at, just make sure their adequate. For example; I'd rather have a PG who gave me 19 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and .7 blocks/game than one who gave me 14 points, 2 rebounds, 12 assists per game. If you follow this strategy for every position, you're gonna balance out - and if you use this tip in accordance with the above and below tip, you'll come out way ahead. \n \n Go after players who can fill multiple position slots (I'm talking PG/SG or PF/C, not SF/PF) - most notably, players listed as PG/SG. As I stated above, SGs give production in the easiest categories (points, steals - can come from all positions; 3PM - can come from PG, SG, SF and sometimes even PF or C), while PGs are generally the only position that can give you big time assists. So stock up on players that are listed as SGs but can give you 5+ assists per game (and obviously, as I said above, and PFs or Cs who may be decent enough to give you 3-4). Additionally, having that versatility on your roster allows you to better exploit tip #2. \n \n Don't rely on superstars. I'd rather have a team full of tier 2 players than 2-3 top tier players and the rest tier 3-4. This also plays in with the versatility factor, and with the tip below. \n \n ALWAYS PUNT TURNOVERS . This will open up a whole new world of roster options for you. Because the best players in the NBA play more, and get the ball more, and therefore turn the ball over more; by punting turnovers, you're giving up ONE category for the chance to improve in basically EVERY OTHER CATEGORY. Again, this plays in with the above tip, because essentially, if you're not worried at all about TOs, there are TONS of tier 2 and 3 players that instantly become top tier - Think Cousins, Westbrook, Harden, Jennings. On top of that, lots of other players simply move up a tier (even if its not to tier 1) when you stop worrying about TOs.","Summary: 8 man, 9 cat, looking for a trade to help me pick up the slack left off from Westbrook and Ryan Anderson going down.\n\nPost: Here's my situation: I'm in an 8 man, 9 cat, weekly H2H league with 3 bench slots (and no IR slot) where daily substitutions are allowed. Because of the size of the league, the shallow bench, the lack of an IR slot, and the substitution rules, holding a player with a long term injury can really hurt. I was already in first place and couple weeks ago I picked up brandon knight just as he was starting to go off and I thought I had completed my roster and essentially made my team unbeatable, when I had Russell Westbrook go down. For the aforementioned reasons, I dropped him. Big blow, as he was on absolute FIRE (something like 20/9/8 over the 2 weeks leading up to his injury). Next, I had Ryan Anderson go down. I've still been coming out on top in my weekly matchups, but they've been getting closer and closer. \n Here's my current Roster: \n \n Brandon Jennings \n Kyle Lowry \n Damien Lillard \n Brandon Knight \n Kendall Marshall \n James Harden \n Andre Iguodala \n Thad Young \n Ryan Anderson (contemplating who to drop him for since the news about his status just came out) \n Lamarcus Aldridge \n Demarcus Cousins \n Deandre Jordan \n David Lee \n \n Note: I'm punting (or was punting - now rethinking) TOs, FG%, and blocks. My strongest categories (that I usually crush - though not by nearly as much anymore) are points, rebounds, 3PM, and assists. \n Since Westbrook went down, I've been eeking out wins in assists, and now that Anderson is gone, I'm nervous about 3PM as well. Currently planning on dropping Anderson for Lance Stephenson (I'm thinking of him as kind of a poor man's russell westbrook), and also mulling over picking Westbrook himself back up and hoping he's back, and back to his old self come playoff time (I should be alright with making the playoffs hopefully even with him eating up a roster spot). Anyways, I've been looking for a WW guy who can give me 3's but still contribute elsewhere (points aren't necessarily what I need so hopefully some rebounds or assists - ideally rebounds) without much luck. So instead I'm mulling over any possible trades. The one that is the most appealing to me at the moment is packaging Lamarcus Aldridge with someone to snag Kevin Love. If I do that, however, who do you suggest I package him with, and what WW guys would you recommend I pick up to fill the resulting gap? Also, any other players I might look to target? Any help would be greatly appreciated","Summary: don't listen to the people telling you you'll be broke and that law school and the profession sucks - instead, take some to find out whether law school is something you can do successfully. If it is, and if you choose the right school for you, you shouldn't have any regrets.\n\nPost: I haven't regretted it for one minute. I don't go to a first tier school, but my school is prestigious regionally. I think one thing that you need to ask yourself before deciding to attend a regional school is whether or not you truly have the capability and work ethic to finish towards the top of your class. I floated through undergrad in finance with a 3.5 GPA doing almost no work whatsoever, but I swam for all 4 years on a top-25 team - so I knew I had the work ethic. Once I was in, doing poorly simply wasn't an option for me. If you pick the right school, are interested in the material, finish towards the top of your class, and take every possible opportunity you get to network, the horror stories you hear will avoid you completely (at least they have for me). I'm sure there are people out there who do all those things and still fall through the cracks in terms of employment, but from what I see going on around me day in and day out, the people who commit themselves to law school (ALL aspects - grades; extracurriculars; taking actual time to craft resumes, cover letters, and thank you notes; networking, professionalism) do much more than just fine for themselves. The people who don't have good job opportunities are the ones who just assume they'll be able to go through law school doing the same thing they've always done. It's a lot of work, but in no way is it impossible, or even miserable, as people tend to describe it. I'll add that 1L year is nerve racking because you don't know how smart everyone else is - but when grades come out, bet your ASS that the people you see at the library the most will be (for the most part) towards the top of the class. After that, not everyone at the top puts actual time into their resumes/etc and into networking, and those people wind up behind the ones that do. Basically, take every chance you have to do things better than the next guy and you'll be absolutely fine. HOWEVER, if you're unsure whether you'll be able to do that, or unsure whether you'll be able to end up toward the top of the class, think twice before enrolling . \n I'll add one more thing: there are three types of people in law school: \n \n \n people that studied 24/7 in undergrad and for the LSAT, and succeeded and got into law school that way. \n \n \n \n People who did absolutely no work in undergrad, and succeeded and got into law school because they are naturally very intelligent. \n \n \n \n People who were a combination of 1 and 2 (I.e. Studied a decent bit, and are decently smart). \n \n \n \n The third group will make up the middle 70% of your law school class. Groups 1 and 2 will both be evenly split between the top 15% and the bottom 15%. The kids who did well because they studied crazy hard in undergrad, but never actually knew how to study (I.e. Got by on sheer volume of studying) will be in the bottom. Those who studied a lot and know how to adjust their studying for a different system (law school is waaay different) will end up in the top. The kids who skated by in undergrad and think they can do the same in law school will wind up in the bottom. Those who understand that law school is a different beast and understand that it's time to work will end up in the top. \n Obviously none of that is 100% set in stone, but I truly believe that recognizing which of those groups you fit into is a HUGE factor in how successful you'll be in law school.","Summary: College is okay .\n\nPost: I just got off a 7 day non-stop drinking binge, at a house on the beach, with houses containing ONLY 18-22 year old girls on either side of us, all of whom were also drunk 24/7. I returned to my house at school, BBQ'd that night, had a few brews with the buddies, and reminisced about the past week. I slept til 11 a.m. today, because I only have class twice a week, for 1 1/2 hours each. I'm about to go to a bar that my roommates work at to watch the national championship, all whilst drinking free beers and talking to any cute girls who might be there or to any girls whose numbers I got this past week who I might decide to invite. Once I finish my classes for the week (that'll happen at 10:20 Thursday morning), I'll go home, take a nap, probably go to an apt complex with a pool, lay by the pool all day, maybe read, maybe drink, depending on what mood I'm in, then go home, take a shower, and go out. Repeat those steps (sans the attending class part) again for Friday, and again for Saturday. Admittedly, I'll probably spend most of Sunday doing school work, but after that, I'll basically repeat that whole process again for the rest of the year. Then, in May, I graduate. I'll go home, work a dumb summer job, then ship off to Law School in the fall (where none of the above applies).","Summary: unless you are a super computer, you cannot turn a long term profit by buying and selling in the short term.\n\nPost: This is not necessarily true, and reminds me of a joke I heard: \n 2 economists are walking along the sidewalk. One of them spots a crisp $1 bill on the ground. \"Hey look! A dollar on the ground!\" he says. The second economist replies, \"Thats impossible. If there were a dollar on the ground, somebody would've picked it up already.\" \n Point being: If there is an opportunity for arbitrage (profit resulting from exploiting price discrepancies) it will be capitalized on essentially instantly, causing prices to adjust, and leaving no more opportunity for arbitrage (this state of equilibrium is called parity). Because there are ALWAYS investors with more information, and firms with super computers capable of making thousands of trades in a fraction of a second, it makes it literally impossible for somebody that is not EXTREMELY educated, with instant access to all relevant information, absolutely incapable of turning profit via day trading (buying and selling with little to no holding period). Even the top analysts and hedge fund managers at the top firms essentially break even from day trading in the long run. This is not to say that one might not make a huge profit from one individual trade, or a couple of trades in a row, but in the long run, EVERYTHING balances out (to the inflation rate). In addition, this also is not to say that somebody cannot make a profit from buying and holding a stock (i.e. Warren Buffet - the man buys, and VERY seldom sells anything) for an extended period. In conclusion, in a period of harsh market downturn, if you aren't an exceptionally savvy investor, your best bet is to stay pat - keep in mind that despite the fact that the company's valuation is dropping, the same thing is still being valuated - that is - the company is still made up of the same physical assets, the same people, and the same business plan.","Summary: paintings this realistic, while impressive, are very boring\n\nPost: This is a great example of why painters like picasso, and other surrealist artists (and other types too) are so heavily recognized for what they do, and why it bugs me so much when people say, \"That looks like a 6 year old could draw it. How is that brilliant art?\" Hyperrealistic paintings like these, while impressive, are not thought provoking, because they are simply photographs. And not-quite-as-realistic photographs at that. Not many people would look at a photo of an ordinary snack machine and consider it high-brow, high-quality art. That is exactly what this is. I was lucky enough to have an exceptional art teacher in my high school years, and this was one of the main points he tried and tried to get across to us: Don't draw/paint things to be exactly real life, because even if you do a 100% perfect job, somebody who spends a minute taking a photo will always outdo you. IMO paintings and drawings are meant to bring a level of the human experience and the human element and the human spirit TO what actually IS real life - not to simply show real life as is. As for the \"people questioning picasso and other similiar, or non-realistic artists\" side of things, having studied art under a great teacher and learning the ins and outs of what makes a good composition, good color pattern and flow, and what elements of realism and surrealism mix well to provoke thought, it becomes EXCEPTIONALLY easier to appreciate classical, non-realist art. Whereas before, I could look at a picasso and be completely unmoved, now, art of that type absolutely blows my mind. I can't believe a human could create such things. ALSO, for those still unimpressed by picasso, saying their 10 year old could do the same via fingerpaint, you should know that Picasso also went through a realism phase, and that many of these paintings are also extremely impressive.","Summary: interacting with others and their beliefs CAN AND WILL cause yours to change, BUT in someone acting rationally and logically, interacting with people who are in opposition of gay marriage will have no bearing on whether they believe a god exists.\n\nPost: okay then let me make a counterpoint. \n The initial argument was that OP was considering becoming an atheist because he saw Christian's holding an anti-gay marriage rally. While interacting with others and their beliefs may cause yours to change - I simply can't find any leap in logic to go from (point A): There are people in the world who believe in god and oppose gay marriage. to (point B): I no longer believe in god. I can EASILY support a move from point A to (point C): I no longer wish to practice the same religion as these people. To say that seeing people rallying against gay marriage makes you doubt the existence of a being that nobody has 1 single clue or idea about is asinine. The two ideas ARE UNRELATED. If they ARE related, it is in this sense: I don't like a god that would teach these people to hate these other people. This is a fair opinion, but again, I'll explain why it supports me as opposed to you. #1 and most basic: If there is a god that you dislike - THERE IS A GOD. #2: I've never heard of any theist claim that their god is hateful or teaches hate. In that case, it follows that it is simply humans making these hateful mistakes - and this is no reason to turn on any supposed \"god\".","Summary: my angry roommate serenaded me with the worlds worst ever recorded rap song, while I fucked a girl.\n\nPost: This isn't really embarrassing at all, but I won't say it wasn't awkward. \n Let me set the scene. I had just gotten back from a Halloween party with 2 of my buddies. I had my girl (we'll say girl A) with me and that was a sure thing. My roommate had his girl (girl B) with him, and he was gonna get some IF our third friend (who we didn't live with) was willing to take girl B's friend (girl C). So we're sittin' there drinkin a few beers and winding down. If I remember correctly, girl A was sitting on my lap, girl B was sitting on my roommate's lap, and girl C was really drunk and trying really hard to get on our lonely friend. This guy was a virgin at the time, and pretty awkward about girls, and he somehow (I literally don't know how, it was BAD) messed up his chance with girl C. So girl C says she wants to go home. Girl B is her ride, so my roommate is now screwed out of sex. As my roommate is trying to convince his girl, girl B, to stay and let girl C sleep on our couch, our 3rd friend up and leaves. So now my roommate is frustrated cause he knows his window of opportunity is closing. Anyways during all the thick-as-butter awkwardness, me and my girl go to bed and start the clock on sexy time. I guess the two girls eventually ended up leaving, and now my roommate is frustrated that I'm getting laid and he's not, so, right as me and my girl are starting to get into it, he angrily gets up, comes to my door, and starts singing a pissed off version of the Ludacris song \"sex room\". Seriously. The whole thing. While we're ~8 ft. away seperated by an inch of wooden door. We're fucking to this bizarre, half angry, half amused rendition of this horribly shitty song, performed by my drunken roommate. \"He's gonna take you to his sex rooo^oo^^oom!\". He starts bumping on the door making a beat that was strangely very similiar to the actual song. wtf. Somehow the asshole knew the whole song. I was weirded out, my girl was weirded out, and my roommate didn't remember it in the morning. To this day he doesn't believe me that it even happened.","Summary: it's highly unlikely to happen and if it did it would be easily overturned on appeal\n\nPost: I don't know specifically that there aren't -- I haven't read every last 1983 case out there -- but I have read my fare share of opinions in general and that's just not something that judges do. They may come down with a surprising judgment one way or the other every once in a while in borderline cases, but it would never in a million years be of the type to just blatantly ignore the existing law in that area. If anything, the judge would logic his way into an incorrect judgment, but if it was ever obvious in any way shape or form it would just get overturned on appeal in a millisecond. Usually when you hear stuff on reddit about terrible opinions/judgments, simply reading the opinion with any type of legal background or knowledge will easily reveal that the opinion is solidly grounded in the law. That's not to say that political leanings of judges don't play any role -- I've interned for a federal appeals court judge and seen it first hand -- but generally it's in cases where the law in the area is right on the borderline and the arguments either way are more-or-less equally valid; in such situations the side closest to the most judges' political leanings will win. BUT even in that type of case, reading the opinion will make it obvious that there truly is a valid legal argument for that outcome 99.99% of the time. I follow politics a decent amount so I understand the nervousness regarding bias and corruption but, having seen the court system and dealt with and studied the judiciary at length, I can honestly say that I have the utmost confidence that, while not perfect, the U.S. court system is pretty damn solid when it comes to avoiding that type of stuff.","Summary: to my original post haha. This is probably a bit more organized as well.\n\nPost: Oh I definitely agree. There were so many potential parallels to fables and parables and the like that I'm sure given the time you could pick out half a dozen others. I just thought there were too many similarities for this to not be intentional. \n \n Dante is lost; rust is lost. \n \n Dante had a tour guide through hell; Rust had a tour guide thru hell. \n \n Dante had to reach the bottom of hell/center of the earth before gravity reversed and he climbed out; Rust got to the shittiest point of his life and to the center of the maze before his worldview reversed and he could have hope. \n \n Dante comes across satan in the final circle of hell; Rust comes across Errol in the final center of the maze/Carcossa. \n \n \n Actually I guess this comment serves as a decent","Summary: I'm from Kentucky, and my school, and most schools in the area that I'm aware of teach correct science and don't discourage non-religious viewpoints.\n\nPost: I'm from Kentucky - albeit, Northern Kentucky (which I capitalize because it's essentially the third major city in the state, after Louisville and Lexington), which is essentially a suburb of Cincinnati - and I dislike the fact that the whole state is lumped together in one broad, creationism-accepting group. I attended a private Catholic high school and there was absolutely no point at which creationism in the Ken Ham sense (i.e. 6000 year old earth, etc.) was ever brought up as a valid theory - not even in our required religion classes. Not a single teacher at the entire school would have ever attempted to assert that the theory of evolution was incorrect, nor do I think that any teacher at the school even believes such. If there was ever any hint of \"creationism\" brought up, it was in the sense that \"the history of the universe (starting with the big bang, 13 billion years ago) was set in motion by god,\" and that everything else, including evolution, simply played out from there. Granted; there wasn't really discussion in biology/physics/etc classes pertaining to the implausibility of the existence of god, but the limit at which any teacher opined for creationism is the one I described above. Ironically, there were numerous civil, well-reasoned debates about the existence or non-existence of god in our religion classes. While I'm an extremely agnostic, anti-religion theist myself (I feel obligated to note here, how much it bugs me when people describe themselves merely as \"agnostic\" - when \"agnostic,\" in and of itself, is not an actual viewpoint) and subscribe more to a deist point of view, the religion teachers in whose classes we debated the existence of god were extremely well versed and educated about both sides of the argument, and had more capacity in their pinky finger than Ken Ham has in his entire body to advocate creationism. I was lucky enough to attend a school that is fairly widely regarded as one of the best in the area, so I'm sure that this was not the case in every nearby highschool, but from everything I heard from friends and acquaintances, this was more or less the atmosphere in the vast majority of schools in the area. Additionally, and again, ironically, based on what I saw and heard, it seems that the catholic schools were FAR better about teaching correct science than the public schools. It's not my intent at all to disagree with what you said - because, as I mentioned, the area of Kentucky that I'm from is fairly affluent - but I just thought I'd point out that many areas of the country which people tend to assume are full of bible-crazed, uneducated, hard-stance people unwilling to listen to reason, and whose schools tend towards the same, are not quite as bad as the media and this subreddit tends to portray.","Summary: suck my dick tornadosgoOMNOM\n\nPost: hey good call! so many churches!....oh...wait, there were 0 in my post. Also, look up Cedar Point. Exactly 0 other states have rollercoasters like that. The Reds are the oldest professional baseball franchise in America, The Horseshoe is generally recognized as one of the most ledgendary stadiums in Football, and The Ohio State Marching Band doing script Ohio unequivocally the most famous marching band performance in the U.S.","Summary: teams play at particular tempos because that tempo is how they best exploit their strengths. There is a reason certain teams play at certain speeds, it isn't simply an independent factor.\n\nPost: Posted this in response to a comment below, but I've actually thought a bit about this... \n > Another reason that thought pattern doesn't work as well as it theoretically should is the fact that tempo isn't an entirely discrete factor that operates completely independently of offensive and defensive efficiency. Speed has an effect on efficiencies. That is, depending on a team's style, speeding up or slowing down can have a detrimental effect on their efficiencies -- their tempo helps them reach those numbers. For example, slow pace often helps a team force a lower FG% at the expense of forcing turnovers. It follows, then, that UVA likes to slow it down; their defensive scheme doesn't try to force turnovers, it tries to force bad shots in the half-court. On the other end of the spectrum, teams like VCU and Louisville predicate their defense on forcing turnovers -- one reason they both play uptempo. And from the other side of the ball, a team like LSU with a lot of athletes that commit lots of turnovers and aren't particularly efficient in the half court hits a higher offensive efficiency by playing uptempo. Wisconsin is the opposite example, there; they have a gorgeous half-court offense predicated on ball movement as opposed to sheer athleticism -- which is why they slow it down. \n > If UVA didn't play so slow and VCU didn't play so fast, their defensive efficiencies would likely suffer a bit. Likewise, if LSU didn't play fast and Wisconsin didn't play slow, their offensive efficiencies likely would suffer. \n > The interesting thing, though, is when a team has an offensive makeup tailored towards playing one style and a defensive makeup tailored towards playing a different style. This is one of the reasons UK's offensive efficiency has been climbing recently while their defensive efficiency has slipped a tiny bit: they're playing more uptempo. The point of all this, though, is that while playing faster may remove a bit of randomness, it may also cost a team an advantage it would have had at another tempo. \n >","Summary: teams play at particular tempos because that tempo is how they best exploit their strengths. There is a reason certain teams play at certain speeds, it isn't simply an independent factor.\n\nPost: Another reason that thought pattern doesn't work as well as it theoretically should is the fact that tempo isn't an entirely discrete factor that operates completely independently of offensive and defensive efficiency. Speed has an effect on efficiencies. That is, depending on a team's style, speeding up or slowing down can have a detrimental effect on their efficiencies -- their tempo helps them reach those numbers. For example, slow pace often helps a team force a lower FG% at the expense of forcing turnovers. It follows, then, that UVA likes to slow it down; their defensive scheme doesn't try to force turnovers, it tries to force bad shots in the half-court. On the other end of the spectrum, teams like VCU and Louisville predicate their defense on forcing turnovers -- one reason they both play uptempo. And from the other side of the ball, a team like LSU with a lot of athletes that commit lots of turnovers and aren't particularly efficient in the half court hits a higher offensive efficiency by playing uptempo. Wisconsin is the opposite example, there; they have a gorgeous half-court offense predicated on ball movement as opposed to sheer athleticism -- which is why they slow it down. \n If UVA didn't play so slow and VCU didn't play so fast, their defensive efficiencies would likely suffer a bit. Likewise, if LSU didn't play fast and Wisconsin didn't play slow, their offensive efficiencies likely would suffer. \n The interesting thing, though, is when a team has an offensive makeup tailored towards playing one style and a defensive makeup tailored towards playing a different style. This is one of the reasons UK's offensive efficiency has been climbing recently while their defensive efficiency has slipped a tiny bit: they're playing more uptempo. The point of all this, though, is that while playing faster may remove a bit of randomness, it may also cost a team an advantage it would have had at another tempo.","Summary: I have a intellectual boner for Nassim Nicholas Taleb \n EDIT: This thread is the first I have been exposed to Pinker, and I find his ideas very intriguing as well. If anyone wants to offer any suggestions for any good Pinker reads in particular, I'm all ears.\n\nPost: I've found that Taleb is, for the most part, justified in most of his criticism of other's ideas (although not always in his treatment of these others in his writings) because of the fact that he usually presents his ideas as philosophy - his own mind essentially rambling logically. When he lacks empirical evidence, he admits it. His rhetoric is so exceptional that I often find myself nodding along even while reading ideas of his that I had previously made decisions contrary to. LOVE Taleb, but when reading his works, I force myself to take a step back and think about the matter from an outside perspective, not just from the one Taleb gives - his prose and rhetoric are that phenomenal. Anyone interested in Taleb who hasn't read \"The Black Swan\", I HIGHLY recommend it. While it is in a way marketed as a business-solutions book, but Taleb vehemently denies this throughout, and I tend to agree that it is MUCH more of a philosophical read than a book about business.","Summary: Yes, Hill had a good game today -- but what the numbers don't show is the fact that the bengals wanted him to be the clock-eater in the 4th quarter, but he couldn't stay in the game because he was winded. Even with 17 touches today, the bengals wanted him to get more -- and the timeshare should continue to even out as the season moves foraward.\n\nPost: As an LSU grad from Cincinnati, I've been trying so hard to tell people all offseason and during this past week that Jeremy Hill will be worth a roster spot this year in just about any league. This past week a lot of people were in disagreement, but today Hill was almost exactly what I've been saying he'd be -- 17 touches, 96 total yards, and a TD. \n BUT THAT'S NOT ALL \n If you didn't actually watch the game, or don't know much about Gio or Jeremy other than the numbers they put up, what I'm about to say is important for you to read. \n Gio, while a fantastic player, isn't a between the tackles guy. He's really not a 27 carry per game guy either. So it makes sense that when the bengals go into clock killing mode this year (and after the first couple weeks, it seems like that might be happening a good bit), Hill will be the go-to guy. Today, that seemed to be the plan, but the touches in clock-killing time were pretty evenly split -- but the numbers don't tell the whole story. The bengals looked a whole lot like they wanted Hill to be the guy getting the 4th quarter carries. He got the first crack at them, and was much more effective than gio against the stacked box. The only reason, it seemed to me, that he didn't get all (or at least the huge bulk of them) is because he was looking really gassed. I'm sure that as the season progresses, that issue will work itself out, and Hill will be the guy getting the 4th quarter carries when the bengals are winning. \n I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Gio's 32 touches today are his season high. I think if the bengals played this game 4 weeks from now, Gio's last 5 carries or so go to Hill. In those last few drives, Gio was running into a brick wall and getting 1-2 YPC, while Hill was consistently pushing the pile for 5 or 6 at a time. The only problem was Hill's apparent lack of conditioning -- which I'm confident will work itself out. \n Obviously, after this week, Hill isn't really an ideal buy-low candidate, but if there's an owner who thinks this is the time to unload him, don't hesitate to pull the trigger. As someone who has watched every non-HS game Jeremy Hill has ever played, I am extremely confident in saying that what Hill did today today is much closer to the rule than the exception. \n Edit:"],"string":"[\n \"Summary: Brandon Phillips swings at the first pitch of the at bat even if it's rolling into the plate, and it's hard to be a good hitter when you only get 2 strikes.\\n\\nPost: Brandon Phillips, and it's one of the most annoying things ever. All the casual fans know his name, and see his 103 RBIs from last season and think he's a superstar and worth every penny we pay him. But in reality his OBP from last year was .310 and he slugged UNDER .400. AS A CLEANUP HITTER. He barely eeked out 100 rbis despite the fact he was hitting behind choo and votto - who got on base more times than any other duo in the NL. Don't get me wrong, he's phenomenal and so much fun to watch on defense, but people actually think he's well above average offensively, when in reality he is average at best. The most unfortunate part is that we pay him like he's an offensive stud, and he just isn't (anymore). Hopefully now that dusty is gone we can shift our lineup around (votto second, fingers crossed) so that he might actually provide a bit more benefit offensively. Put him in a spot where his ridiculous free swinging doesn't destroy perfectly good chances at scoring runs.\",\n \"Summary: my grandpa grew up poor as dirt, is a 100% self made man, and did very very well for himself and his family.\\n\\nPost: Agreed. I personally am lucky - Honors student through high school, Division 1 major conference swimmer while holding a 3.5 in Finance, and will be attending law school in the Fall, but my grandpa didn't have it so good, and thats why I'll always look up to him. \\n He lived and was raised literally in the ghetto. Joined the marines as soon as he was allowed. He was subsequently blown up just a few weeks into his active duty in Korea. The technicalities of their disability payments essentially had him receiving the maximum amount despite the fact that he didn't have, and still doesn't have almost any disabilities (very slight limp and a tiny lack of sensation in one hand). He used that to disability money to put himself through college (Keep in mind he was still only 18 at the time - so he was still the same age as his college peers), graduated with honors, and went on to a very successful business career. He was even one of the main members of the committee that helped put up the Korean War Memorial in D.C., got to meet Ronald Reagan, and is one of very few number of people who actually knows that his face is on the memorial. Now he and my grandma are retired with a house in Cincinnati and another in Naples, where he golfs, plays cards, and gambles all day (I'll add that he might be the luckiest man I know, he ALWAYS wins). He is one of the most generous men I've ever met, had 6 kids, has a BUNCH of grandkids, lives as well as anyone could hope to live in their 70s and 80s, and he did it with literally nothing handed to him.\",\n \"Summary: Treat relay starts different than flat starts. Jump a little higher, and go a little deeper on relay starts. Really work on entry and breakout angles, and really learn to be conscious of your body position. Do everything you can to maintain as much momentum as possible. Try out the drill I described (relay start, no kicking, trying to glide as far as possible) - it will really help. \\n \\n Use your breakouts deliberately. Make your first few strokes relaxed, and your next few as a building phase to peak tempo. Adjust the lengths of your relaxed, building, and full-tempo phases based on the race and based on relay vs. flat start. \\n \\n And finally, as a sprinter, know exactly what you are going to do with every single individual stroke of your whole race. Make sure you work on nailing your turns and getting under your wake. Try out the \\\"submersion\\\" turn, and perfect it. Think through and practice every detail of your race so much that it becomes second nature. \\n \\n \\n Sorry again for writing an essay, but I hope you'll take some of it to heart. It's a great way to make sure you can get something out of every single workout even if its not a tough one that leaves you exhausted. I guarantee you that if you work on even a single one of these things, that you'll see very quick results. Feel free to ask me about anything, man. Good luck!\\n\\nPost: Man...Relay starts are so important. I'm gonna give you some advice, just because I love the sport of swimming, I've been lucky enough to have some fantastic coaches, and I like passing on the knowledge I have. This is going to be a long post and feel free to disregard this completely if you want haha. \\n In my opinion, the biggest benefit of the relay start is one that most people never really consider or work on - nailing your entry. \\n I never had any idea, or even considered the importance or impact of relay start entries , breakouts, and momentum until I was a junior in college. My group had a new coach that year and he really stressed that stuff. Like... really stressed that stuff. We'd sometimes spend an entire hour at a time working on it. Specifically, we'd do a drill where all we did was a relay windup and jump, and after entering the water, we weren't allowed to kick at all. The point of the drill was to see how far you could get just solely based on your momentum. It allowed us to play around with, and learn, objectively what entry angles allow you to carry the most momentum into, and through the water. Additionally, it really forced you to be conscious of controlling your body-line. It might sound like a silly drill and just a break from getting your ass kicked, but seriously, I know for a fact that this knocked significant time off my races. \\n If you have great body control/position to hold your body in a perfectly straight line, and have your feet enter through the exact same hole your hands enter through (to disrupt the minimum amount of water possible), the momentum you can carry from a relay start into your actual swim is really amazing. \\n I was never much of a sprinter, so the relays I was on were the 4x200, and occasionally a 4x100 in a dual meet. I swam a completely different first 50 in my relay 200s than I did in my individual 200 frees. Specifically, when I was swimming a relay 200, I'd concentrate as much as possible on nailing the entry like I described above, and then I'd stay under all the way to 15m. I'd try to enter as cleanly as possible, and I'd try to enter at a slightly steeper angle (i.e. more of a downward angle, as opposed to a more shallow, \\\"jump out not up\\\" angle), because that type of angle allows for a cleaner entry (the \\\"one hole\\\" I described). Once I entered, I'd wait for just a brief second before I started my dolphin kicks. I found, and also have been coached that when you start kicking immediately upon entering the water, you wind up losing a lot of the momentum you got from your start by providing extra friction with the water (Think of the difference of pushing a straight pole through water, and pushing a bent object through water - the bent object won't go as far). If I was able to nail my entry, wait just briefly, and then begin dolphin kicking, I'd wind up at 15m in almost no time, and with almost no effort. You know the last 15m of a race where you basically can't feel your arms any more, and its all you can do just to keep swimming? Imagine adding an additional 15m worth of energy to the end of your race. That's exactly what you can do if you really perfect your relay start \\n Next, the breakout. Make sure to come up at as shallow an angle as possible - that is, don't pop up at a steep angle. Try to get your body as parallel to the surface of the water as possible, and let your natural buoyancy bring you up. If you perfect this, you'll have so much momentum that it should only take 5 or 6 strokes to get to the wall. Try to make your breakout as smooth as possible, and try to put as little effort as possible into the first lap. It seems counter-intuitive, but I found that coming off a relay start, if I was just smooth and relaxed, my first 25 was almost always faster than if I sprinted as hard as I could. When I went from a flat start, however, I'd go for a lot shallower of an entry angle, come up a decent ways before 15m, and push that first 25 a bit more. Basically, the point is that nailing a relay start will give you so much momentum that its in your best interest to put all your effort into simply conserving that momentum. In contrast, even a great flat start won't give you nearly as much momentum, and so you'll want to work on building that up yourself on your first lap, so that you can carry it into the rest of the race. \\n Now, from what you've said, it sounds like you're more of a 50/100 guy than a 200 guy, like I was. For a relay start 50, I would suggest you try the stuff I suggested, but to a lesser extent. For example, still try for a a steeper entry angle than you would from a flat start, but not quite as much as you would for a 200. I'm not sure whether or not you're much of an underwater guy (I was a big time UW person), so you also might not want to go as far as I liked to. For a relay 50, you'll want to stay a bit shallower, and come up sooner Additionally, you still probably want to break out smooth and easy like you would for a 200 - probably your first 2 strokes should be relaxed, but you want to use your next few strokes to build up to your max tempo, then just crank once you're there. \\n As for a relay start 100 free, I would personally use the exact same entry, kickout distance, breakout, and first lap, with the only difference being that I'd try to reach max tempo with just my last stroke into the first wall. However, if you're less UW oriented than myself, I'd recommend still building to max tempo, but probably trying to reach it by the 15m marker, or a tiny bit past. \\n A final thought... \\n Specific to you as a sprinter, I cannot possibly stress enough the importance of breaking your race strategies down stroke by stroke. And I mean, literally, stroke. by. stroke. A lot - and I mean a lot - of very good swimmers never think this way; and that is what separates them from the BEST. I knew plenty of sub-20 50 freestylers who never did this - who simply dove in, and turned their arms over as fast as they possibly could until their race was over - and, whether or not they realized it, it was almost glaringly obvious, in some instances, that it had a profound limiting effect on their times. For you, as 50/100 freestyler, you should basically have a plan for every single stroke in your entire race. My advice, and obviously this varies a little based on your body type, your UW skills, and other things, is as follows: First, work on nailing your starts. Know, in your mind, the precise motions you want out of your arms and hands, out of your legs and feet, out of your shoulders, and out of your core. Know the differences you want between your flat starts and your relay starts. As a sprinter, this is a huge priority for you. Next, as I already talked about, know your entry. Know exactly - exactly - how many dolphin kicks you're going to take before your breakout. One of my coaches would always tell a story about a workout he had with the best 50 freestyler he ever coached. He said that they swam for the first 1.5 hours of practice, and were going to work on starts and breakouts for the last 30 minutes. They ended up spending 2 hours trying to decide whether the swimmer should take 4, or 5 dolphin kicks off his start. Stopwatch, underwater camera, out of water camera, the works. Once you're up and swimming, you should have a plan for every stroke in the entire race. Again, this differs between people, but I'd suggest 1-2 relaxed breakout strokes, then 2-3 strokes building tempo. Have your stroke count for the first lap (yes, a stroke count even on freestyle!) nailed down so that you know exactly how you'll hit your turn. Learn to utilize the \\\"dip down\\\", angled turn, as opposed to a simple circular turn - it will let you carry more momentum, adjust better if you're a little too close/too far from the wall, and sneak under your wake as you break out on your second lap. Push off as shallow as possible while still avoiding your wake. Your second breakout should not be as relaxed as your first. You probably only want to use 2 strokes to get to max tempo here. After that (and always, but especially on your second lap), stay very conscious of maintaining your high elbow catch despite being fatigued. Know exactly where you want you use your only breath (I recommend breathing on a 50, because the trade-off of maybe .1 for the significant benefit of lessened lactic acid buildup makes the breath worth it IMO). After you take that breath, know exactly how many strokes you need to hit the wall with perfect extension. \\n Well, I kinda went off the rails there a little; sorry for that. I'll give a little summary/\",\n \"Summary: Jeremy Hill's best NFL comparison might be Adrian Peterson, and they're eerily similar. Peterson has more top end speed and is a bit more agile than Hill, but they both have ridiculous vision, they both leave barely enough time for the blink of an eye between their initial cut and their hitting the hole, they both get to their max speed insanely quickly, and they both make phenomenal second level cuts for backs of their size\\n\\nPost: God damn that man was created to play running back. But although that video was horrifyingly impressive (and reminded me how in the fuck Peterson put up 2k with literally no passing attack and 8 men in the box on every play), the thing that struck me the most about it is that, other than being a notch less agile (but, IMO, slightly more powerful), Jeremy Hill looks like a nearly exact replication of AD when he runs. They're both tall RB's who run tall, they both have stupid ridiculous vision, and they both have phenomenal balance and are virtually impervious to arm tackles. But the two most striking similarities -- and perhaps the two strongest aspects of both of their games -- are (1) how fast they hit the hole after making their first cut, and (2) their ability to make a second cut at the next level (i.e. the linebackers) and to seemingly reach max speed within like 3 strides. \\n Seriously, that AP video is chock full of examples of those last two things I mentioned, but check out the similarities in Jeremy Hill [here]( Specifically, check out the cut Hill makes at the second level on the run starting at :50. Then check out how quickly he accelerates after making his first cut in the run at 1:24. And for possibly the best example of everything I just described, go to 2:25. Other good examples of the vision, cuts, and acceleration I described are at 3:14 and 4:06. \\n Obviously, now, I should qualify: I'll admit 2 major mitigating factors with that highlight reel -- first, the editing makes it a bit tough to see the vision and acceleration on many plays; and second, it's college tape, so the holes are often gaping. (Its worth noting, though, that that highlight tape came with Hill having only one season as the starter). But you can see the same insane post-cut acceleration on this the tiny hole Hill recognizes, (2) how he basically reaches top speed before he's even all the way through the hole, and (3) the cut he makes at the second level to avoid Rafael Bush (#25). If you have to pick one runner who that last rush reminds you of the most, I think its pretty difficult not to go with Peterson. \\n Now, I'm not saying Jeremy Hill is or will ever be Adrian Peterson -- AD's definitely got a little more shimmy and more top end speed than Hill (though I think the difference in their combine 40's is larger than the discrepancy in their in-game speed; Hill seems to run practically the same speed in pad as not in pads) -- but damn if they aren't similar rushers. \\n If I wasn't already taking a break from studying I'd try to go through and line up the most similar runs in each of those videos for comparison -- maybe I'll do that tomorrow. \\n Edit: My apologies for that extremely lengthy and mostly irrelevant aside; I got a little excited once I started watching that Jeremy Hill tape... \\n 2nd Edit: Went and looked up NFL draft scouting reports for each... \\n \\n Peterson Positives: \\\"His feet and body control enable him to pick his way through trash, and he keeps his feet after contact\\\" ... \\\"Likes to lower his head and drive through with his legs after contact\\\" ... \\\"Quick to attack the inside holes and has the acceleration to separate\\\" ... \\\"has the agility to ... redirect ... His quick cutting skills mean he doesn't have to gear down to change direction\\\" \\n \\n Hill Positives: \\\"Spins off contact, often gaining extra yardage after the initial hit\\\" ...\\n\\\"Lowers his shoulder, keeps his legs churning\\\" ... \\\"Decisive runner. Attacks holes and gets downfield in a hurry ... Deceptive speed, including the ability to run away from defenders to create chunk plays\\\" ... \\\"Efficient and fluid in his cuts, showing the ability to burst through the designated hole or skip laterally to attack another.\\\" \\n \\n Peterson Negatives: \\\"needs to be more conscious of protecting [the ball] ... seems to be too erect in his stride taking the ball up the middle\\\" ... \\\"Will sometimes revert to trying to run over the opponent\\\" \\n \\n Hill Negatives: \\\"Runs higher than preferred, too often exposing his chest (and the ball) to the defender and simply attempting to run over them.\\\" \\n \\n \\n 3rd Edit: Googled \\\"Jeremy Hill Adrian Peterson Comparison\\\" and apparently I'm not alone. .\",\n \"Summary: As a small market team, the reds have a limited window in which it is possible for them to win. Bailey is not worth as much as Latos, and is not worth nearly as much as Cueto, but the reds window is now , and they need Bailey to win now - and the only way to keep Bailey was this contract.\\n\\nPost: Short Answer - the reason we threw the money at Bailey is because his contract was going to be up before Latos and Cueto, and we needed a 5th starter. \\n It wasn't going to be worth it to give Arroyo the $$ he was asking for, so we needed to either keep the other 5 (Bailey, Leake, Latos, Cueto, Cingrani), or deal Bailey, and move Chapman to starter - which is actually the route I would've LOVED to see (and what I thought was going to happen for sure once we promoted Price). \\n The main issue here is that the reds are a small market team. Small market teams simply cannot stay at the top for extended periods of time. The smartest way to manage a small market team is to basically build the team to be as good as possible for ~5 years, and hope like hell that they pull something off in that time period. THAT is why we threw all that money at Bailey. Because, yes, we could have filled that hole with someone below average, but not horrible - but being as this is likely one of the last seasons in which the reds' window will still be open, it wouldn't have been smart to just go with a gap-filler. \\n So basically, the dilemma was we need these 5 starters, and Bailey would have been the first one to get to the end of his contract. Latos is definitely worth the Bailey money moreso than bailey himself. As for Cueto, I suspect that at this point, we're just going to ride out his current deal and dish him at some point in his last season - because the price he'll command on the open market is not one that the reds have the capability of paying. \\n Bailey is a good pitcher - but not great. The plight of a small market team is that they have to sacrifice their long term future for their short term future when their important players' contracts come up. That's what happened with Votto as well. A lot of people lament the huge 10 year, 200+ million dollar deals, saying that the player isn't going to be producing like a 25mil/year player in year 10 of the contract - and those people are missing the point. The reason you agree to that contract is not because you think that, over the duration of the contract, it will be worth it; but because if you want to keep that player during the time which your window is open, you have to offer that type of deal. There might not ever be a player who winds up being worth the salary they get in the 10th year of a mega deal like that -- and if they are, I'd bet my ass they'll extend that baby before it ever even gets to year 8 or 9.\",\n \"Summary: I, and many many many others, believe in God, but don't believe in religion (what people say about God), leaving us open to believe in science as well. God and science, what a novel concept...\\n\\nPost: do you think he might have been a closet atheist?\\\" \\n seriously? are you that ignorant? \\n People need to realize that it is possible to be religious believe that there is/could be a God out there (The ol' Davinci Code \\\"Do you believe in God?\\\" \\\"I'm not religious\\\" \\\"I asked if you believed in God, not in what people say about God \\\") and still believe basic tenants of science that are held as true. I, personally, am Catholic believe in God, and believe 100% in science. I have very similar views of the Bible as the Jesuit Professor in question, I would say that 90% of my non-atheist friends are the exact same. I would even go as far to say that 90% of all Catholics are that way. I know people who are religious to the point of not believing in evolution, and TRUST ME, they are pariahs, even in the \\\"religious\\\" community. Here at /r/atheism, you make them out to be the norm, when in reality, the norm for NON-atheists (at least in my neck of the woods, which happens to be super conservative) is beyond general acceptance of science, and closer to 100% belief in anything science can offer up. \\n I know this will come back to me with \\\"if you and your friends believe everything about science, then you shouldn't believe in God\\\". The second science can definitively prove there is no such thing, then I'll accept it whole heartedly. Til then, leave it be and go back to jerking the circle.\",\n \"Summary: one of these fooled me once.\\n\\nPost: One time I was in the car on the way to morning swim practice (it wasn't even 5 am yet) so I was definitely groggy. On my way to the pool there is one certain light that is SO MOTHERFUCKING HARD to make. Like, I've-lived-here-for-my-whole-21-year-life-and-I've-only-made-the-light-four-or-five-times hard. Anyways, its about 4:55 in the morning and I come over this hill and see that I have a shot at making the light. I deliberately speed up as I go down the hill, hoping to make it through the light. As I'm getting toward the bottom, the light turns yellow. Normally this wouldn't faze me, but out of the corner of my eye I see a cop car to my left. I SLAM on my brakes and skid out into the intersection leaving marks probably about 15-20 feet. As the light turns red, the cop car (which I now realized WASN'T a cop car, just one of those from the picture) pulls slowly through the intersection making a left turn - directly by me - at about 5 miles an hour, clearly savoring his victory. He leans his head completely out the window to look and laugh at me and yelled \\\"Learn to drive, asshole!\\\". I sat for the next 5 minutes at the worst red light ever taking in the awful smell of burnt rubber and contemplating the extremity of failure that I had achieved by 4:55 a.m.\",\n \"Summary: Fuck SG and SF, get players who are good at lots of categories even if they're not standouts at one, get players who can fill multiple position slots, don't rely on superstars - go for a balanced roster, and PUNT TURNOVERS.\\n\\nPost: Sorry for the wall of text, but here are my general strategies. \\n \\n Don't go after SGs and SFs - they generally help most in categories that are easy to fill, don't help much in difficult categories, and their spots can often be filled by combo position players (see bullet 3). \\n \\n Go after players who contribute in 1 or more categories their position generally doesn't contribute in - and don't worry much about what they do in the categories their position is supposed to be good at, just make sure their adequate. For example; I'd rather have a PG who gave me 19 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and .7 blocks/game than one who gave me 14 points, 2 rebounds, 12 assists per game. If you follow this strategy for every position, you're gonna balance out - and if you use this tip in accordance with the above and below tip, you'll come out way ahead. \\n \\n Go after players who can fill multiple position slots (I'm talking PG/SG or PF/C, not SF/PF) - most notably, players listed as PG/SG. As I stated above, SGs give production in the easiest categories (points, steals - can come from all positions; 3PM - can come from PG, SG, SF and sometimes even PF or C), while PGs are generally the only position that can give you big time assists. So stock up on players that are listed as SGs but can give you 5+ assists per game (and obviously, as I said above, and PFs or Cs who may be decent enough to give you 3-4). Additionally, having that versatility on your roster allows you to better exploit tip #2. \\n \\n Don't rely on superstars. I'd rather have a team full of tier 2 players than 2-3 top tier players and the rest tier 3-4. This also plays in with the versatility factor, and with the tip below. \\n \\n ALWAYS PUNT TURNOVERS . This will open up a whole new world of roster options for you. Because the best players in the NBA play more, and get the ball more, and therefore turn the ball over more; by punting turnovers, you're giving up ONE category for the chance to improve in basically EVERY OTHER CATEGORY. Again, this plays in with the above tip, because essentially, if you're not worried at all about TOs, there are TONS of tier 2 and 3 players that instantly become top tier - Think Cousins, Westbrook, Harden, Jennings. On top of that, lots of other players simply move up a tier (even if its not to tier 1) when you stop worrying about TOs.\",\n \"Summary: 8 man, 9 cat, looking for a trade to help me pick up the slack left off from Westbrook and Ryan Anderson going down.\\n\\nPost: Here's my situation: I'm in an 8 man, 9 cat, weekly H2H league with 3 bench slots (and no IR slot) where daily substitutions are allowed. Because of the size of the league, the shallow bench, the lack of an IR slot, and the substitution rules, holding a player with a long term injury can really hurt. I was already in first place and couple weeks ago I picked up brandon knight just as he was starting to go off and I thought I had completed my roster and essentially made my team unbeatable, when I had Russell Westbrook go down. For the aforementioned reasons, I dropped him. Big blow, as he was on absolute FIRE (something like 20/9/8 over the 2 weeks leading up to his injury). Next, I had Ryan Anderson go down. I've still been coming out on top in my weekly matchups, but they've been getting closer and closer. \\n Here's my current Roster: \\n \\n Brandon Jennings \\n Kyle Lowry \\n Damien Lillard \\n Brandon Knight \\n Kendall Marshall \\n James Harden \\n Andre Iguodala \\n Thad Young \\n Ryan Anderson (contemplating who to drop him for since the news about his status just came out) \\n Lamarcus Aldridge \\n Demarcus Cousins \\n Deandre Jordan \\n David Lee \\n \\n Note: I'm punting (or was punting - now rethinking) TOs, FG%, and blocks. My strongest categories (that I usually crush - though not by nearly as much anymore) are points, rebounds, 3PM, and assists. \\n Since Westbrook went down, I've been eeking out wins in assists, and now that Anderson is gone, I'm nervous about 3PM as well. Currently planning on dropping Anderson for Lance Stephenson (I'm thinking of him as kind of a poor man's russell westbrook), and also mulling over picking Westbrook himself back up and hoping he's back, and back to his old self come playoff time (I should be alright with making the playoffs hopefully even with him eating up a roster spot). Anyways, I've been looking for a WW guy who can give me 3's but still contribute elsewhere (points aren't necessarily what I need so hopefully some rebounds or assists - ideally rebounds) without much luck. So instead I'm mulling over any possible trades. The one that is the most appealing to me at the moment is packaging Lamarcus Aldridge with someone to snag Kevin Love. If I do that, however, who do you suggest I package him with, and what WW guys would you recommend I pick up to fill the resulting gap? Also, any other players I might look to target? Any help would be greatly appreciated\",\n \"Summary: don't listen to the people telling you you'll be broke and that law school and the profession sucks - instead, take some to find out whether law school is something you can do successfully. If it is, and if you choose the right school for you, you shouldn't have any regrets.\\n\\nPost: I haven't regretted it for one minute. I don't go to a first tier school, but my school is prestigious regionally. I think one thing that you need to ask yourself before deciding to attend a regional school is whether or not you truly have the capability and work ethic to finish towards the top of your class. I floated through undergrad in finance with a 3.5 GPA doing almost no work whatsoever, but I swam for all 4 years on a top-25 team - so I knew I had the work ethic. Once I was in, doing poorly simply wasn't an option for me. If you pick the right school, are interested in the material, finish towards the top of your class, and take every possible opportunity you get to network, the horror stories you hear will avoid you completely (at least they have for me). I'm sure there are people out there who do all those things and still fall through the cracks in terms of employment, but from what I see going on around me day in and day out, the people who commit themselves to law school (ALL aspects - grades; extracurriculars; taking actual time to craft resumes, cover letters, and thank you notes; networking, professionalism) do much more than just fine for themselves. The people who don't have good job opportunities are the ones who just assume they'll be able to go through law school doing the same thing they've always done. It's a lot of work, but in no way is it impossible, or even miserable, as people tend to describe it. I'll add that 1L year is nerve racking because you don't know how smart everyone else is - but when grades come out, bet your ASS that the people you see at the library the most will be (for the most part) towards the top of the class. After that, not everyone at the top puts actual time into their resumes/etc and into networking, and those people wind up behind the ones that do. Basically, take every chance you have to do things better than the next guy and you'll be absolutely fine. HOWEVER, if you're unsure whether you'll be able to do that, or unsure whether you'll be able to end up toward the top of the class, think twice before enrolling . \\n I'll add one more thing: there are three types of people in law school: \\n \\n \\n people that studied 24/7 in undergrad and for the LSAT, and succeeded and got into law school that way. \\n \\n \\n \\n People who did absolutely no work in undergrad, and succeeded and got into law school because they are naturally very intelligent. \\n \\n \\n \\n People who were a combination of 1 and 2 (I.e. Studied a decent bit, and are decently smart). \\n \\n \\n \\n The third group will make up the middle 70% of your law school class. Groups 1 and 2 will both be evenly split between the top 15% and the bottom 15%. The kids who did well because they studied crazy hard in undergrad, but never actually knew how to study (I.e. Got by on sheer volume of studying) will be in the bottom. Those who studied a lot and know how to adjust their studying for a different system (law school is waaay different) will end up in the top. The kids who skated by in undergrad and think they can do the same in law school will wind up in the bottom. Those who understand that law school is a different beast and understand that it's time to work will end up in the top. \\n Obviously none of that is 100% set in stone, but I truly believe that recognizing which of those groups you fit into is a HUGE factor in how successful you'll be in law school.\",\n \"Summary: College is okay .\\n\\nPost: I just got off a 7 day non-stop drinking binge, at a house on the beach, with houses containing ONLY 18-22 year old girls on either side of us, all of whom were also drunk 24/7. I returned to my house at school, BBQ'd that night, had a few brews with the buddies, and reminisced about the past week. I slept til 11 a.m. today, because I only have class twice a week, for 1 1/2 hours each. I'm about to go to a bar that my roommates work at to watch the national championship, all whilst drinking free beers and talking to any cute girls who might be there or to any girls whose numbers I got this past week who I might decide to invite. Once I finish my classes for the week (that'll happen at 10:20 Thursday morning), I'll go home, take a nap, probably go to an apt complex with a pool, lay by the pool all day, maybe read, maybe drink, depending on what mood I'm in, then go home, take a shower, and go out. Repeat those steps (sans the attending class part) again for Friday, and again for Saturday. Admittedly, I'll probably spend most of Sunday doing school work, but after that, I'll basically repeat that whole process again for the rest of the year. Then, in May, I graduate. I'll go home, work a dumb summer job, then ship off to Law School in the fall (where none of the above applies).\",\n \"Summary: unless you are a super computer, you cannot turn a long term profit by buying and selling in the short term.\\n\\nPost: This is not necessarily true, and reminds me of a joke I heard: \\n 2 economists are walking along the sidewalk. One of them spots a crisp $1 bill on the ground. \\\"Hey look! A dollar on the ground!\\\" he says. The second economist replies, \\\"Thats impossible. If there were a dollar on the ground, somebody would've picked it up already.\\\" \\n Point being: If there is an opportunity for arbitrage (profit resulting from exploiting price discrepancies) it will be capitalized on essentially instantly, causing prices to adjust, and leaving no more opportunity for arbitrage (this state of equilibrium is called parity). Because there are ALWAYS investors with more information, and firms with super computers capable of making thousands of trades in a fraction of a second, it makes it literally impossible for somebody that is not EXTREMELY educated, with instant access to all relevant information, absolutely incapable of turning profit via day trading (buying and selling with little to no holding period). Even the top analysts and hedge fund managers at the top firms essentially break even from day trading in the long run. This is not to say that one might not make a huge profit from one individual trade, or a couple of trades in a row, but in the long run, EVERYTHING balances out (to the inflation rate). In addition, this also is not to say that somebody cannot make a profit from buying and holding a stock (i.e. Warren Buffet - the man buys, and VERY seldom sells anything) for an extended period. In conclusion, in a period of harsh market downturn, if you aren't an exceptionally savvy investor, your best bet is to stay pat - keep in mind that despite the fact that the company's valuation is dropping, the same thing is still being valuated - that is - the company is still made up of the same physical assets, the same people, and the same business plan.\",\n \"Summary: paintings this realistic, while impressive, are very boring\\n\\nPost: This is a great example of why painters like picasso, and other surrealist artists (and other types too) are so heavily recognized for what they do, and why it bugs me so much when people say, \\\"That looks like a 6 year old could draw it. How is that brilliant art?\\\" Hyperrealistic paintings like these, while impressive, are not thought provoking, because they are simply photographs. And not-quite-as-realistic photographs at that. Not many people would look at a photo of an ordinary snack machine and consider it high-brow, high-quality art. That is exactly what this is. I was lucky enough to have an exceptional art teacher in my high school years, and this was one of the main points he tried and tried to get across to us: Don't draw/paint things to be exactly real life, because even if you do a 100% perfect job, somebody who spends a minute taking a photo will always outdo you. IMO paintings and drawings are meant to bring a level of the human experience and the human element and the human spirit TO what actually IS real life - not to simply show real life as is. As for the \\\"people questioning picasso and other similiar, or non-realistic artists\\\" side of things, having studied art under a great teacher and learning the ins and outs of what makes a good composition, good color pattern and flow, and what elements of realism and surrealism mix well to provoke thought, it becomes EXCEPTIONALLY easier to appreciate classical, non-realist art. Whereas before, I could look at a picasso and be completely unmoved, now, art of that type absolutely blows my mind. I can't believe a human could create such things. ALSO, for those still unimpressed by picasso, saying their 10 year old could do the same via fingerpaint, you should know that Picasso also went through a realism phase, and that many of these paintings are also extremely impressive.\",\n \"Summary: interacting with others and their beliefs CAN AND WILL cause yours to change, BUT in someone acting rationally and logically, interacting with people who are in opposition of gay marriage will have no bearing on whether they believe a god exists.\\n\\nPost: okay then let me make a counterpoint. \\n The initial argument was that OP was considering becoming an atheist because he saw Christian's holding an anti-gay marriage rally. While interacting with others and their beliefs may cause yours to change - I simply can't find any leap in logic to go from (point A): There are people in the world who believe in god and oppose gay marriage. to (point B): I no longer believe in god. I can EASILY support a move from point A to (point C): I no longer wish to practice the same religion as these people. To say that seeing people rallying against gay marriage makes you doubt the existence of a being that nobody has 1 single clue or idea about is asinine. The two ideas ARE UNRELATED. If they ARE related, it is in this sense: I don't like a god that would teach these people to hate these other people. This is a fair opinion, but again, I'll explain why it supports me as opposed to you. #1 and most basic: If there is a god that you dislike - THERE IS A GOD. #2: I've never heard of any theist claim that their god is hateful or teaches hate. In that case, it follows that it is simply humans making these hateful mistakes - and this is no reason to turn on any supposed \\\"god\\\".\",\n \"Summary: my angry roommate serenaded me with the worlds worst ever recorded rap song, while I fucked a girl.\\n\\nPost: This isn't really embarrassing at all, but I won't say it wasn't awkward. \\n Let me set the scene. I had just gotten back from a Halloween party with 2 of my buddies. I had my girl (we'll say girl A) with me and that was a sure thing. My roommate had his girl (girl B) with him, and he was gonna get some IF our third friend (who we didn't live with) was willing to take girl B's friend (girl C). So we're sittin' there drinkin a few beers and winding down. If I remember correctly, girl A was sitting on my lap, girl B was sitting on my roommate's lap, and girl C was really drunk and trying really hard to get on our lonely friend. This guy was a virgin at the time, and pretty awkward about girls, and he somehow (I literally don't know how, it was BAD) messed up his chance with girl C. So girl C says she wants to go home. Girl B is her ride, so my roommate is now screwed out of sex. As my roommate is trying to convince his girl, girl B, to stay and let girl C sleep on our couch, our 3rd friend up and leaves. So now my roommate is frustrated cause he knows his window of opportunity is closing. Anyways during all the thick-as-butter awkwardness, me and my girl go to bed and start the clock on sexy time. I guess the two girls eventually ended up leaving, and now my roommate is frustrated that I'm getting laid and he's not, so, right as me and my girl are starting to get into it, he angrily gets up, comes to my door, and starts singing a pissed off version of the Ludacris song \\\"sex room\\\". Seriously. The whole thing. While we're ~8 ft. away seperated by an inch of wooden door. We're fucking to this bizarre, half angry, half amused rendition of this horribly shitty song, performed by my drunken roommate. \\\"He's gonna take you to his sex rooo^oo^^oom!\\\". He starts bumping on the door making a beat that was strangely very similiar to the actual song. wtf. Somehow the asshole knew the whole song. I was weirded out, my girl was weirded out, and my roommate didn't remember it in the morning. To this day he doesn't believe me that it even happened.\",\n \"Summary: it's highly unlikely to happen and if it did it would be easily overturned on appeal\\n\\nPost: I don't know specifically that there aren't -- I haven't read every last 1983 case out there -- but I have read my fare share of opinions in general and that's just not something that judges do. They may come down with a surprising judgment one way or the other every once in a while in borderline cases, but it would never in a million years be of the type to just blatantly ignore the existing law in that area. If anything, the judge would logic his way into an incorrect judgment, but if it was ever obvious in any way shape or form it would just get overturned on appeal in a millisecond. Usually when you hear stuff on reddit about terrible opinions/judgments, simply reading the opinion with any type of legal background or knowledge will easily reveal that the opinion is solidly grounded in the law. That's not to say that political leanings of judges don't play any role -- I've interned for a federal appeals court judge and seen it first hand -- but generally it's in cases where the law in the area is right on the borderline and the arguments either way are more-or-less equally valid; in such situations the side closest to the most judges' political leanings will win. BUT even in that type of case, reading the opinion will make it obvious that there truly is a valid legal argument for that outcome 99.99% of the time. I follow politics a decent amount so I understand the nervousness regarding bias and corruption but, having seen the court system and dealt with and studied the judiciary at length, I can honestly say that I have the utmost confidence that, while not perfect, the U.S. court system is pretty damn solid when it comes to avoiding that type of stuff.\",\n \"Summary: to my original post haha. This is probably a bit more organized as well.\\n\\nPost: Oh I definitely agree. There were so many potential parallels to fables and parables and the like that I'm sure given the time you could pick out half a dozen others. I just thought there were too many similarities for this to not be intentional. \\n \\n Dante is lost; rust is lost. \\n \\n Dante had a tour guide through hell; Rust had a tour guide thru hell. \\n \\n Dante had to reach the bottom of hell/center of the earth before gravity reversed and he climbed out; Rust got to the shittiest point of his life and to the center of the maze before his worldview reversed and he could have hope. \\n \\n Dante comes across satan in the final circle of hell; Rust comes across Errol in the final center of the maze/Carcossa. \\n \\n \\n Actually I guess this comment serves as a decent\",\n \"Summary: I'm from Kentucky, and my school, and most schools in the area that I'm aware of teach correct science and don't discourage non-religious viewpoints.\\n\\nPost: I'm from Kentucky - albeit, Northern Kentucky (which I capitalize because it's essentially the third major city in the state, after Louisville and Lexington), which is essentially a suburb of Cincinnati - and I dislike the fact that the whole state is lumped together in one broad, creationism-accepting group. I attended a private Catholic high school and there was absolutely no point at which creationism in the Ken Ham sense (i.e. 6000 year old earth, etc.) was ever brought up as a valid theory - not even in our required religion classes. Not a single teacher at the entire school would have ever attempted to assert that the theory of evolution was incorrect, nor do I think that any teacher at the school even believes such. If there was ever any hint of \\\"creationism\\\" brought up, it was in the sense that \\\"the history of the universe (starting with the big bang, 13 billion years ago) was set in motion by god,\\\" and that everything else, including evolution, simply played out from there. Granted; there wasn't really discussion in biology/physics/etc classes pertaining to the implausibility of the existence of god, but the limit at which any teacher opined for creationism is the one I described above. Ironically, there were numerous civil, well-reasoned debates about the existence or non-existence of god in our religion classes. While I'm an extremely agnostic, anti-religion theist myself (I feel obligated to note here, how much it bugs me when people describe themselves merely as \\\"agnostic\\\" - when \\\"agnostic,\\\" in and of itself, is not an actual viewpoint) and subscribe more to a deist point of view, the religion teachers in whose classes we debated the existence of god were extremely well versed and educated about both sides of the argument, and had more capacity in their pinky finger than Ken Ham has in his entire body to advocate creationism. I was lucky enough to attend a school that is fairly widely regarded as one of the best in the area, so I'm sure that this was not the case in every nearby highschool, but from everything I heard from friends and acquaintances, this was more or less the atmosphere in the vast majority of schools in the area. Additionally, and again, ironically, based on what I saw and heard, it seems that the catholic schools were FAR better about teaching correct science than the public schools. It's not my intent at all to disagree with what you said - because, as I mentioned, the area of Kentucky that I'm from is fairly affluent - but I just thought I'd point out that many areas of the country which people tend to assume are full of bible-crazed, uneducated, hard-stance people unwilling to listen to reason, and whose schools tend towards the same, are not quite as bad as the media and this subreddit tends to portray.\",\n \"Summary: suck my dick tornadosgoOMNOM\\n\\nPost: hey good call! so many churches!....oh...wait, there were 0 in my post. Also, look up Cedar Point. Exactly 0 other states have rollercoasters like that. The Reds are the oldest professional baseball franchise in America, The Horseshoe is generally recognized as one of the most ledgendary stadiums in Football, and The Ohio State Marching Band doing script Ohio unequivocally the most famous marching band performance in the U.S.\",\n \"Summary: teams play at particular tempos because that tempo is how they best exploit their strengths. There is a reason certain teams play at certain speeds, it isn't simply an independent factor.\\n\\nPost: Posted this in response to a comment below, but I've actually thought a bit about this... \\n > Another reason that thought pattern doesn't work as well as it theoretically should is the fact that tempo isn't an entirely discrete factor that operates completely independently of offensive and defensive efficiency. Speed has an effect on efficiencies. That is, depending on a team's style, speeding up or slowing down can have a detrimental effect on their efficiencies -- their tempo helps them reach those numbers. For example, slow pace often helps a team force a lower FG% at the expense of forcing turnovers. It follows, then, that UVA likes to slow it down; their defensive scheme doesn't try to force turnovers, it tries to force bad shots in the half-court. On the other end of the spectrum, teams like VCU and Louisville predicate their defense on forcing turnovers -- one reason they both play uptempo. And from the other side of the ball, a team like LSU with a lot of athletes that commit lots of turnovers and aren't particularly efficient in the half court hits a higher offensive efficiency by playing uptempo. Wisconsin is the opposite example, there; they have a gorgeous half-court offense predicated on ball movement as opposed to sheer athleticism -- which is why they slow it down. \\n > If UVA didn't play so slow and VCU didn't play so fast, their defensive efficiencies would likely suffer a bit. Likewise, if LSU didn't play fast and Wisconsin didn't play slow, their offensive efficiencies likely would suffer. \\n > The interesting thing, though, is when a team has an offensive makeup tailored towards playing one style and a defensive makeup tailored towards playing a different style. This is one of the reasons UK's offensive efficiency has been climbing recently while their defensive efficiency has slipped a tiny bit: they're playing more uptempo. The point of all this, though, is that while playing faster may remove a bit of randomness, it may also cost a team an advantage it would have had at another tempo. \\n >\",\n \"Summary: teams play at particular tempos because that tempo is how they best exploit their strengths. There is a reason certain teams play at certain speeds, it isn't simply an independent factor.\\n\\nPost: Another reason that thought pattern doesn't work as well as it theoretically should is the fact that tempo isn't an entirely discrete factor that operates completely independently of offensive and defensive efficiency. Speed has an effect on efficiencies. That is, depending on a team's style, speeding up or slowing down can have a detrimental effect on their efficiencies -- their tempo helps them reach those numbers. For example, slow pace often helps a team force a lower FG% at the expense of forcing turnovers. It follows, then, that UVA likes to slow it down; their defensive scheme doesn't try to force turnovers, it tries to force bad shots in the half-court. On the other end of the spectrum, teams like VCU and Louisville predicate their defense on forcing turnovers -- one reason they both play uptempo. And from the other side of the ball, a team like LSU with a lot of athletes that commit lots of turnovers and aren't particularly efficient in the half court hits a higher offensive efficiency by playing uptempo. Wisconsin is the opposite example, there; they have a gorgeous half-court offense predicated on ball movement as opposed to sheer athleticism -- which is why they slow it down. \\n If UVA didn't play so slow and VCU didn't play so fast, their defensive efficiencies would likely suffer a bit. Likewise, if LSU didn't play fast and Wisconsin didn't play slow, their offensive efficiencies likely would suffer. \\n The interesting thing, though, is when a team has an offensive makeup tailored towards playing one style and a defensive makeup tailored towards playing a different style. This is one of the reasons UK's offensive efficiency has been climbing recently while their defensive efficiency has slipped a tiny bit: they're playing more uptempo. The point of all this, though, is that while playing faster may remove a bit of randomness, it may also cost a team an advantage it would have had at another tempo.\",\n \"Summary: I have a intellectual boner for Nassim Nicholas Taleb \\n EDIT: This thread is the first I have been exposed to Pinker, and I find his ideas very intriguing as well. If anyone wants to offer any suggestions for any good Pinker reads in particular, I'm all ears.\\n\\nPost: I've found that Taleb is, for the most part, justified in most of his criticism of other's ideas (although not always in his treatment of these others in his writings) because of the fact that he usually presents his ideas as philosophy - his own mind essentially rambling logically. When he lacks empirical evidence, he admits it. His rhetoric is so exceptional that I often find myself nodding along even while reading ideas of his that I had previously made decisions contrary to. LOVE Taleb, but when reading his works, I force myself to take a step back and think about the matter from an outside perspective, not just from the one Taleb gives - his prose and rhetoric are that phenomenal. Anyone interested in Taleb who hasn't read \\\"The Black Swan\\\", I HIGHLY recommend it. While it is in a way marketed as a business-solutions book, but Taleb vehemently denies this throughout, and I tend to agree that it is MUCH more of a philosophical read than a book about business.\",\n \"Summary: Yes, Hill had a good game today -- but what the numbers don't show is the fact that the bengals wanted him to be the clock-eater in the 4th quarter, but he couldn't stay in the game because he was winded. Even with 17 touches today, the bengals wanted him to get more -- and the timeshare should continue to even out as the season moves foraward.\\n\\nPost: As an LSU grad from Cincinnati, I've been trying so hard to tell people all offseason and during this past week that Jeremy Hill will be worth a roster spot this year in just about any league. This past week a lot of people were in disagreement, but today Hill was almost exactly what I've been saying he'd be -- 17 touches, 96 total yards, and a TD. \\n BUT THAT'S NOT ALL \\n If you didn't actually watch the game, or don't know much about Gio or Jeremy other than the numbers they put up, what I'm about to say is important for you to read. \\n Gio, while a fantastic player, isn't a between the tackles guy. He's really not a 27 carry per game guy either. So it makes sense that when the bengals go into clock killing mode this year (and after the first couple weeks, it seems like that might be happening a good bit), Hill will be the go-to guy. Today, that seemed to be the plan, but the touches in clock-killing time were pretty evenly split -- but the numbers don't tell the whole story. The bengals looked a whole lot like they wanted Hill to be the guy getting the 4th quarter carries. He got the first crack at them, and was much more effective than gio against the stacked box. The only reason, it seemed to me, that he didn't get all (or at least the huge bulk of them) is because he was looking really gassed. I'm sure that as the season progresses, that issue will work itself out, and Hill will be the guy getting the 4th quarter carries when the bengals are winning. \\n I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Gio's 32 touches today are his season high. I think if the bengals played this game 4 weeks from now, Gio's last 5 carries or so go to Hill. In those last few drives, Gio was running into a brick wall and getting 1-2 YPC, while Hill was consistently pushing the pile for 5 or 6 at a time. The only problem was Hill's apparent lack of conditioning -- which I'm confident will work itself out. \\n Obviously, after this week, Hill isn't really an ideal buy-low candidate, but if there's an owner who thinks this is the time to unload him, don't hesitate to pull the trigger. As someone who has watched every non-HS game Jeremy Hill has ever played, I am extremely confident in saying that what Hill did today today is much closer to the rule than the exception. \\n Edit:\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":23,"string":"23"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":91,"string":"91"}}},{"rowIdx":92,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"zeshtorm"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the content for a reddit post Car tailgates me for no apparent reason for about 20 miles, freaking me out. Maybe someone has an idea why someone would have done this?"},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"So the weirdest thing happened to me just last night. I was driving down the highway and I was going pretty fast. Well above the limit. Then in my rearview mirror I see a car zooming towards me, so I pull out of the left lane to let him pass. But he just slows down and pulls in behind me. So I think, \"Ok he was going to go around me, I'll just pull into the left lane and let him by.\" So I pull into the left lane, and he does too. I pull back into the right and he does, too. And he's really really close to me. Tailgating like crazy. \n So I think, \"Shit, it's a cop, I'm getting a ticket.\" But no lights go on, and I'm able to make out that he doesn't have lights on top of his car, and doesn't appear to be an undercover cop car. So I'm going slow in the right lane, still afraid that it might be a cop, and this guy is still right behind me, tailgating me very closely. I change lanes, he changes lanes. I speed up, he speeds up; I slow down, he slows down. He doesn't honk or flash his brights or signal for me to pull over or anything. Just stays right on my ass. Now I'm not paranoid, buy I started to get a little worried. I considered pulling over to talk to him, but I hadn't done anything to him, and I didn't know if he was armed or crazy or something. I didn't want to take any exits because I was quite sure he'd follow me, and it was safer on the highway where there were other cars, even though I couldn't lose him there. \nFinally I called the police. So I was talking to them on the phone, but I couldn't make out the make, model, or plates of the car or see the driver in the dark. Finally I was getting onto a bridge at the end of the highway. They were going to transfer me to the police of the city I had just entered. On the bridge I changed lanes a number of times, sped up and slowed down, and this guy stayed right behind me. All the while I'm on the phone with the police. \nRight after the bridge there's a light. It's green, but the hand is blinking. I slow down to a crawl as I approach it, and the guy stays right behind me. There's a red light camera at this light, so I had to be careful, but it also benefitted me. As the light turned yellow I stayed slow, and then at the last second hit the gas. I made it through with maybe milliseconds to spare. The camera did not flash. The car behind me stopped. I immediately turned off the busy street and wended my way through side streets, taking an indirect route to my house. I finished my call with the police. They asked if I wanted to see them regarding the incident, but since I had no make, model, color, or plate of the car, or an ID of the driver, I said there was no use. \nThe car had followed me for about 20 miles. \nI got home, my heart still pounding a little, and went inside. \nThis seriously happened to me last night. Any ideas on what the hell could have been going on here, people?"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"So the weirdest thing happened to me just last night. I was driving down the highway and I was going pretty fast. Well above the limit. Then in my rearview mirror I see a car zooming towards me, so I pull out of the left lane to let him pass. But he just slows down and pulls in behind me. So I think, \"Ok he was going to go around me, I'll just pull into the left lane and let him by.\" So I pull into the left lane, and he does too. I pull back into the right and he does, too. And he's really really close to me. Tailgating like crazy. \n So I think, \"Shit, it's a cop, I'm getting a ticket.\" But no lights go on, and I'm able to make out that he doesn't have lights on top of his car, and doesn't appear to be an undercover cop car. So I'm going slow in the right lane, still afraid that it might be a cop, and this guy is still right behind me, tailgating me very closely. I change lanes, he changes lanes. I speed up, he speeds up; I slow down, he slows down. He doesn't honk or flash his brights or signal for me to pull over or anything. Just stays right on my ass. Now I'm not paranoid, buy I started to get a little worried. I considered pulling over to talk to him, but I hadn't done anything to him, and I didn't know if he was armed or crazy or something. I didn't want to take any exits because I was quite sure he'd follow me, and it was safer on the highway where there were other cars, even though I couldn't lose him there. \nFinally I called the police. So I was talking to them on the phone, but I couldn't make out the make, model, or plates of the car or see the driver in the dark. Finally I was getting onto a bridge at the end of the highway. They were going to transfer me to the police of the city I had just entered. On the bridge I changed lanes a number of times, sped up and slowed down, and this guy stayed right behind me. All the while I'm on the phone with the police. \nRight after the bridge there's a light. It's green, but the hand is blinking. I slow down to a crawl as I approach it, and the guy stays right behind me. There's a red light camera at this light, so I had to be careful, but it also benefitted me. As the light turned yellow I stayed slow, and then at the last second hit the gas. I made it through with maybe milliseconds to spare. The camera did not flash. The car behind me stopped. I immediately turned off the busy street and wended my way through side streets, taking an indirect route to my house. I finished my call with the police. They asked if I wanted to see them regarding the incident, but since I had no make, model, color, or plate of the car, or an ID of the driver, I said there was no use. \nThe car had followed me for about 20 miles. \nI got home, my heart still pounding a little, and went inside. \nThis seriously happened to me last night. Any ideas on what the hell could have been going on here, people?"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Summary: Convinced a kid in summer camp that a chubby cap was trying to kill him. \nEDIT: Put the link to the chubby picture back in. The caps we used were yellow. \nEDIT 2: Please don't gift me gold. This is the third time I'm posting this story, and the first two times I was gifted gold. By this point it's almost cheating. Read it, enjoy it, it's a pretty great story. But it isn't worth 3x gold. (No this isn't a desperate bid for gold, I still have from last time I posted this)\n\nPost: I have already posted this twice, but it was well received both times, so in case you haven't already seen it: \nI bought a few cases of those little \" Chubby scratches on it\". So I told him to throw it in the garbage, which he did. My friend went and retrieved the cap from the garbage, handed it to me, and I slipped it back onto the table. This time he freaked out a little, and I did too. We went outside together (it was a pretty chill -read, irresponsible- day camp, so we were able to just walk out) and threw it into the busy street. Then we went back inside, where a game of handball was beginning. My friend went out and retrieved the cap, and handed it to me with the biggest grin. I casually dropped it in the corner and waited for him to notice it. He freaked out a bit when he did. He went back outside and dropped it in a drain. \n That night Shane and I went to the store and bought a six pack of the chubby drinks. We drank a few, spilled out the rest, and made the same scratches in all the caps. We devised a plan to scare the crap out of Joel. Our \"overnight\" was a few days away. Basically it was just a one night camping trip. We continued making the chubby caps appear for a few days, while Joel kept destroying them, while slowly losing his mind. The day before the camping trip we ran out of caps, so we took a break.\nBy this point we had told Joel of the serial killer that had taken the lives of a few hapless hikers, at some park we couldn't remember the name of. Just before he was beheaded by police (?) he drank a bottle of Chubby soda, and some said that his spirit had gone into the chubby cap. But we assured him it was nonsense, and just rumors. Nothing to worry about. \n The night before the camping trip we bought 12 chubby sodas, and scratched the now-familiar etchings into the caps. \n In the van on the 2-hour drive to the provincial park where our camping trip was to be, Shane loudly asked the counselor what the name of the park was. I was sitting next to Joel, and when the counselor told us the name of the park, I looked at him with wide eyes. \"WHAT? Is that where the killings were?\" I just said no, no, as convincingly unconvincingly as I could. But Joel, of course, didn't buy it. \"It is! Oh, we're going there right on the anniversary of his death, in the year he vowed revenge!\" (forgot to mention that part to you). Me and Shane (the only people he told about the bottle cap thing, 'cause he thought other kids would think he was crazy), calmed him down, while everyone was wondering what the hell was going on. At one point, I yelled out that I had seen a deer! Everyone looked to that side of the road, while Shane stuck his hand out of window on the other side, stood up, and slapped the roof of the van loudly. Everyone jumped. Shane joined them. When Joel looked down, he found a chubby cap right next to his leg. He began yelling loudly \"Ahhhhh the chubby cap! It's back!\" The counselor pulled over the car, and after calming everyone down, allowed Joel to throw the cap into the trees on the side of the highway, and continued on our way. \n When we got to the camping grounds we pitched our tents and went boating. Joel swore he saw a ghost across the lake, then found a chubby cap in his canoe and freaked out a bunch of other kids, who all refused to go boating after that. Then he found one in his shoe by the side of the lake, then another one in his tent. After we ran out of them, Shane and I took flashlights in middle of the night and went searching for one in the woods where he had thrown it after finding it in his tent. Somehow we actually found it, and it was in his sleeping bag in the morning. He just flipped out. Screaming and crying and just going crazy. \n We felt bad, and finally told him. He wasn't even mad, he was just so relieved that the ghost of a serial killer hidden in a chubby cap wasn't trying to kill him.","Summary: kissed a girl\n\nPost: Quite enjoyable. I was 19 at the time, she was 18 (I'm not a social pariah, just grew up in a very religious environment where boys and girls don't mix much), and I met some girl while at a bungalow colony as a counselor in a summer camp. Not gorgeous, but not ugly either, and she had DDs (honest). Her little brother was in my bunk, and she was taking care of him for a few days. She found some excuse to give me her number through her kid brother (not too classy, but hey, who cares), so I texted her the next day. We texted back and forth all day, and decided to meet up that night. We did, and it was... Terrible. No chemistry at all. A very awkward one hour conversation. But I still texted her the next day, and we just kind of laughed off the awkward encounter of the previous night. The next day she left the state for a few weeks, and we texted non-stop for those weeks. We got along very well over text, and also had a few long phone conversations. Then I pressured her into sending me nude photos, which wasn't too nice, and she had never done that before, but eventually, after I sent her a picture of the 6 pack I had been working on for a few months, she acquiesced. About a week after that we were both going to be in the same city for 1 day, before leaving to different countries for a few months. I managed to get an apartment to myself, and she came over. We started kissing pretty much right away, and made out heavily for about 20 minutes, before she had to run home to go to the airport. I quite enjoyed it.","Summary: I think I accidentally flashed the dual penis pics at a midget cancer patient religious girl.\n\nPost: Okay, this story just happened, and it's insane. \nSo I got a bit high, not very, but a little. My friend told his sister that he was going to a certain area of town, because he didn't want her to know he was coming to me to get high. So we get a little high, and then his sister calls him and says \"oh great, of you're in that area, please pick up these friends of mine and bring them over.\" \nMy friend, caught in his own web of lies, had no choice. So we get in the car and drive there and pick up these two girls. They were campers of hers from a camp for sick kids. They were about 16 years old. One of them was a midget, and they were both from super religious families, and were super religious themselves. \nSo after about 10 minutes in the car, I turn on my phone and open the internet, but I'm high, so I space out, staring blankly at the screen. After about 20 full seconds, my friend looks over and goes \"is that... Oh my gosh\". \nI look down at the screen. My phone is open on reddit, one of the closeups of the dual-dick prominently displayed. I jumped and closed it immediately. \nThen my friend says, very quietly \"did they stop talking?\" And I tried to think if they were before. \nThen I started trying to hold back my laugh. We were at a red light, and we just looked at each other, faces red with mirth. This just freaking happened.","Summary: Creepy girl tried to give my roommate a vial of period blood.\n\nPost: Friend of mine (also my roommate at the time) had some girl who was really into him. They texted a bit and went out twice, but he wasn't into it, so he called it off. But she kept texting him, and after a few days he started ignoring the texts, and finally asked her to stop. But she didn't. \nAnyway, I was taking my dog for a walk one day, and I see a girl in car looking at my house from across the street. Whatever. But then I started noticing her all the time . She always seemed to be looking at my house, always in her car. After a few days I went over to her and motioned for her to roll down the window. She rolled it down a crack. I asked her if I could help her with anything. She said no, she's waiting for someone. \nI described her to my friend, and sure enough, it was the same girl (I'd never met her). He was freaking out a bit, 'cause he had no idea how she had his address. So I went back out and she rolled down the window again, just a crack. So I asked her if she was sure there was nothing I could do for her. She handed me an envelope with something small inside and asked me to give to my roommate. I said sure, but I'm going to have to ask you to stop spending so much time watching my house; you're creeping me out. She said ok, started her car and drove off. I opened the envelope and inside was a vial full of period blood. She had even gone so far as to label the cork \"period blood\". I threw that shit as far as I could and told my roommate I had gotten rid of her, and that she was batshit crazy.","Summary: Friend became an ass, I confronted him about it and he became a bit better.\n\nPost: Feel your pain, bro. I have a friend who I was in school with for a few years. He was always a really nice guy, selfless, putting other people first, but not to a pushover; no one took advantage of him or anything. I'm away from the guy for a year, and then we spent another year together, and he had changed completely. He had gotten really into \"game\". Going to clubs and picking up girls, he was reading books like \"the game\" and online forums. He started thinking of himself as a \"player\" even though he barely went out anymore, but still, he thought he \"could get any girl\". And he just became a dick. He stopped giving a shit about anyone but himself. He would leave lights on, doors open, leave messes in the kitchen and not clean them up. He stuffed all three toilets in our condo multiple times, and sometimes didn't deal with it for ages. He started mooching, borrowing money and delayed paying it back for months, and overall just became completely unpleasant. \nI finally sat him down one day and pointed his behavior out to him. I told him I thought it was because he was trying to be emulate \"players\", and most of those guys tend to be douches. He agreed that that was probably what he was doing, and said he would make an effort to change. \nI would be lying if I said he got much better, but he definitely did start putting in a bit of an effort. \nWhoa, did not expect to write this much.","Summary: Chanced upon lion swingers party in Africa.\n\nPost: When I was in Kruger a few years ago I got to witness the strangest thing. On a night drive we came across 2 lions fucking, while a third male lay beside them and watched. When we stopped near them, they broke apart, and the male went to lie down. Then the other male came and starting cuddling with the female. I don't know what was going on.","Summary: I was apparently famous amongst JFK staff for a bit as \"BB Gun Guy\"\n\nPost: Oh gosh I hate that this will get buried, but I'll write it out anyways. \nSo about 2 years ago I was flying from JFK to Vancouver. For some reason (don't ask questions, I was dumb) I had an air rifle in my suitcase. I had flown with it before without any problems, so rather than declare it, I hand-wrote a note and taped it to the gun in my suitcase. It began \"Dear TSA, if you are reading this, you are probably freaking out right now. Don't.\" \nI don't remember the rest of it but it was quite funny and well written, and ended with thanking them for keeping our travels safe. \nLong story short they found the gun, and the note. It wasn't a big deal, if I had declared it there wouldn't have been any problems, but the process of making sure it wasn't a real gun took too long and I ended up missing the flight. I met some really nice people from the airline, who assured me they would get me on the same flight the next day, and some great NYPD officers (sent to ascertain it wasn't a real gun), and I was joking around with them for a while. The TSA guy really liked the note and sent some underling to make copies. \nThe next day I go to check in and there was a different guy at the desk. He looks at my passport and says \"Hey, you're BB gun guy\". I was a bit taken aback, but I said, \"yeah, I guess\". I check in, declaring the BB gun this time, and go to security. I hand my passport to the first guy and he says, \"Hey, you're BB gun guy, we got your note up there!\" and points to a photocopy of my note on the wall behind him. Same thing with the next person at security. And again when I boarded the plane. Weird.","Summary: Didn't die.\n\nPost: My story isn't as dramatic as most of the other ones here, but it was relatively recent and the closest I've ever come to dying, so I'll post: \nAbout 8 months ago I was kayaking with a friend of mine in a two-person kayak. All was good, we saw dolphins, got a little too close to sea lions, all in all a good time. We decided to check out this cave and then head back. \nSo we go into the cave, and we're looking around, admiring the beauty of it (despite the terrible smell), for a minute. Then we decide to go back. But before we can even start turning around, a powerful wave came into the cave. I guess the tide had chosen that precise moment to rise a bit, or however these things work. The point is, a big wave entered the cave. I was sitting in the back of the kayak, and I have that image burned into my retinas, right at the crest of the wave, the kayak probably at a 70 degree angle, me looking down at my friend. \nFor a split second I thought it would just fall back down nicely, no big deal. Then it tipped over to the side, and we both fell out. He was wearing a life jacket, I was not. I fell under the cold water, and a momentary panic broke through my usual calm. I was underwater, with no idea which way was up or down, and no way was I going to open my eyes; it was saltwater. So I guessed. I picked a direction and swam that way. To my luck, I guessed correctly. As I'm about to reach the surface, another wave threw the kayak right over my head. I didn't see it, I felt it. Had it hit me, I probably would have been knocked unconscious, and this story might have had a different ending. \nBut it didn't, and I reached the surface, treading water, as wave after wave came in, pushing me closer to the rocky shore. After about five times of getting knocked down by waves as I tried to get ashore, I made it. \nMy friend was fine, and better yet: He had the kayak, and his oar. I had lost my oar. \nHe looked at me and said, \"You're bleeding\". I looked down at myself. I wasn't in any pain, but sure enough, I was bleeding. The first thing I noticed was my shin. My right shin must have gotten cut on some rocks, because it had multiple horizontal gashes, all oozing blood. I felt the slight sting in my back when my friend pointed out the cuts to me. Diagonal lines running diagonally from my right shoulder towards my spine. I noticed my hands next. They were cut and bleeding, but not too badly. My friend had some cuts on his foot. \nSo we went to the back of the cave, which went around back to the water, dragging the kayak with us. \nThrough it all, I had a grin on my face, and an upbeat attitude. I actually said to my friend, \"I'm actually glad this happened. This totally made the trip.\" \nI washed off my cuts in the shallow pools, which surprisingly did not sting at all, and my friend and I assessed our options. In front of us was the water, large waves still crashing ashore. Behind us was a sheer rock wall, about 30-35 feet tall. \nHe was a better kayaker than I was, but still did not have much experience. We knew there were sharks in the water, and since I was bleeding a lot I was afraid of the boat tipping again as I tried to reenter the calmer waters beyond the waves. So we decided: He would battle the raging waters and make his way back to beach, and I would attempt to climb the cliff and walk back. \nI pushed him into the water and turned to face the cliff. I began climbing, finding cracks in the rock to place my hands and feet. The first few feet were extremely slippery, I assume they were submerged in the high tide. Near the beginning, as I worked my way across the rock, I found myself on a ledge with a sea lion, close enough to pet it. At one point, when my foot was in a large foothold, a huge crab crawled right across it. \nThe rock began to slope towards the top, and a number of pelicans took flight in alarm as I disturbed their nests. My hands got full of pelican shit, but I was close to the top. \nLooking down, I saw sharp rocks protruding from the water below me. A fall would very likely be fatal. The last six feet or so were on a slightly less extreme incline, and there were some shrubs on them, which I used to pull myself up to the top. \nOnce at the top, I pulled myself over a barrier and onto the sidewalk, right in front of an astonished Asian family. The dialogue went like this, I shit you not: \nMe: \"How's your day going?\" \nThem: Nodding heads \nMe: \"Probably better than mine.\" \nAnd with that I turned and walked away from them, onto a dirt path that led in the direction of the beach, which was about two miles away. \nA woman stopped to ask me if I knew I had scratches on my back; that was the closest I got to anyone offering help. \nI'm not gonna lie, I felt pretty damn macho walking casually around in my bathing suit, my back and leg covered in blood. It also helped that I had been working out my abs for a few months then. \nAfter a few minutes, I became aware of the cuts on my feet. They were by far the worst cuts I sustained that day. There were some pretty deep gouges in my foot. Once I saw them, I felt them, and I limped the other mile-and a half of my journey. To cut to the end, I made it back safely, as did my friend, coming out with nothing worse than a tetanus shot. \n Sorry for the novel, I've had a couple of beers and I just kept on writing; didn't even realize how long it was 'till now. \nHere are some pics: Some of the cuts on my back ]( \nWould post a pic of aforementioned abs, but hey, this isn't /r/gonewild. \nEDIT:","Summary: I think I accidentally flashed the dual penis pics at a midget cancer patient religious girl. \nEDIT: This happened yesterday.\n\nPost: Hey dude, I posted this story elsewhere yesterday, right after it happened, but only a few people saw it, and I really feel like more people should. Here is the story of how one of the most unlikely people came to gaze upon your great dual-phallus: \nOkay, this story just happened, and it's insane.\nSo I got a bit high, not very, but a little. My friend told his sister that he was going to a certain area of town, because he didn't want her to know he was coming to me to get high. So we get a little high, and then his sister calls him and says \"oh great, of you're in that area, please pick up these friends of mine and bring them over.\" My friend, caught in his own web of lies, had no choice. So we get in the car and drive there and pick up these two girls. They were campers of hers from a camp for sick kids. They were about 16 years old. One of them was a midget, and they were both from super religious families, and were super religious themselves.\nSo after about 10 minutes in the car, I turn on my phone and open the internet, but I'm high, so I space out, staring blankly at the screen. After about 20 full seconds, my friend looks over and goes \"is that... Oh my gosh\".\nI look down at the screen. My phone is open on reddit, one of the closeups of the dual-dick prominently displayed. I jumped and closed it immediately.\nThen my friend says, very quietly \"did they stop talking?\" And I tried to think if they were before, but couldn't remember.\nThen I started trying to hold back my laugh. We were at a red light, and we just looked at each other, faces red, trying to to burst out laughing at the absurdity of all. \nThis just freaking happened.","Summary: Lock your doors.\n\nPost: Hey, OP, here's a true story to freak you out: My dad knew this guy, quite wealthy, who had a younger girlfriend. He promised her a cruise trip, then cancelled a few days before because a meeting came up during the cruise. The next day, she walked into his office with a shotgun, and shot him at point blank range. My dad saw the body afterwards, he swears there was a hole in the guy's chest he could have easily put his fist into.","Summary: 2 Americans get stripped at a strip club.\n\nPost: So this story isn't mine, but it happened to 2 friends of mine. \nThey went to Mexico a few years back for a friend's wedding. Got into a cab and asked the driver to take them to a nice club. Driver drops them off somewhere. They pay and walk in, only to discover it's a strip club. Neither had been to one before, and one was not very interested. The other, (who is a total idiot, and more of an \"acquaintance\" of mine) was having a great time, they were both taken to a private room in the back. My friend kept pushing the strippers away, as they kept trying to give him dances. The other guy literally had his face buried in some strippers ass, and was basically having the time of his life. After a while they get the bill. Instead of 800 pesos, the bill said 8,000. My friend told them about their mistake. Next thing he knows there are five huge Mexican dudes pushing them around, saying they have to pay the 8,000 pesos. After a little arguing, my friend started saying the usual things, \"My friends know we're here, my friend's dad is very influential here (true, but not going to help), the American embassy knows we're here (whaaaaat?) and the like. But it was actually working, they were getting scared. \nFinally one of guys starts saying, \"Okay, just pay us the 800 pesos and we'll-\" But before he can finish the sentence the idiot acquaintance whips out a $100 US bill and goes, \"Okay, fine, this is all you're getting.\" \nWhen they saw that they immediately told the two guys to stand against a wall and empty their pockets. They took their phones, their wallets, even their camera. (Though one of them slipped out the SD card before handing it over, so they still had their pics of the crazy night in the club, which they later viewed once, then deleted, Hangover style.) \nSo now they're stuck at this club with nothing. They don't even know the address of their hotel, for some reason, they don't know anyone's phone number or anything. All they know is the address of the groom-to-be. So they get into a taxi and pull up at his house at 4AM, and wake up his mother, asking her for money to pay for the cab and and the address of their hotel. Needless to say, she was pissed , but she gave it to them. \nThey were lucky to be alive.","Summary: Convinced a kid in summer camp that a chubby cap was trying to kill him. \nEDIT: Thanks for the gold! I guess karma really came around for me on this one, just last week I bought someone gold for the first time.\n\nPost: I bought a few cases of those little \"Chubby\" sodas when I was a kid, about 11 years old. That was a lot of money at the time, but worth it. This is going to be really long, but it's true: \nI was in day camp in the summer, and me and my friend, Shane, got the idea to prank another friend of ours, Joel, who was a bit gullible. It started out when we found a little cap from a Chubby scratches on it\". So I told him to throw it in the garbage, which he did. My friend went and retrieved the cap from the garbage, handed it to me, and I slipped it back onto the table. This time he freaked out a little, and I did too. We went outside together (it was a pretty chill -read, irresponsible- day camp, so we were able to just walk out) and threw it into the busy street. Then we went back inside, where a game of handball was beginning. My friend went out and retrieved the cap, and handed it to me with the biggest grin. I casually dropped it in the corner and waited for him to notice it. He freaked out a bit when he did. He went back outside and dropped it in a drain. \nThat night Shane and I went to the store and bought a six pack of the chubby drinks. We drank a few, spilled out the rest, and made the same scratches in all the caps. We devised a plan to scare the crap out of Joel. Our \"overnight\" was a few days away. Basically it was just a one night camping trip. We continued making the chubby caps appear for a few days, while Joel kept destroying them, while slowly losing his mind. The day before the camping trip we ran out of caps, so we took a break. \nBy this point we had told Joel of the serial killer that had taken the lives of a few hapless hikers, at some park we couldn't remember the name of. Just before he was beheaded by police (?) he drank a bottle of Chubby soda, and some said that his spirit had gone into the chubby cap. But we assured him it was nonsense, and just rumors. Nothing to worry about. \nThe night before the camping trip we bought 12 chubby sodas, and scratched the now-familiar etchings into the caps. \nIn the van on the 2-hour drive to the provincial park where our camping trip was to be, Shane loudly asked the counselor what the name of the park was. I was sitting next to Joel, and when the counselor told us the name of the park, I looked at him with wide eyes. \"WHAT? Is that where the killings were?\" I just said no, no, as convincingly unconvincingly as I could. But Joel, of course, didn't buy it. \"It is! Oh, we're going there right on the anniversary of his death, in the year he vowed revenge!\" (forgot to mention that part to you). Me and Shane (the only people he told about the bottle cap thing, 'cause he thought other kids would think he was crazy), calmed him down, while everyone was wondering what the hell was going on. At one point, I yelled out that I had seen a deer! Everyone looked to that side of the road, while Shane stuck his hand out of window on the other side, stood up, and slapped the roof of the van loudly. Everyone jumped. Shane joined them. When Joel looked down, he found a chubby cap right next to his leg. He began yelling loudly \"Ahhhhh the chubby cap! It's back!\" The counselor pulled over the car, and after calming everyone down, allowed Joel to throw the cap into the trees on the side of the highway, and continued on our way. \nWhen we got to the camping grounds we pitched our tents and went boating. Joel swore he saw a ghost across the lake, then found a chubby cap in his canoe and freaked out a bunch of other kids, who all refused to go boating after that. Then he found one in his shoe by the side of the lake, then another one in his tent. After we ran out of them, Shane and I took flashlights in middle of the night and went searching for one in the woods where he had thrown it after finding it in his tent. Somehow we actually found it, and it was in his sleeping bag in the morning. He just flipped out. Screaming and crying and just going crazy. \nWe felt bad, and finally told him. He wasn't even mad, he was just so relieved that the ghost of a serial killer hidden in a chubby cap wasn't trying to kill him.","Summary: Try to get a girlfriend, it will really help.\n\nPost: I am a bit older than you, and I used to do the same thing. You're not insane. There's nothing wrong with you. You are getting, as some other people wrote, infatuated with these girls, not falling in love. I grew up in a pretty religious home, and boys and girls were kept pretty separate in my school. Needless to say, when I finally started hanging out with girls at around 18, I became a bit obsessed with every girl that I hung out with at all. I, too, looked way younger than my age, I was just coming off of a massive growth spurt that had put me from really tiny to average height, and I just never felt confident enough to go after a girl. Eventually I worked up the confidence to ask a girl I had recently met out, and she agreed. That was my first girlfriend, and it changed everything. I'm not sure exactly how, but I stopped getting obsessed with every girl that gave me the time of day. I got used to the idea that girls can be \"just a friend\" now that I knew what it was really like to have something more. \nSo my suggestion to you is, just go for it. Ask a girl out. If she says no, don't beat yourself up over it. Go ask another girl. Soon enough you'll land yourself a girl that you like and that likes you, and it will completely change your perspective on girls.","Summary: Convinced a kid in summer camp that a Chubby soda cap was trying to kill him.\n\nPost: I've posted this a few times before, but it always had a fairly positive response and the last time was a year ago, so I figure I may as well present the Chubby cap story again, since it fits the question perfectly: \n I bought a few cases of those little \" Chubby scratches on it\". So I told him to throw it in the garbage, which he did. \nMy friend went and retrieved the cap from the garbage, handed it to me, and I slipped it back onto the table. This time he freaked out a little, and I did too. We went outside together (it was a pretty chill -read, irresponsible- day camp, so we were able to just walk out) and threw it into the busy street. \nThen we went back inside, where a game of handball was beginning. My friend went out and retrieved the cap, and handed it to me with the biggest grin. I casually dropped it in the corner and waited for him to notice it. He freaked out a bit when he did. He went back outside and dropped it in a drain. \nThat night Shane and I went to the store and bought a six pack of the chubby drinks. We drank a few, spilled out the rest, and made the same scratches in all the caps. We devised a plan to scare the crap out of Joel. \nOur \"overnight\" was a few days away. Basically it was just a one night camping trip. We continued making the chubby caps appear for a few days, while Joel kept destroying them, while slowly losing his mind. The day before the camping trip we ran out of caps, so we took a break. \nBy this point we had told Joel of the serial killer that had taken the lives of a few hapless hikers, at some park we couldn't remember the name of. Just before he was beheaded by police (?) he drank a bottle of Chubby soda, and some said that his spirit had gone into the chubby cap. But we assured him it was nonsense, and just rumors. Nothing to worry about. \nThe night before the camping trip we bought 12 chubby sodas, and scratched the now-familiar etchings into the caps.\nIn the van on the 2-hour drive to the provincial park where our camping trip was to be, Shane loudly asked the counselor what the name of the park was. I was sitting next to Joel, and when the counselor told us the name of the park, I looked at him with wide eyes. \"WHAT? Is that where the killings were?\" I just said no, no, as convincingly unconvincingly as I could. But Joel, of course, didn't buy it. \"It is! Oh, we're going there right on the anniversary of his death, in the year he vowed revenge!\" (forgot to mention that part to you). \nShane and I (the only people he told about the bottle cap thing, 'cause he thought other kids would think he was crazy), calmed him down, while everyone was wondering what the hell was going on. \nAt one point, I yelled out that I had seen a deer! Everyone looked to that side of the road, while Shane stuck his hand out of window on the other side, stood up, and slapped the roof of the van loudly. Everyone jumped. Shane joined them. When Joel looked down, he found a chubby cap right next to his leg. He began yelling loudly \"Ahhhhh the chubby cap! It's back!\" \nThe counselor pulled over the car, and after calming everyone down, allowed Joel to throw the cap into the trees on the side of the highway, and continued on our way. \nWhen we got to the camping grounds we pitched our tents and went boating. Joel swore he saw a ghost across the lake, then found a chubby cap in his canoe and freaked out a bunch of other kids, who all refused to go boating after that. Then he found one in his shoe by the side of the lake, then another one in his tent. \nAfter we ran out of them, Shane and I took flashlights in middle of the night and went searching for one in the woods where he had thrown it after finding it in his tent. Somehow we actually found it, and it was in his sleeping bag in the morning. He just flipped out. Screaming and crying and just going crazy. \nWe felt bad, and finally told him. He wasn't even mad, he was just so relieved that the ghost of a serial killer hidden in a chubby cap wasn't trying to kill him.","Summary: Got tailgated by a creepy guy for 25 minutes at night, for no apparent reason.\n\nPost: This story happened to me just a few weeks ago, and it creeped me out (I posted it in a different thread then). \nI was driving down the highway at night, heading home. I was going pretty fast, well above the limit, passing cars in the right lane by the dozen. Then I see in my rearview mirror a car coming behind me, going considerably faster than I was. I pulled into the right lane to let him go by. To my surprise, he pulled into the right lane behind me, and started tailgating me very close. I thought it was a cop, and was already doing the whole, \"shit shit shit\" thing in my head. I kept waiting for the lights and siren to go on, but none did. Then we passed a streetlight and I saw it did not have lights on the roof, nor was it an unmarked police car. So I kept going slow in case it was an undercover cop, but just to test him, I pulled into the left lane. He pulled in right behind me. I switched back and forth about 5 times, with him staying right on my tail. He was close enough that if I had braked hard he would have definitely hit me. So I speed up a little; he does too. I slow down, so does he. He is staying right on my ass, not honking, signaling, or even flashing his lights. Nothing. We come to a short tunnel, where it is illegal to change lanes. I speed up a bit and switch lanes in the tunnel, and he stays right with me. \nSo now I'm considering my options. I could either try to speed away from him; I couldn't make out the make or model of his car in the dark but it was definitely older than mine, and mine had great pickup. But that just seemed like a recipe for disaster. \nI could pull over, but for all I know this guy is armed, and I wasn't, so I didn't want to take any chances with some crazy person who had bee tailgating me for about 15 minutes at this point. \nI could take an exit, but I decided that I would rather stay around other cars. \nFinally I called the police. So they ask me where I am, and I tell them. Can I make out the make, model, or color of the car? No I can't, but it's dark, I know that's unhelpful. I tell them I'm about to get on the bridge that enters the city, so they say they'll transfer me to city police. \nOn the bridge I change lanes a bunch of times, speed up and slow down, and this guy is still right behind me. \nI get off the bridge. Right after the bridge is a traffic light, which I know has a red light camera. I slow down to a crawl as I approach the green light, and this car stays with me, while other cars pass us on both sides. \nFinally I'm getting very close to the light, and it turns yellow. I wait, wait, wait until the last split second and then floor it, making it through the light the instant before it turned red. I check my mirror. The car was stopped at the red light. I told the police what happened, and ended the call with them, as there was nothing they could do; I had no information on the driver whatsoever, other than the fact that it was a male (I caught a glimpse earlier, but couldn't make out any features). \nI turned off the main street and zig-zagged my way to my house, watching my mirror for any sign of him, but saw none.","Summary: Convinced a kid in summer camp that a chubby cap was trying to kill him. \nEDIT: Put the paragraph spaces back in. \nEDIT 2: Link from first time I posted didn't copy over. [This right here]( is a Chubby. The cap, or caps, in question were actually yellow. \nFINAL EDIT: Thank you to the anonymous redditor that gave me gold.\n\nPost: Your story is quite similar to one I posted a little while back. Here it is: \nI bought a few cases of those little \"Chubby\" sodas when I was a kid, about 11 years old. That was a lot of money at the time, but worth it. This is going to be really long, but it's true:\nI was in day camp in the summer, and me and my friend, Shane, got the idea to prank another friend of ours, Joel, who was a bit gullible. It started out when we found a little cap from a Chubby bottle, and slipped it in front of him while he was in middle of some arts and craft project. He looked away, I slipped it on top of the project. He looked down and saw it there, did a little double take, and threw it over his shoulder. Shane saw this, snuck away, and slipped it back to me. I snuck it onto the table again when Joel glanced away. He saw it again and threw it away again. We did this about 4 times. The fourth time he said, \"this is so weird, this same chubby cap keeps appearing here\". I said \"A chubby cap?\". He said yeah. I asked how he knew it was the same one? He said, \"it has these distinctive (ok he was 11, he probably didn't use that word. I'm paraphrasing here) scratches on it\". So I told him to throw it in the garbage, which he did. My friend went and retrieved the cap from the garbage, handed it to me, and I slipped it back onto the table. This time he freaked out a little, and I did too. We went outside together (it was a pretty chill -read, irresponsible- day camp, so we were able to just walk out) and threw it into the busy street. Then we went back inside, where a game of handball was beginning. My friend went out and retrieved the cap, and handed it to me with the biggest grin. I casually dropped it in the corner and waited for him to notice it. He freaked out a bit when he did. He went back outside and dropped it in a drain. \nThat night Shane and I went to the store and bought a six pack of the chubby drinks. We drank a few, spilled out the rest, and made the same scratches in all the caps. We devised a plan to scare the crap out of Joel. Our \"overnight\" was a few days away. Basically it was just a one night camping trip. We continued making the chubby caps appear for a few days, while Joel kept destroying them, while slowly losing his mind. The day before the camping trip we ran out of caps, so we took a break. \nBy this point we had told Joel of the serial killer that had taken the lives of a few hapless hikers, at some park we couldn't remember the name of. Just before he was beheaded by police (?) he drank a bottle of Chubby soda, and some said that his spirit had gone into the chubby cap. But we assured him it was nonsense, and just rumors. Nothing to worry about. \nThe night before the camping trip we bought 12 chubby sodas, and scratched the now-familiar etchings into the caps. \nIn the van on the 2-hour drive to the provincial park where our camping trip was to be, Shane loudly asked the counselor what the name of the park was. I was sitting next to Joel, and when the counselor told us the name of the park, I looked at him with wide eyes. \"WHAT? Is that where the killings were?\" I just said no, no, as convincingly unconvincingly as I could. But Joel, of course, didn't buy it. \"It is! Oh, we're going there right on the anniversary of his death, in the year he vowed revenge!\" (forgot to mention that part to you). Me and Shane (the only people he told about the bottle cap thing, 'cause he thought other kids would think he was crazy), calmed him down, while everyone was wondering what the hell was going on. At one point, I yelled out that I had seen a deer! Everyone looked to that side of the road, while Shane stuck his hand out of window on the other side, stood up, and slapped the roof of the van loudly. Everyone jumped. Shane joined them. When Joel looked down, he found a chubby cap right next to his leg. He began yelling loudly \"Ahhhhh the chubby cap! It's back!\" The counselor pulled over the car, and after calming everyone down, allowed Joel to throw the cap into the trees on the side of the highway, and continued on our way. \nWhen we got to the camping grounds we pitched our tents and went boating. Joel swore he saw a ghost across the lake, then found a chubby cap in his canoe and freaked out a bunch of other kids, who all refused to go boating after that. Then he found one in his shoe by the side of the lake, then another one in his tent. After we ran out of them, Shane and I took flashlights in middle of the night and went searching for one in the woods where he had thrown it after finding it in his tent. Somehow we actually found it, and it was in his sleeping bag in the morning. He just flipped out. Screaming and crying and just going crazy. \nWe felt bad, and finally told him. He wasn't even mad, he was just so relieved that the ghost of a serial killer hidden in a chubby cap wasn't trying to kill him."],"string":"[\n \"Summary: Convinced a kid in summer camp that a chubby cap was trying to kill him. \\nEDIT: Put the link to the chubby picture back in. The caps we used were yellow. \\nEDIT 2: Please don't gift me gold. This is the third time I'm posting this story, and the first two times I was gifted gold. By this point it's almost cheating. Read it, enjoy it, it's a pretty great story. But it isn't worth 3x gold. (No this isn't a desperate bid for gold, I still have from last time I posted this)\\n\\nPost: I have already posted this twice, but it was well received both times, so in case you haven't already seen it: \\nI bought a few cases of those little \\\" Chubby scratches on it\\\". So I told him to throw it in the garbage, which he did. My friend went and retrieved the cap from the garbage, handed it to me, and I slipped it back onto the table. This time he freaked out a little, and I did too. We went outside together (it was a pretty chill -read, irresponsible- day camp, so we were able to just walk out) and threw it into the busy street. Then we went back inside, where a game of handball was beginning. My friend went out and retrieved the cap, and handed it to me with the biggest grin. I casually dropped it in the corner and waited for him to notice it. He freaked out a bit when he did. He went back outside and dropped it in a drain. \\n That night Shane and I went to the store and bought a six pack of the chubby drinks. We drank a few, spilled out the rest, and made the same scratches in all the caps. We devised a plan to scare the crap out of Joel. Our \\\"overnight\\\" was a few days away. Basically it was just a one night camping trip. We continued making the chubby caps appear for a few days, while Joel kept destroying them, while slowly losing his mind. The day before the camping trip we ran out of caps, so we took a break.\\nBy this point we had told Joel of the serial killer that had taken the lives of a few hapless hikers, at some park we couldn't remember the name of. Just before he was beheaded by police (?) he drank a bottle of Chubby soda, and some said that his spirit had gone into the chubby cap. But we assured him it was nonsense, and just rumors. Nothing to worry about. \\n The night before the camping trip we bought 12 chubby sodas, and scratched the now-familiar etchings into the caps. \\n In the van on the 2-hour drive to the provincial park where our camping trip was to be, Shane loudly asked the counselor what the name of the park was. I was sitting next to Joel, and when the counselor told us the name of the park, I looked at him with wide eyes. \\\"WHAT? Is that where the killings were?\\\" I just said no, no, as convincingly unconvincingly as I could. But Joel, of course, didn't buy it. \\\"It is! Oh, we're going there right on the anniversary of his death, in the year he vowed revenge!\\\" (forgot to mention that part to you). Me and Shane (the only people he told about the bottle cap thing, 'cause he thought other kids would think he was crazy), calmed him down, while everyone was wondering what the hell was going on. At one point, I yelled out that I had seen a deer! Everyone looked to that side of the road, while Shane stuck his hand out of window on the other side, stood up, and slapped the roof of the van loudly. Everyone jumped. Shane joined them. When Joel looked down, he found a chubby cap right next to his leg. He began yelling loudly \\\"Ahhhhh the chubby cap! It's back!\\\" The counselor pulled over the car, and after calming everyone down, allowed Joel to throw the cap into the trees on the side of the highway, and continued on our way. \\n When we got to the camping grounds we pitched our tents and went boating. Joel swore he saw a ghost across the lake, then found a chubby cap in his canoe and freaked out a bunch of other kids, who all refused to go boating after that. Then he found one in his shoe by the side of the lake, then another one in his tent. After we ran out of them, Shane and I took flashlights in middle of the night and went searching for one in the woods where he had thrown it after finding it in his tent. Somehow we actually found it, and it was in his sleeping bag in the morning. He just flipped out. Screaming and crying and just going crazy. \\n We felt bad, and finally told him. He wasn't even mad, he was just so relieved that the ghost of a serial killer hidden in a chubby cap wasn't trying to kill him.\",\n \"Summary: kissed a girl\\n\\nPost: Quite enjoyable. I was 19 at the time, she was 18 (I'm not a social pariah, just grew up in a very religious environment where boys and girls don't mix much), and I met some girl while at a bungalow colony as a counselor in a summer camp. Not gorgeous, but not ugly either, and she had DDs (honest). Her little brother was in my bunk, and she was taking care of him for a few days. She found some excuse to give me her number through her kid brother (not too classy, but hey, who cares), so I texted her the next day. We texted back and forth all day, and decided to meet up that night. We did, and it was... Terrible. No chemistry at all. A very awkward one hour conversation. But I still texted her the next day, and we just kind of laughed off the awkward encounter of the previous night. The next day she left the state for a few weeks, and we texted non-stop for those weeks. We got along very well over text, and also had a few long phone conversations. Then I pressured her into sending me nude photos, which wasn't too nice, and she had never done that before, but eventually, after I sent her a picture of the 6 pack I had been working on for a few months, she acquiesced. About a week after that we were both going to be in the same city for 1 day, before leaving to different countries for a few months. I managed to get an apartment to myself, and she came over. We started kissing pretty much right away, and made out heavily for about 20 minutes, before she had to run home to go to the airport. I quite enjoyed it.\",\n \"Summary: I think I accidentally flashed the dual penis pics at a midget cancer patient religious girl.\\n\\nPost: Okay, this story just happened, and it's insane. \\nSo I got a bit high, not very, but a little. My friend told his sister that he was going to a certain area of town, because he didn't want her to know he was coming to me to get high. So we get a little high, and then his sister calls him and says \\\"oh great, of you're in that area, please pick up these friends of mine and bring them over.\\\" \\nMy friend, caught in his own web of lies, had no choice. So we get in the car and drive there and pick up these two girls. They were campers of hers from a camp for sick kids. They were about 16 years old. One of them was a midget, and they were both from super religious families, and were super religious themselves. \\nSo after about 10 minutes in the car, I turn on my phone and open the internet, but I'm high, so I space out, staring blankly at the screen. After about 20 full seconds, my friend looks over and goes \\\"is that... Oh my gosh\\\". \\nI look down at the screen. My phone is open on reddit, one of the closeups of the dual-dick prominently displayed. I jumped and closed it immediately. \\nThen my friend says, very quietly \\\"did they stop talking?\\\" And I tried to think if they were before. \\nThen I started trying to hold back my laugh. We were at a red light, and we just looked at each other, faces red with mirth. This just freaking happened.\",\n \"Summary: Creepy girl tried to give my roommate a vial of period blood.\\n\\nPost: Friend of mine (also my roommate at the time) had some girl who was really into him. They texted a bit and went out twice, but he wasn't into it, so he called it off. But she kept texting him, and after a few days he started ignoring the texts, and finally asked her to stop. But she didn't. \\nAnyway, I was taking my dog for a walk one day, and I see a girl in car looking at my house from across the street. Whatever. But then I started noticing her all the time . She always seemed to be looking at my house, always in her car. After a few days I went over to her and motioned for her to roll down the window. She rolled it down a crack. I asked her if I could help her with anything. She said no, she's waiting for someone. \\nI described her to my friend, and sure enough, it was the same girl (I'd never met her). He was freaking out a bit, 'cause he had no idea how she had his address. So I went back out and she rolled down the window again, just a crack. So I asked her if she was sure there was nothing I could do for her. She handed me an envelope with something small inside and asked me to give to my roommate. I said sure, but I'm going to have to ask you to stop spending so much time watching my house; you're creeping me out. She said ok, started her car and drove off. I opened the envelope and inside was a vial full of period blood. She had even gone so far as to label the cork \\\"period blood\\\". I threw that shit as far as I could and told my roommate I had gotten rid of her, and that she was batshit crazy.\",\n \"Summary: Friend became an ass, I confronted him about it and he became a bit better.\\n\\nPost: Feel your pain, bro. I have a friend who I was in school with for a few years. He was always a really nice guy, selfless, putting other people first, but not to a pushover; no one took advantage of him or anything. I'm away from the guy for a year, and then we spent another year together, and he had changed completely. He had gotten really into \\\"game\\\". Going to clubs and picking up girls, he was reading books like \\\"the game\\\" and online forums. He started thinking of himself as a \\\"player\\\" even though he barely went out anymore, but still, he thought he \\\"could get any girl\\\". And he just became a dick. He stopped giving a shit about anyone but himself. He would leave lights on, doors open, leave messes in the kitchen and not clean them up. He stuffed all three toilets in our condo multiple times, and sometimes didn't deal with it for ages. He started mooching, borrowing money and delayed paying it back for months, and overall just became completely unpleasant. \\nI finally sat him down one day and pointed his behavior out to him. I told him I thought it was because he was trying to be emulate \\\"players\\\", and most of those guys tend to be douches. He agreed that that was probably what he was doing, and said he would make an effort to change. \\nI would be lying if I said he got much better, but he definitely did start putting in a bit of an effort. \\nWhoa, did not expect to write this much.\",\n \"Summary: Chanced upon lion swingers party in Africa.\\n\\nPost: When I was in Kruger a few years ago I got to witness the strangest thing. On a night drive we came across 2 lions fucking, while a third male lay beside them and watched. When we stopped near them, they broke apart, and the male went to lie down. Then the other male came and starting cuddling with the female. I don't know what was going on.\",\n \"Summary: I was apparently famous amongst JFK staff for a bit as \\\"BB Gun Guy\\\"\\n\\nPost: Oh gosh I hate that this will get buried, but I'll write it out anyways. \\nSo about 2 years ago I was flying from JFK to Vancouver. For some reason (don't ask questions, I was dumb) I had an air rifle in my suitcase. I had flown with it before without any problems, so rather than declare it, I hand-wrote a note and taped it to the gun in my suitcase. It began \\\"Dear TSA, if you are reading this, you are probably freaking out right now. Don't.\\\" \\nI don't remember the rest of it but it was quite funny and well written, and ended with thanking them for keeping our travels safe. \\nLong story short they found the gun, and the note. It wasn't a big deal, if I had declared it there wouldn't have been any problems, but the process of making sure it wasn't a real gun took too long and I ended up missing the flight. I met some really nice people from the airline, who assured me they would get me on the same flight the next day, and some great NYPD officers (sent to ascertain it wasn't a real gun), and I was joking around with them for a while. The TSA guy really liked the note and sent some underling to make copies. \\nThe next day I go to check in and there was a different guy at the desk. He looks at my passport and says \\\"Hey, you're BB gun guy\\\". I was a bit taken aback, but I said, \\\"yeah, I guess\\\". I check in, declaring the BB gun this time, and go to security. I hand my passport to the first guy and he says, \\\"Hey, you're BB gun guy, we got your note up there!\\\" and points to a photocopy of my note on the wall behind him. Same thing with the next person at security. And again when I boarded the plane. Weird.\",\n \"Summary: Didn't die.\\n\\nPost: My story isn't as dramatic as most of the other ones here, but it was relatively recent and the closest I've ever come to dying, so I'll post: \\nAbout 8 months ago I was kayaking with a friend of mine in a two-person kayak. All was good, we saw dolphins, got a little too close to sea lions, all in all a good time. We decided to check out this cave and then head back. \\nSo we go into the cave, and we're looking around, admiring the beauty of it (despite the terrible smell), for a minute. Then we decide to go back. But before we can even start turning around, a powerful wave came into the cave. I guess the tide had chosen that precise moment to rise a bit, or however these things work. The point is, a big wave entered the cave. I was sitting in the back of the kayak, and I have that image burned into my retinas, right at the crest of the wave, the kayak probably at a 70 degree angle, me looking down at my friend. \\nFor a split second I thought it would just fall back down nicely, no big deal. Then it tipped over to the side, and we both fell out. He was wearing a life jacket, I was not. I fell under the cold water, and a momentary panic broke through my usual calm. I was underwater, with no idea which way was up or down, and no way was I going to open my eyes; it was saltwater. So I guessed. I picked a direction and swam that way. To my luck, I guessed correctly. As I'm about to reach the surface, another wave threw the kayak right over my head. I didn't see it, I felt it. Had it hit me, I probably would have been knocked unconscious, and this story might have had a different ending. \\nBut it didn't, and I reached the surface, treading water, as wave after wave came in, pushing me closer to the rocky shore. After about five times of getting knocked down by waves as I tried to get ashore, I made it. \\nMy friend was fine, and better yet: He had the kayak, and his oar. I had lost my oar. \\nHe looked at me and said, \\\"You're bleeding\\\". I looked down at myself. I wasn't in any pain, but sure enough, I was bleeding. The first thing I noticed was my shin. My right shin must have gotten cut on some rocks, because it had multiple horizontal gashes, all oozing blood. I felt the slight sting in my back when my friend pointed out the cuts to me. Diagonal lines running diagonally from my right shoulder towards my spine. I noticed my hands next. They were cut and bleeding, but not too badly. My friend had some cuts on his foot. \\nSo we went to the back of the cave, which went around back to the water, dragging the kayak with us. \\nThrough it all, I had a grin on my face, and an upbeat attitude. I actually said to my friend, \\\"I'm actually glad this happened. This totally made the trip.\\\" \\nI washed off my cuts in the shallow pools, which surprisingly did not sting at all, and my friend and I assessed our options. In front of us was the water, large waves still crashing ashore. Behind us was a sheer rock wall, about 30-35 feet tall. \\nHe was a better kayaker than I was, but still did not have much experience. We knew there were sharks in the water, and since I was bleeding a lot I was afraid of the boat tipping again as I tried to reenter the calmer waters beyond the waves. So we decided: He would battle the raging waters and make his way back to beach, and I would attempt to climb the cliff and walk back. \\nI pushed him into the water and turned to face the cliff. I began climbing, finding cracks in the rock to place my hands and feet. The first few feet were extremely slippery, I assume they were submerged in the high tide. Near the beginning, as I worked my way across the rock, I found myself on a ledge with a sea lion, close enough to pet it. At one point, when my foot was in a large foothold, a huge crab crawled right across it. \\nThe rock began to slope towards the top, and a number of pelicans took flight in alarm as I disturbed their nests. My hands got full of pelican shit, but I was close to the top. \\nLooking down, I saw sharp rocks protruding from the water below me. A fall would very likely be fatal. The last six feet or so were on a slightly less extreme incline, and there were some shrubs on them, which I used to pull myself up to the top. \\nOnce at the top, I pulled myself over a barrier and onto the sidewalk, right in front of an astonished Asian family. The dialogue went like this, I shit you not: \\nMe: \\\"How's your day going?\\\" \\nThem: Nodding heads \\nMe: \\\"Probably better than mine.\\\" \\nAnd with that I turned and walked away from them, onto a dirt path that led in the direction of the beach, which was about two miles away. \\nA woman stopped to ask me if I knew I had scratches on my back; that was the closest I got to anyone offering help. \\nI'm not gonna lie, I felt pretty damn macho walking casually around in my bathing suit, my back and leg covered in blood. It also helped that I had been working out my abs for a few months then. \\nAfter a few minutes, I became aware of the cuts on my feet. They were by far the worst cuts I sustained that day. There were some pretty deep gouges in my foot. Once I saw them, I felt them, and I limped the other mile-and a half of my journey. To cut to the end, I made it back safely, as did my friend, coming out with nothing worse than a tetanus shot. \\n Sorry for the novel, I've had a couple of beers and I just kept on writing; didn't even realize how long it was 'till now. \\nHere are some pics: Some of the cuts on my back ]( \\nWould post a pic of aforementioned abs, but hey, this isn't /r/gonewild. \\nEDIT:\",\n \"Summary: I think I accidentally flashed the dual penis pics at a midget cancer patient religious girl. \\nEDIT: This happened yesterday.\\n\\nPost: Hey dude, I posted this story elsewhere yesterday, right after it happened, but only a few people saw it, and I really feel like more people should. Here is the story of how one of the most unlikely people came to gaze upon your great dual-phallus: \\nOkay, this story just happened, and it's insane.\\nSo I got a bit high, not very, but a little. My friend told his sister that he was going to a certain area of town, because he didn't want her to know he was coming to me to get high. So we get a little high, and then his sister calls him and says \\\"oh great, of you're in that area, please pick up these friends of mine and bring them over.\\\" My friend, caught in his own web of lies, had no choice. So we get in the car and drive there and pick up these two girls. They were campers of hers from a camp for sick kids. They were about 16 years old. One of them was a midget, and they were both from super religious families, and were super religious themselves.\\nSo after about 10 minutes in the car, I turn on my phone and open the internet, but I'm high, so I space out, staring blankly at the screen. After about 20 full seconds, my friend looks over and goes \\\"is that... Oh my gosh\\\".\\nI look down at the screen. My phone is open on reddit, one of the closeups of the dual-dick prominently displayed. I jumped and closed it immediately.\\nThen my friend says, very quietly \\\"did they stop talking?\\\" And I tried to think if they were before, but couldn't remember.\\nThen I started trying to hold back my laugh. We were at a red light, and we just looked at each other, faces red, trying to to burst out laughing at the absurdity of all. \\nThis just freaking happened.\",\n \"Summary: Lock your doors.\\n\\nPost: Hey, OP, here's a true story to freak you out: My dad knew this guy, quite wealthy, who had a younger girlfriend. He promised her a cruise trip, then cancelled a few days before because a meeting came up during the cruise. The next day, she walked into his office with a shotgun, and shot him at point blank range. My dad saw the body afterwards, he swears there was a hole in the guy's chest he could have easily put his fist into.\",\n \"Summary: 2 Americans get stripped at a strip club.\\n\\nPost: So this story isn't mine, but it happened to 2 friends of mine. \\nThey went to Mexico a few years back for a friend's wedding. Got into a cab and asked the driver to take them to a nice club. Driver drops them off somewhere. They pay and walk in, only to discover it's a strip club. Neither had been to one before, and one was not very interested. The other, (who is a total idiot, and more of an \\\"acquaintance\\\" of mine) was having a great time, they were both taken to a private room in the back. My friend kept pushing the strippers away, as they kept trying to give him dances. The other guy literally had his face buried in some strippers ass, and was basically having the time of his life. After a while they get the bill. Instead of 800 pesos, the bill said 8,000. My friend told them about their mistake. Next thing he knows there are five huge Mexican dudes pushing them around, saying they have to pay the 8,000 pesos. After a little arguing, my friend started saying the usual things, \\\"My friends know we're here, my friend's dad is very influential here (true, but not going to help), the American embassy knows we're here (whaaaaat?) and the like. But it was actually working, they were getting scared. \\nFinally one of guys starts saying, \\\"Okay, just pay us the 800 pesos and we'll-\\\" But before he can finish the sentence the idiot acquaintance whips out a $100 US bill and goes, \\\"Okay, fine, this is all you're getting.\\\" \\nWhen they saw that they immediately told the two guys to stand against a wall and empty their pockets. They took their phones, their wallets, even their camera. (Though one of them slipped out the SD card before handing it over, so they still had their pics of the crazy night in the club, which they later viewed once, then deleted, Hangover style.) \\nSo now they're stuck at this club with nothing. They don't even know the address of their hotel, for some reason, they don't know anyone's phone number or anything. All they know is the address of the groom-to-be. So they get into a taxi and pull up at his house at 4AM, and wake up his mother, asking her for money to pay for the cab and and the address of their hotel. Needless to say, she was pissed , but she gave it to them. \\nThey were lucky to be alive.\",\n \"Summary: Convinced a kid in summer camp that a chubby cap was trying to kill him. \\nEDIT: Thanks for the gold! I guess karma really came around for me on this one, just last week I bought someone gold for the first time.\\n\\nPost: I bought a few cases of those little \\\"Chubby\\\" sodas when I was a kid, about 11 years old. That was a lot of money at the time, but worth it. This is going to be really long, but it's true: \\nI was in day camp in the summer, and me and my friend, Shane, got the idea to prank another friend of ours, Joel, who was a bit gullible. It started out when we found a little cap from a Chubby scratches on it\\\". So I told him to throw it in the garbage, which he did. My friend went and retrieved the cap from the garbage, handed it to me, and I slipped it back onto the table. This time he freaked out a little, and I did too. We went outside together (it was a pretty chill -read, irresponsible- day camp, so we were able to just walk out) and threw it into the busy street. Then we went back inside, where a game of handball was beginning. My friend went out and retrieved the cap, and handed it to me with the biggest grin. I casually dropped it in the corner and waited for him to notice it. He freaked out a bit when he did. He went back outside and dropped it in a drain. \\nThat night Shane and I went to the store and bought a six pack of the chubby drinks. We drank a few, spilled out the rest, and made the same scratches in all the caps. We devised a plan to scare the crap out of Joel. Our \\\"overnight\\\" was a few days away. Basically it was just a one night camping trip. We continued making the chubby caps appear for a few days, while Joel kept destroying them, while slowly losing his mind. The day before the camping trip we ran out of caps, so we took a break. \\nBy this point we had told Joel of the serial killer that had taken the lives of a few hapless hikers, at some park we couldn't remember the name of. Just before he was beheaded by police (?) he drank a bottle of Chubby soda, and some said that his spirit had gone into the chubby cap. But we assured him it was nonsense, and just rumors. Nothing to worry about. \\nThe night before the camping trip we bought 12 chubby sodas, and scratched the now-familiar etchings into the caps. \\nIn the van on the 2-hour drive to the provincial park where our camping trip was to be, Shane loudly asked the counselor what the name of the park was. I was sitting next to Joel, and when the counselor told us the name of the park, I looked at him with wide eyes. \\\"WHAT? Is that where the killings were?\\\" I just said no, no, as convincingly unconvincingly as I could. But Joel, of course, didn't buy it. \\\"It is! Oh, we're going there right on the anniversary of his death, in the year he vowed revenge!\\\" (forgot to mention that part to you). Me and Shane (the only people he told about the bottle cap thing, 'cause he thought other kids would think he was crazy), calmed him down, while everyone was wondering what the hell was going on. At one point, I yelled out that I had seen a deer! Everyone looked to that side of the road, while Shane stuck his hand out of window on the other side, stood up, and slapped the roof of the van loudly. Everyone jumped. Shane joined them. When Joel looked down, he found a chubby cap right next to his leg. He began yelling loudly \\\"Ahhhhh the chubby cap! It's back!\\\" The counselor pulled over the car, and after calming everyone down, allowed Joel to throw the cap into the trees on the side of the highway, and continued on our way. \\nWhen we got to the camping grounds we pitched our tents and went boating. Joel swore he saw a ghost across the lake, then found a chubby cap in his canoe and freaked out a bunch of other kids, who all refused to go boating after that. Then he found one in his shoe by the side of the lake, then another one in his tent. After we ran out of them, Shane and I took flashlights in middle of the night and went searching for one in the woods where he had thrown it after finding it in his tent. Somehow we actually found it, and it was in his sleeping bag in the morning. He just flipped out. Screaming and crying and just going crazy. \\nWe felt bad, and finally told him. He wasn't even mad, he was just so relieved that the ghost of a serial killer hidden in a chubby cap wasn't trying to kill him.\",\n \"Summary: Try to get a girlfriend, it will really help.\\n\\nPost: I am a bit older than you, and I used to do the same thing. You're not insane. There's nothing wrong with you. You are getting, as some other people wrote, infatuated with these girls, not falling in love. I grew up in a pretty religious home, and boys and girls were kept pretty separate in my school. Needless to say, when I finally started hanging out with girls at around 18, I became a bit obsessed with every girl that I hung out with at all. I, too, looked way younger than my age, I was just coming off of a massive growth spurt that had put me from really tiny to average height, and I just never felt confident enough to go after a girl. Eventually I worked up the confidence to ask a girl I had recently met out, and she agreed. That was my first girlfriend, and it changed everything. I'm not sure exactly how, but I stopped getting obsessed with every girl that gave me the time of day. I got used to the idea that girls can be \\\"just a friend\\\" now that I knew what it was really like to have something more. \\nSo my suggestion to you is, just go for it. Ask a girl out. If she says no, don't beat yourself up over it. Go ask another girl. Soon enough you'll land yourself a girl that you like and that likes you, and it will completely change your perspective on girls.\",\n \"Summary: Convinced a kid in summer camp that a Chubby soda cap was trying to kill him.\\n\\nPost: I've posted this a few times before, but it always had a fairly positive response and the last time was a year ago, so I figure I may as well present the Chubby cap story again, since it fits the question perfectly: \\n I bought a few cases of those little \\\" Chubby scratches on it\\\". So I told him to throw it in the garbage, which he did. \\nMy friend went and retrieved the cap from the garbage, handed it to me, and I slipped it back onto the table. This time he freaked out a little, and I did too. We went outside together (it was a pretty chill -read, irresponsible- day camp, so we were able to just walk out) and threw it into the busy street. \\nThen we went back inside, where a game of handball was beginning. My friend went out and retrieved the cap, and handed it to me with the biggest grin. I casually dropped it in the corner and waited for him to notice it. He freaked out a bit when he did. He went back outside and dropped it in a drain. \\nThat night Shane and I went to the store and bought a six pack of the chubby drinks. We drank a few, spilled out the rest, and made the same scratches in all the caps. We devised a plan to scare the crap out of Joel. \\nOur \\\"overnight\\\" was a few days away. Basically it was just a one night camping trip. We continued making the chubby caps appear for a few days, while Joel kept destroying them, while slowly losing his mind. The day before the camping trip we ran out of caps, so we took a break. \\nBy this point we had told Joel of the serial killer that had taken the lives of a few hapless hikers, at some park we couldn't remember the name of. Just before he was beheaded by police (?) he drank a bottle of Chubby soda, and some said that his spirit had gone into the chubby cap. But we assured him it was nonsense, and just rumors. Nothing to worry about. \\nThe night before the camping trip we bought 12 chubby sodas, and scratched the now-familiar etchings into the caps.\\nIn the van on the 2-hour drive to the provincial park where our camping trip was to be, Shane loudly asked the counselor what the name of the park was. I was sitting next to Joel, and when the counselor told us the name of the park, I looked at him with wide eyes. \\\"WHAT? Is that where the killings were?\\\" I just said no, no, as convincingly unconvincingly as I could. But Joel, of course, didn't buy it. \\\"It is! Oh, we're going there right on the anniversary of his death, in the year he vowed revenge!\\\" (forgot to mention that part to you). \\nShane and I (the only people he told about the bottle cap thing, 'cause he thought other kids would think he was crazy), calmed him down, while everyone was wondering what the hell was going on. \\nAt one point, I yelled out that I had seen a deer! Everyone looked to that side of the road, while Shane stuck his hand out of window on the other side, stood up, and slapped the roof of the van loudly. Everyone jumped. Shane joined them. When Joel looked down, he found a chubby cap right next to his leg. He began yelling loudly \\\"Ahhhhh the chubby cap! It's back!\\\" \\nThe counselor pulled over the car, and after calming everyone down, allowed Joel to throw the cap into the trees on the side of the highway, and continued on our way. \\nWhen we got to the camping grounds we pitched our tents and went boating. Joel swore he saw a ghost across the lake, then found a chubby cap in his canoe and freaked out a bunch of other kids, who all refused to go boating after that. Then he found one in his shoe by the side of the lake, then another one in his tent. \\nAfter we ran out of them, Shane and I took flashlights in middle of the night and went searching for one in the woods where he had thrown it after finding it in his tent. Somehow we actually found it, and it was in his sleeping bag in the morning. He just flipped out. Screaming and crying and just going crazy. \\nWe felt bad, and finally told him. He wasn't even mad, he was just so relieved that the ghost of a serial killer hidden in a chubby cap wasn't trying to kill him.\",\n \"Summary: Got tailgated by a creepy guy for 25 minutes at night, for no apparent reason.\\n\\nPost: This story happened to me just a few weeks ago, and it creeped me out (I posted it in a different thread then). \\nI was driving down the highway at night, heading home. I was going pretty fast, well above the limit, passing cars in the right lane by the dozen. Then I see in my rearview mirror a car coming behind me, going considerably faster than I was. I pulled into the right lane to let him go by. To my surprise, he pulled into the right lane behind me, and started tailgating me very close. I thought it was a cop, and was already doing the whole, \\\"shit shit shit\\\" thing in my head. I kept waiting for the lights and siren to go on, but none did. Then we passed a streetlight and I saw it did not have lights on the roof, nor was it an unmarked police car. So I kept going slow in case it was an undercover cop, but just to test him, I pulled into the left lane. He pulled in right behind me. I switched back and forth about 5 times, with him staying right on my tail. He was close enough that if I had braked hard he would have definitely hit me. So I speed up a little; he does too. I slow down, so does he. He is staying right on my ass, not honking, signaling, or even flashing his lights. Nothing. We come to a short tunnel, where it is illegal to change lanes. I speed up a bit and switch lanes in the tunnel, and he stays right with me. \\nSo now I'm considering my options. I could either try to speed away from him; I couldn't make out the make or model of his car in the dark but it was definitely older than mine, and mine had great pickup. But that just seemed like a recipe for disaster. \\nI could pull over, but for all I know this guy is armed, and I wasn't, so I didn't want to take any chances with some crazy person who had bee tailgating me for about 15 minutes at this point. \\nI could take an exit, but I decided that I would rather stay around other cars. \\nFinally I called the police. So they ask me where I am, and I tell them. Can I make out the make, model, or color of the car? No I can't, but it's dark, I know that's unhelpful. I tell them I'm about to get on the bridge that enters the city, so they say they'll transfer me to city police. \\nOn the bridge I change lanes a bunch of times, speed up and slow down, and this guy is still right behind me. \\nI get off the bridge. Right after the bridge is a traffic light, which I know has a red light camera. I slow down to a crawl as I approach the green light, and this car stays with me, while other cars pass us on both sides. \\nFinally I'm getting very close to the light, and it turns yellow. I wait, wait, wait until the last split second and then floor it, making it through the light the instant before it turned red. I check my mirror. The car was stopped at the red light. I told the police what happened, and ended the call with them, as there was nothing they could do; I had no information on the driver whatsoever, other than the fact that it was a male (I caught a glimpse earlier, but couldn't make out any features). \\nI turned off the main street and zig-zagged my way to my house, watching my mirror for any sign of him, but saw none.\",\n \"Summary: Convinced a kid in summer camp that a chubby cap was trying to kill him. \\nEDIT: Put the paragraph spaces back in. \\nEDIT 2: Link from first time I posted didn't copy over. [This right here]( is a Chubby. The cap, or caps, in question were actually yellow. \\nFINAL EDIT: Thank you to the anonymous redditor that gave me gold.\\n\\nPost: Your story is quite similar to one I posted a little while back. Here it is: \\nI bought a few cases of those little \\\"Chubby\\\" sodas when I was a kid, about 11 years old. That was a lot of money at the time, but worth it. This is going to be really long, but it's true:\\nI was in day camp in the summer, and me and my friend, Shane, got the idea to prank another friend of ours, Joel, who was a bit gullible. It started out when we found a little cap from a Chubby bottle, and slipped it in front of him while he was in middle of some arts and craft project. He looked away, I slipped it on top of the project. He looked down and saw it there, did a little double take, and threw it over his shoulder. Shane saw this, snuck away, and slipped it back to me. I snuck it onto the table again when Joel glanced away. He saw it again and threw it away again. We did this about 4 times. The fourth time he said, \\\"this is so weird, this same chubby cap keeps appearing here\\\". I said \\\"A chubby cap?\\\". He said yeah. I asked how he knew it was the same one? He said, \\\"it has these distinctive (ok he was 11, he probably didn't use that word. I'm paraphrasing here) scratches on it\\\". So I told him to throw it in the garbage, which he did. My friend went and retrieved the cap from the garbage, handed it to me, and I slipped it back onto the table. This time he freaked out a little, and I did too. We went outside together (it was a pretty chill -read, irresponsible- day camp, so we were able to just walk out) and threw it into the busy street. Then we went back inside, where a game of handball was beginning. My friend went out and retrieved the cap, and handed it to me with the biggest grin. I casually dropped it in the corner and waited for him to notice it. He freaked out a bit when he did. He went back outside and dropped it in a drain. \\nThat night Shane and I went to the store and bought a six pack of the chubby drinks. We drank a few, spilled out the rest, and made the same scratches in all the caps. We devised a plan to scare the crap out of Joel. Our \\\"overnight\\\" was a few days away. Basically it was just a one night camping trip. We continued making the chubby caps appear for a few days, while Joel kept destroying them, while slowly losing his mind. The day before the camping trip we ran out of caps, so we took a break. \\nBy this point we had told Joel of the serial killer that had taken the lives of a few hapless hikers, at some park we couldn't remember the name of. Just before he was beheaded by police (?) he drank a bottle of Chubby soda, and some said that his spirit had gone into the chubby cap. But we assured him it was nonsense, and just rumors. Nothing to worry about. \\nThe night before the camping trip we bought 12 chubby sodas, and scratched the now-familiar etchings into the caps. \\nIn the van on the 2-hour drive to the provincial park where our camping trip was to be, Shane loudly asked the counselor what the name of the park was. I was sitting next to Joel, and when the counselor told us the name of the park, I looked at him with wide eyes. \\\"WHAT? Is that where the killings were?\\\" I just said no, no, as convincingly unconvincingly as I could. But Joel, of course, didn't buy it. \\\"It is! Oh, we're going there right on the anniversary of his death, in the year he vowed revenge!\\\" (forgot to mention that part to you). Me and Shane (the only people he told about the bottle cap thing, 'cause he thought other kids would think he was crazy), calmed him down, while everyone was wondering what the hell was going on. At one point, I yelled out that I had seen a deer! Everyone looked to that side of the road, while Shane stuck his hand out of window on the other side, stood up, and slapped the roof of the van loudly. Everyone jumped. Shane joined them. When Joel looked down, he found a chubby cap right next to his leg. He began yelling loudly \\\"Ahhhhh the chubby cap! It's back!\\\" The counselor pulled over the car, and after calming everyone down, allowed Joel to throw the cap into the trees on the side of the highway, and continued on our way. \\nWhen we got to the camping grounds we pitched our tents and went boating. Joel swore he saw a ghost across the lake, then found a chubby cap in his canoe and freaked out a bunch of other kids, who all refused to go boating after that. Then he found one in his shoe by the side of the lake, then another one in his tent. After we ran out of them, Shane and I took flashlights in middle of the night and went searching for one in the woods where he had thrown it after finding it in his tent. Somehow we actually found it, and it was in his sleeping bag in the morning. He just flipped out. Screaming and crying and just going crazy. \\nWe felt bad, and finally told him. He wasn't even mad, he was just so relieved that the ghost of a serial killer hidden in a chubby cap wasn't trying to kill him.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":16,"string":"16"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":92,"string":"92"}}},{"rowIdx":93,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"ninjaduets"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the content for a reddit post this place is srs-lite."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"kitchendancer gave him orangename. \n i don't need a breather, i just thought it was ironic is all. here on cb we bullshit about bullshitters and then someone gave orangename (supposedly a sign of good contributions) to an absolute bullshitter. it really didn't take a socrates to see that he was making strong claims on a topic he didn't know the first thing about."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"kitchendancer gave him orangename. \n i don't need a breather, i just thought it was ironic is all. here on cb we bullshit about bullshitters and then someone gave orangename (supposedly a sign of good contributions) to an absolute bullshitter. it really didn't take a socrates to see that he was making strong claims on a topic he didn't know the first thing about."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Summary: 1st case: Follow the law. 2nd case: μολὼν λαβέ\n\nPost: What do you mean by \"comply\"? \n If you mean \"not buy any more illegal sporting rifles\" then I guess I am SOL since no one will sell them (if the ban becomes law again) I already stocked up on 30rd PMAGs, so that's not an issue. \n If you mean \"turn in your AR-15\" then no I will absolutely not. As far as I know there isn't a politician who is seriously advocating this -- [though many liberals are]( If this is what you mean then there is no way around \"internet machismo\" I didn't spend 4.5 years in the Army without 1st/2nd and 4th Amendment rights just to get out and have those rights taken away again.","Summary: capitalism is a lie and marxism is our salvation\n\nPost: Comrade, we are on the same page! \n Not only should they not receive tax breaks -- they should be shot or imprisoned! Preferably both! For too long they have been bailed out while the 99% have been SOLD OUT. \n It's time for revolution; we seize the means of production, then we redistribute the wealth and finally we destroy the corrupt system which has oppressed us for so long! \n Here is a question for those neo-liberalism believing poltroons: If capitalism and the free markets are true then why has it failed in Maine? Maine is a state renowned worldwide for it's extremely youthful and educated workforce which would never leave the state under any circumstances.","Summary: get back in the gym.\n\nPost: I'm 6' tall and was 165 pounds when I purchased the gun. I currently weigh about 140 due to inactivity and lack of working out (I was trying to gain muscle and have finally said fuck it). \n That's unhealthy as fuck. I was 5'9 and got down to 138lbs after getting out of the Army and dealing with PTSD and depression. Now I'm up to 163lbs, and I feel much better physically even though mentally I'm still shit.","Summary: you don't know what you're talking about and you sound dumb saying it.\n\nPost: Yeah, and the reason that most (uninsured) people can't pay is that 10 days in the hospital costs $41000.\nThe world's best medical system is great, but only if you can afford access to it. Otherwise, it might as well not exist at all. The wait times may be longer in the parts of the world where the government is forward-thinking enough to provide healthcare options, but a longer wait is better than no access at all. \n You don't get it. \n >Actually, very little is profit (most hospitals are not for profit) or administration. A good deal is making up for people who can't pay. \n I have a relative who was hospitalized (in America) for Crohn's Disease several times, one of those times they had to have major surgery. They had no assets, were uninsured and couldn't pay the huge bill. Basically they paid a few dollars a month and then they just gave up collecting the debt. That cost was passed along to everyone else.","Summary: you are most likely bullshitting everyone.\n\nPost: I'm calling BS on this IAmA. \n First off I asked if you were a member of TF Ranger, not a Ranger assigned to Ranger Battalion . The reason I asked you this is because you said you served in Somalia. TF Ranger consisted of 3rd Batt Rangers, SEALs and Delta Force. Someone who was there would know that and not correct me when I said TF Ranger. \n Secondly, you say your career has been over 15 years, OPN Gothic Serpent was 17 years ago, no problem with your story there yet. Except that you say you were in Delta Force, unfortunately (career timeline wise) that places you around the rank of a Private. There aren't Privates in Delta Force. Even if I were to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you were an E-5 at the time that would mean that it has taken you 17 years to move up 3 enlisted paygrades anyone who is in the military knows that is absurd.","Summary: Not only does the public at large not give a shit, but even the people who claim to give a shit do not give a shit.\n\nPost: The political and economic system that OWS is challenging is more complicated than the issue of Vietnam, which was largely \"Stop killing people, don't make me go, don't make my friend go\". There was a singular effect protesters were looking for: Bring them home.\n> Because OWS is dealing with a far more complicated, far more entrenched issue, it's naive to think that any single action short of a revolution was going to cause a turnaround. It's just too big. What they did is set the ground-work for the next movement, and OWS also connected A LOT of like-minded young people, who had a chance to learn from those Vietnam-era protesters about what works and what doesn't. \n I agree that Vietnam was a simpler issue, but even that took three years for public opinion to turn against it. The difference is public opinion was never on OWS side. Outside of super left-wing areas/enclaves no one gives a shit, like nobody. \n When I lived in Savannah, GA the Occupiers consisted of maybe two dozen people for a week or so, and some local art students marched in the streets a few times. That's it. In a metro area of 350,000 people. Now I live in Southern Maine, and there are professional malcontents everywhere, the type the run protests and get all their friends to do the same. They aren't regular people; they basically complain for a living. \n I would also disagree with your view that they laid a good base for future movements. We just had an occupy style protest at my school over faculty layoffs and major eliminations (run by aforementioned malcontents). They marched, they shouted, they made signs, they \"occupied\" a campus building... for one night. They got on TV and radio, they gave speeches about how they care so much about our school. \n As of yet they've accomplished nothing, but that's expected, not notable. What is notable is that there are vacancies on the student senate, and the student representative to the Board of Trustees. They have 1,400 \"likes\" on FB. It's one of the places where they could actually get their voices heard (and get a stipend!) and they can't even do that.","Summary: you are nuts, fuckmoney\n\nPost: The greatest hero of our time is being held to keep profits flowing and to continue bloody massacres around the world. \n >This is usually where you could compare the U.S with Germany in WWII but the truth is the United States in it's current state is a far worse destructive force. \n >It is not acceptable to commit these actions because someone is ordered to do so. The soldiers in charge of keeping him locked and those who gave the orders should face war crime charges. They are actively prolonging a war. \n Nobody is ever going to take you seriously with rhetoric like that. I am an independent and an atheist, I can't stand Fox News, or Rush Limbaugh.. and you are their polar opposite. The things you say make no sense, and have no connection to reality. At no point during any time in the history of warfare has any more attention gone to preventing civilian casualties. COMCAM (combat camera) takes pictures of everything that happens so there is evidence for PAO when people (i.e. you and the taliban) make shit up, and every operation is conducted jointly with Afghans. If an old person dies of natural causes while coalition forces are nearby I guarantee a General knows about it and the family of that man is given solatia payments, even if it was just a random things that happened when CF were nearby.","Summary: you ain't shit, son.\n\nPost: Military here. The only thing wrong with this picture is that his legs somehow merited 1000+ karma. \n No one in the military is sitting around surfing reddit all day, unless they are Air Force Deskjockeys. \n You're not that important, no one really cares what you think and certainly no one is being paid a salary to change your opinion (that no one cares about). \n enjoy your /r/conspiracy","Summary: tell him what you did and take your medicine \n inb4 a derpfaced idiot suggests polymory.\n\nPost: That's pretty weak. \n >He tells me how much better his quality of life has become thanks to me \n He probably wouldn't feel that way if he knew that you cheated on him. \n >I'd rather stab myself than hurt him by telling of my early mistake. \n You need to tell him about your infidelity, it's his choice whether or not to give you another chance. \n Here are some possibilities of what he could do: \n \n He breaks up with you. (The right answer) \n \n He stays with you and demands that you not contact your friend of 4 years. CAN YOU DEAL WITH THIS? \n \n He has no self esteem and gives you another chance with no conditions.","Summary: Which party would have the most negative reaction to my stash?' \n edit: i don't actually think this is the case, at all.\n\nPost: I think weed is the X Factor in these types of situations where you have to decide who you dislike more \n Cops will try and take your weed and arrest you. \n Some random black dude will in all likelihood NOT gank you for your weed in the depths of your parents basement.","Summary: UFC gon' do what's best for the UFC regardless of whether it is factually or morally right.\n\nPost: The UFC is going to do what it thinks is in it's own best interest -- and this isn't it. [For example they lent their name and used Glover Texieira to promote gun control for Michael Bloomberg's group \"Mayors Against Illegal Guns.\"]( I don't think Dana White or the Fertitta's give a shit about gun control, but Bloomberg has money, power and connections; all of which the UFC needs to fight culinary union interests in New York who are preventing the UFC from putting on events there.","Summary: no problemo. source: [i know everything.](\n\nPost: not having credit history won't be an issue for you. if you had significant debt that you have shown trouble paying (in collections etc) then that would be a problem. \n you will list your employment history but since you haven't had a lot of jobs it will make your application a little easier to fill out that someone who had 10 jobs.","Summary: United States of America - Most Gold medals, Most medals. \n p.s. i didn't downvote you, cause internet points.\n\nPost: Here's the awkward part for someone touting their reading comprehension: I'm not Bonzooy \n ...sweet baby sagan.. \n I never said you were Bonzooy. Here is a quote for you, all the way back from my last post. (No really, go look, it's right there, unedited). \n >but you don't quote Bonzooy asking: \n Here's the awkward part where the person who tries to call me out for failing reading comprehension fails reading comprehension. \n >I wouldn't make any claim about Bonzooy's knowledge of America - because that'd be odd, for one, and irrelevant for another. \n Actually it's entirely relevant because \n \n Bufori was a dick to Bonzooy \n Bufori was a correct dick because Bonzooy could have arrived to the correct conclusion with his preexisting geographical knowledge and facts stated in this thread. \n He failed. You run in and whiteknight him saying 'reading comprehension' has nothing to do this AS A BRIT \n Eurobravery brigades run in an upvote you and downvote me, probably something Merkel stipulated as part of bailouts. \n I'm an idiot for arguing on the internet. \n \n >So yes, with a knowledge of America's history, geography and convention - it's pretty easy to work out. Without that knowledge it's not possible to deduce with certainty. But then, that was my point - wasn't it? \n Was it, Sir? Let's look back...... \n >but as a Brit I also had no clue as to why Maine was involved, and didn't know which Portland came first. \n okay, lets see what you say one post after that one.. \n >What? It was clear that Portland, Maine was involved somehow - and that's why someone mentioned Maine, but it still didn't show the connection. \n You say that \"It was clear\" Portland, Maine was involved in the naming process \"somehow\" yet just one post ago you weren't even sure which one came first. \n Are. You. Kidding. Me. \n >Anyway, I do like being wrong when it leads to learning something new, and interesting. However I don't enjoy conversing with people who feel the need to brag about their supposed achievements online. \n Remember when you called me out for bad reading comprehension when it was you who had the bad reading comprehension? That was rich. jsyk that 99th percentile shiz is all true, hopefully the destruction of that attempt at an argument will help you in some way in the future.","Summary: your argument and the argument of the cops essentially amounts to \"MUH FEELANS\" and you're a detriment to the 2nd Amendment community.\n\nPost: I get that he was trying to make a point, but he was being an asshole about it. Open carry is hard enough to do without jagoffs like this pushing the cops' buttons. What the hell did he think was going to happen? Taking pictures of a federal building with an open firearm. \n No dude, you're the asshole here. The cops got all uppity with him and tried repeatedly to trick/force him into surrendering his constitutional rights and he wrecked their shit thus getting them even more pissed off. A cop even illegally detained him without suspicion; one could argue that the cop did have reasonable suspicion and exercised his right to not tell the detained, but clearly that was bullshit. I was in the military and I had my 4th Amendment rights violated repeatedly, though I was a private and too ignorant to know I could have done something about it. How is it fine and dandy to demand accountability from our government and elected officials but not okay to spot check cops? \n Tell me this, fluent_dysphasia, can you find even one time ever where a person open carrying a firearm (and holding a camera) went on to commit a violent crime with said weapon? One time ever? Even if you can, how common are such cases?","Summary: the CIA/Reagan didn't put the Taliban in power, stop pretending its true because 'it sounds about right' and you are too lazy to look into history.\n\nPost: Most know that the CIA under Reagan made the Taliban and put them in power. \n This is a good point except for the fact that it is completely wrong. Reagan didn't make the Taliban, the US supported the Afghan mujahideen, granted a part of that helping create madrassas which has helped foster much of the religious fervor against America, but they are not the same thing. Ironically today, the older fighters, many of which fought as mujahideen resent the new 'young bucks' who cross over the border from Pakistan to 'get some action', as it were. \n I would strongly recommend reading [Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid]( for a good read of how the Taliban began, among other things.","Summary: gtfo of your ivory tower\n\nPost: Did you know that if you choose not to believe in the supernatural that the United States Army can consider you unfit to serve? \n This is a lie. Atheist Soldier here, I've taken this test and scored really low on spirituality. At no time in the army have I felt pressured in any way to believe in a God. \n It is sad to see things like this at the top: \n >The Army doesn't want people who think or question things too much in the rank and file... \n Atheist Redditors, the army doesn't give a shit what you believe (or don't believe), as long as you show up to the proper place, in the proper uniform at the proper time and do your job right nobody cares if you are religious or not \n Stop pretending like you are better than anyone else, there is a time and place for individual, independent critical thinking, but if everyone applied that methodology to the battlefield everyone would be killed.","Summary: the system doesn't need to be changed just because people make poor choices.\n\nPost: debt-slavery \n l-o-l. why don't you mixed it up and call it \"financial-genocide\" or something else equally ridiculous. \n >Being in a situation (especially in the context of student loans, where the debt is non-dischargeable) where money is docked from your paycheck because of your admittedly bad decisions is horrible and heart-breaking. \n No it's not, it makes perfect sense. If people could discharge student loans in bankruptcy then they would do it all the time! Interest rates would skyrocket, and then only the very well off would be able to afford school, before you know it the frontpage of reddit: #occupyuniversities. \n The system is fine, you can certainly make an argument about their parents or teachers not teaching them literally everything they need to know, but that is a different thing all together.","Summary: I know jack about female physiology, but I could definitely see you as either: 1. a shredded 115er, or 2. a decently built 125er.\n\nPost: Upvoted for not being Sqor or Getmikz. \n >As for quick muscle gains and recovery….. that’s where I have the most issues. I wish I had more muscles. I try to lift but seem to have trouble putting on muscle. \n (I'm not a sports nutritionist, [but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night)]( \n My advice (which is worth what you paid for it) is to pay attention the calories you eat. If you want to gain weight/muscle you eat more calories than you burn, and at your weight you'd need 100g of protein per day. The problem is that it takes time to gain weight, and you'd gain a small amount of body fat in the process -- which then would require a cut (caloric deficet). This is a problem for fighters because you fight in weight classes and it takes several months, if not longer."],"string":"[\n \"Summary: 1st case: Follow the law. 2nd case: μολὼν λαβέ\\n\\nPost: What do you mean by \\\"comply\\\"? \\n If you mean \\\"not buy any more illegal sporting rifles\\\" then I guess I am SOL since no one will sell them (if the ban becomes law again) I already stocked up on 30rd PMAGs, so that's not an issue. \\n If you mean \\\"turn in your AR-15\\\" then no I will absolutely not. As far as I know there isn't a politician who is seriously advocating this -- [though many liberals are]( If this is what you mean then there is no way around \\\"internet machismo\\\" I didn't spend 4.5 years in the Army without 1st/2nd and 4th Amendment rights just to get out and have those rights taken away again.\",\n \"Summary: capitalism is a lie and marxism is our salvation\\n\\nPost: Comrade, we are on the same page! \\n Not only should they not receive tax breaks -- they should be shot or imprisoned! Preferably both! For too long they have been bailed out while the 99% have been SOLD OUT. \\n It's time for revolution; we seize the means of production, then we redistribute the wealth and finally we destroy the corrupt system which has oppressed us for so long! \\n Here is a question for those neo-liberalism believing poltroons: If capitalism and the free markets are true then why has it failed in Maine? Maine is a state renowned worldwide for it's extremely youthful and educated workforce which would never leave the state under any circumstances.\",\n \"Summary: get back in the gym.\\n\\nPost: I'm 6' tall and was 165 pounds when I purchased the gun. I currently weigh about 140 due to inactivity and lack of working out (I was trying to gain muscle and have finally said fuck it). \\n That's unhealthy as fuck. I was 5'9 and got down to 138lbs after getting out of the Army and dealing with PTSD and depression. Now I'm up to 163lbs, and I feel much better physically even though mentally I'm still shit.\",\n \"Summary: you don't know what you're talking about and you sound dumb saying it.\\n\\nPost: Yeah, and the reason that most (uninsured) people can't pay is that 10 days in the hospital costs $41000.\\nThe world's best medical system is great, but only if you can afford access to it. Otherwise, it might as well not exist at all. The wait times may be longer in the parts of the world where the government is forward-thinking enough to provide healthcare options, but a longer wait is better than no access at all. \\n You don't get it. \\n >Actually, very little is profit (most hospitals are not for profit) or administration. A good deal is making up for people who can't pay. \\n I have a relative who was hospitalized (in America) for Crohn's Disease several times, one of those times they had to have major surgery. They had no assets, were uninsured and couldn't pay the huge bill. Basically they paid a few dollars a month and then they just gave up collecting the debt. That cost was passed along to everyone else.\",\n \"Summary: you are most likely bullshitting everyone.\\n\\nPost: I'm calling BS on this IAmA. \\n First off I asked if you were a member of TF Ranger, not a Ranger assigned to Ranger Battalion . The reason I asked you this is because you said you served in Somalia. TF Ranger consisted of 3rd Batt Rangers, SEALs and Delta Force. Someone who was there would know that and not correct me when I said TF Ranger. \\n Secondly, you say your career has been over 15 years, OPN Gothic Serpent was 17 years ago, no problem with your story there yet. Except that you say you were in Delta Force, unfortunately (career timeline wise) that places you around the rank of a Private. There aren't Privates in Delta Force. Even if I were to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you were an E-5 at the time that would mean that it has taken you 17 years to move up 3 enlisted paygrades anyone who is in the military knows that is absurd.\",\n \"Summary: Not only does the public at large not give a shit, but even the people who claim to give a shit do not give a shit.\\n\\nPost: The political and economic system that OWS is challenging is more complicated than the issue of Vietnam, which was largely \\\"Stop killing people, don't make me go, don't make my friend go\\\". There was a singular effect protesters were looking for: Bring them home.\\n> Because OWS is dealing with a far more complicated, far more entrenched issue, it's naive to think that any single action short of a revolution was going to cause a turnaround. It's just too big. What they did is set the ground-work for the next movement, and OWS also connected A LOT of like-minded young people, who had a chance to learn from those Vietnam-era protesters about what works and what doesn't. \\n I agree that Vietnam was a simpler issue, but even that took three years for public opinion to turn against it. The difference is public opinion was never on OWS side. Outside of super left-wing areas/enclaves no one gives a shit, like nobody. \\n When I lived in Savannah, GA the Occupiers consisted of maybe two dozen people for a week or so, and some local art students marched in the streets a few times. That's it. In a metro area of 350,000 people. Now I live in Southern Maine, and there are professional malcontents everywhere, the type the run protests and get all their friends to do the same. They aren't regular people; they basically complain for a living. \\n I would also disagree with your view that they laid a good base for future movements. We just had an occupy style protest at my school over faculty layoffs and major eliminations (run by aforementioned malcontents). They marched, they shouted, they made signs, they \\\"occupied\\\" a campus building... for one night. They got on TV and radio, they gave speeches about how they care so much about our school. \\n As of yet they've accomplished nothing, but that's expected, not notable. What is notable is that there are vacancies on the student senate, and the student representative to the Board of Trustees. They have 1,400 \\\"likes\\\" on FB. It's one of the places where they could actually get their voices heard (and get a stipend!) and they can't even do that.\",\n \"Summary: you are nuts, fuckmoney\\n\\nPost: The greatest hero of our time is being held to keep profits flowing and to continue bloody massacres around the world. \\n >This is usually where you could compare the U.S with Germany in WWII but the truth is the United States in it's current state is a far worse destructive force. \\n >It is not acceptable to commit these actions because someone is ordered to do so. The soldiers in charge of keeping him locked and those who gave the orders should face war crime charges. They are actively prolonging a war. \\n Nobody is ever going to take you seriously with rhetoric like that. I am an independent and an atheist, I can't stand Fox News, or Rush Limbaugh.. and you are their polar opposite. The things you say make no sense, and have no connection to reality. At no point during any time in the history of warfare has any more attention gone to preventing civilian casualties. COMCAM (combat camera) takes pictures of everything that happens so there is evidence for PAO when people (i.e. you and the taliban) make shit up, and every operation is conducted jointly with Afghans. If an old person dies of natural causes while coalition forces are nearby I guarantee a General knows about it and the family of that man is given solatia payments, even if it was just a random things that happened when CF were nearby.\",\n \"Summary: you ain't shit, son.\\n\\nPost: Military here. The only thing wrong with this picture is that his legs somehow merited 1000+ karma. \\n No one in the military is sitting around surfing reddit all day, unless they are Air Force Deskjockeys. \\n You're not that important, no one really cares what you think and certainly no one is being paid a salary to change your opinion (that no one cares about). \\n enjoy your /r/conspiracy\",\n \"Summary: tell him what you did and take your medicine \\n inb4 a derpfaced idiot suggests polymory.\\n\\nPost: That's pretty weak. \\n >He tells me how much better his quality of life has become thanks to me \\n He probably wouldn't feel that way if he knew that you cheated on him. \\n >I'd rather stab myself than hurt him by telling of my early mistake. \\n You need to tell him about your infidelity, it's his choice whether or not to give you another chance. \\n Here are some possibilities of what he could do: \\n \\n He breaks up with you. (The right answer) \\n \\n He stays with you and demands that you not contact your friend of 4 years. CAN YOU DEAL WITH THIS? \\n \\n He has no self esteem and gives you another chance with no conditions.\",\n \"Summary: Which party would have the most negative reaction to my stash?' \\n edit: i don't actually think this is the case, at all.\\n\\nPost: I think weed is the X Factor in these types of situations where you have to decide who you dislike more \\n Cops will try and take your weed and arrest you. \\n Some random black dude will in all likelihood NOT gank you for your weed in the depths of your parents basement.\",\n \"Summary: UFC gon' do what's best for the UFC regardless of whether it is factually or morally right.\\n\\nPost: The UFC is going to do what it thinks is in it's own best interest -- and this isn't it. [For example they lent their name and used Glover Texieira to promote gun control for Michael Bloomberg's group \\\"Mayors Against Illegal Guns.\\\"]( I don't think Dana White or the Fertitta's give a shit about gun control, but Bloomberg has money, power and connections; all of which the UFC needs to fight culinary union interests in New York who are preventing the UFC from putting on events there.\",\n \"Summary: no problemo. source: [i know everything.](\\n\\nPost: not having credit history won't be an issue for you. if you had significant debt that you have shown trouble paying (in collections etc) then that would be a problem. \\n you will list your employment history but since you haven't had a lot of jobs it will make your application a little easier to fill out that someone who had 10 jobs.\",\n \"Summary: United States of America - Most Gold medals, Most medals. \\n p.s. i didn't downvote you, cause internet points.\\n\\nPost: Here's the awkward part for someone touting their reading comprehension: I'm not Bonzooy \\n ...sweet baby sagan.. \\n I never said you were Bonzooy. Here is a quote for you, all the way back from my last post. (No really, go look, it's right there, unedited). \\n >but you don't quote Bonzooy asking: \\n Here's the awkward part where the person who tries to call me out for failing reading comprehension fails reading comprehension. \\n >I wouldn't make any claim about Bonzooy's knowledge of America - because that'd be odd, for one, and irrelevant for another. \\n Actually it's entirely relevant because \\n \\n Bufori was a dick to Bonzooy \\n Bufori was a correct dick because Bonzooy could have arrived to the correct conclusion with his preexisting geographical knowledge and facts stated in this thread. \\n He failed. You run in and whiteknight him saying 'reading comprehension' has nothing to do this AS A BRIT \\n Eurobravery brigades run in an upvote you and downvote me, probably something Merkel stipulated as part of bailouts. \\n I'm an idiot for arguing on the internet. \\n \\n >So yes, with a knowledge of America's history, geography and convention - it's pretty easy to work out. Without that knowledge it's not possible to deduce with certainty. But then, that was my point - wasn't it? \\n Was it, Sir? Let's look back...... \\n >but as a Brit I also had no clue as to why Maine was involved, and didn't know which Portland came first. \\n okay, lets see what you say one post after that one.. \\n >What? It was clear that Portland, Maine was involved somehow - and that's why someone mentioned Maine, but it still didn't show the connection. \\n You say that \\\"It was clear\\\" Portland, Maine was involved in the naming process \\\"somehow\\\" yet just one post ago you weren't even sure which one came first. \\n Are. You. Kidding. Me. \\n >Anyway, I do like being wrong when it leads to learning something new, and interesting. However I don't enjoy conversing with people who feel the need to brag about their supposed achievements online. \\n Remember when you called me out for bad reading comprehension when it was you who had the bad reading comprehension? That was rich. jsyk that 99th percentile shiz is all true, hopefully the destruction of that attempt at an argument will help you in some way in the future.\",\n \"Summary: your argument and the argument of the cops essentially amounts to \\\"MUH FEELANS\\\" and you're a detriment to the 2nd Amendment community.\\n\\nPost: I get that he was trying to make a point, but he was being an asshole about it. Open carry is hard enough to do without jagoffs like this pushing the cops' buttons. What the hell did he think was going to happen? Taking pictures of a federal building with an open firearm. \\n No dude, you're the asshole here. The cops got all uppity with him and tried repeatedly to trick/force him into surrendering his constitutional rights and he wrecked their shit thus getting them even more pissed off. A cop even illegally detained him without suspicion; one could argue that the cop did have reasonable suspicion and exercised his right to not tell the detained, but clearly that was bullshit. I was in the military and I had my 4th Amendment rights violated repeatedly, though I was a private and too ignorant to know I could have done something about it. How is it fine and dandy to demand accountability from our government and elected officials but not okay to spot check cops? \\n Tell me this, fluent_dysphasia, can you find even one time ever where a person open carrying a firearm (and holding a camera) went on to commit a violent crime with said weapon? One time ever? Even if you can, how common are such cases?\",\n \"Summary: the CIA/Reagan didn't put the Taliban in power, stop pretending its true because 'it sounds about right' and you are too lazy to look into history.\\n\\nPost: Most know that the CIA under Reagan made the Taliban and put them in power. \\n This is a good point except for the fact that it is completely wrong. Reagan didn't make the Taliban, the US supported the Afghan mujahideen, granted a part of that helping create madrassas which has helped foster much of the religious fervor against America, but they are not the same thing. Ironically today, the older fighters, many of which fought as mujahideen resent the new 'young bucks' who cross over the border from Pakistan to 'get some action', as it were. \\n I would strongly recommend reading [Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid]( for a good read of how the Taliban began, among other things.\",\n \"Summary: gtfo of your ivory tower\\n\\nPost: Did you know that if you choose not to believe in the supernatural that the United States Army can consider you unfit to serve? \\n This is a lie. Atheist Soldier here, I've taken this test and scored really low on spirituality. At no time in the army have I felt pressured in any way to believe in a God. \\n It is sad to see things like this at the top: \\n >The Army doesn't want people who think or question things too much in the rank and file... \\n Atheist Redditors, the army doesn't give a shit what you believe (or don't believe), as long as you show up to the proper place, in the proper uniform at the proper time and do your job right nobody cares if you are religious or not \\n Stop pretending like you are better than anyone else, there is a time and place for individual, independent critical thinking, but if everyone applied that methodology to the battlefield everyone would be killed.\",\n \"Summary: the system doesn't need to be changed just because people make poor choices.\\n\\nPost: debt-slavery \\n l-o-l. why don't you mixed it up and call it \\\"financial-genocide\\\" or something else equally ridiculous. \\n >Being in a situation (especially in the context of student loans, where the debt is non-dischargeable) where money is docked from your paycheck because of your admittedly bad decisions is horrible and heart-breaking. \\n No it's not, it makes perfect sense. If people could discharge student loans in bankruptcy then they would do it all the time! Interest rates would skyrocket, and then only the very well off would be able to afford school, before you know it the frontpage of reddit: #occupyuniversities. \\n The system is fine, you can certainly make an argument about their parents or teachers not teaching them literally everything they need to know, but that is a different thing all together.\",\n \"Summary: I know jack about female physiology, but I could definitely see you as either: 1. a shredded 115er, or 2. a decently built 125er.\\n\\nPost: Upvoted for not being Sqor or Getmikz. \\n >As for quick muscle gains and recovery….. that’s where I have the most issues. I wish I had more muscles. I try to lift but seem to have trouble putting on muscle. \\n (I'm not a sports nutritionist, [but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night)]( \\n My advice (which is worth what you paid for it) is to pay attention the calories you eat. If you want to gain weight/muscle you eat more calories than you burn, and at your weight you'd need 100g of protein per day. The problem is that it takes time to gain weight, and you'd gain a small amount of body fat in the process -- which then would require a cut (caloric deficet). This is a problem for fighters because you fight in weight classes and it takes several months, if not longer.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":18,"string":"18"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":93,"string":"93"}}},{"rowIdx":94,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"MuffinPuff"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the content for a reddit post I'm a sucky person."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Yep. Not only from an American/US viewpoint, but globally. The majority of living people are absolutely fucked , while the average person in the US lives a pretty damn good life compared to the majority. Would I be willing to donate a good percentage of my overall income to help those around the world? Only if it doesn't affect the lifestyle that I'm accustomed to. In other words, I wouldn't be willing to give up my comforts to help others put food on the table and a roof over their head. A few bucks here and there? Sure. $100 a month or an equivalent? Nope."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Yep. Not only from an American/US viewpoint, but globally. The majority of living people are absolutely fucked , while the average person in the US lives a pretty damn good life compared to the majority. Would I be willing to donate a good percentage of my overall income to help those around the world? Only if it doesn't affect the lifestyle that I'm accustomed to. In other words, I wouldn't be willing to give up my comforts to help others put food on the table and a roof over their head. A few bucks here and there? Sure. $100 a month or an equivalent? Nope."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Summary: I smelled my dad across a massive and busy parking lot, like a dog.\n\nPost: One time I was coming out of Walmart garden center with my mom, and I instantly looked up (and yes, my nose was in the air like a fucking dog) thinking my dad was nearby, but I couldn't figure out why I'd get such a strong feeling that he's near. \n Not 5 minutes later when we're pulling out of the parking lot, my dad pulled up behind us in his own car. He just walked out of the store from the exits on the opposite end, buying groceries.","Summary: Sport-Gifters of the world, Unite <3\n\nPost: Sport Gifter\" \n I never knew there was a term for this, but I now know what I am. \n It's my first time being an SS, and it was a rush finally getting my match. He also didn't have anything on his profile other than \"programming and technology\" so I contacted him. He updated his profile soon after, and I happily spent the last 2 hours shopping around, creating, and putting together his very own gift box. I would have kept going for even longer if the damn Cyber Monday sale wasn't gonna end in a few minutes :|","Summary: Connections. The chance of making connections.\n\nPost: If you're in the US, I would say that it's just American custom. I'm sure our level of expected \"happiness\" isn't necessary in other countries, but in the US, it's just the standard. I don't know why. I guess it's easier to interact with someone who is happy instead of \"neutral\" or openly unhappy. \n I look at it this way: All of the people I come into contact with on a daily basis while at work, I may run into them in the future, and they may remember how I made them feel (warm, welcome, comfortable, etc). Maybe a supervisor, or a human resources rep., or even the regular fast food worker, all of those people just might offer me something in return for consistent positive interactions. I've had job offers from various managers of different companies (and even my own company) solely because of my disposition with the public. I've gotten free food from all over the place because I'm good to those fast food workers. I've gotten complimented on my way with customers from the customers themselves, partly because it looks good for the company I'm working for, but mostly because it makes me look good, and opens my opportunities in ways I would never have guessed.","Summary: most people have HSV-1, around 25%-60% of people have HSV-2 and many of them don't show symptoms in their lifetime, which is how the virus spreads so prevalently.\n\nPost: He's taking about herpes simplex viruses, and one of those you actually get through familiar contact (kiss from grandma, drinking from your cousin's cup, etc) and poses minimal threat healthwise, other than those ugly lip eruptions. Most people have sufficient antibodies and antivirals in the body to prevent the lip crust. The other herpes is much less prevalent in developed countries, but varies by population and quantity of sexual partners.","Summary: A woman can have her own tastes in men. If you don't fit her type, it's okay. You're someone else's type. \n Also, it seems like his chances are fairly high in going on a date with her.\n\nPost: You do realize that the \"friendzone\" doesn't exist, right? If a woman wants to sleep with a man and the man with her, then it'll happen. If she doesn't want to sleep with him, there's no mountain he can climb or god to pray to that's going to change her mind about his current state. By claiming \"Friendzone\" is a real thing, there's this underlying suggestion that a woman has to be /convinced/ or /coerced/ into having sex with you, as if she doesn't have (or shouldn't have) her own likes and wants in men.","Summary: If a woman wants to FUCK you, then you're already attractive to her. If you're not attractive to her visually, then there's not much else you can do to convince her to FUCK you, just short of shape-shifting.\n\nPost: Okay. Let me put it this way: \n If your only goal is to FUCK HER, then that should be her motivation towards you as well. When it comes down to FUCKING someone, the biggest factor is physical attraction for women, with a bit of other influences like your voice, how you speak, how you carry yourself, and other nuances. There are minor things you could do to increases your chances of being FUCKED by someone, but overall, it's still up to her being physically attracted to you, and what she finds attractive in men on the most basic level (such as height, voice, smile, etc).","Summary: Cost of living increases. Paychecks aren't. This will probably be an on-going trend to some extent. I don't wanna be poor.\n\nPost: Nah. But then again, I've been disconnected from most television/magazine/news/advertisements for several years now, so I don't get nearly as much exposure as the average person. I do want to make a certain amount of money by so-and-so age, but my reasons for this don't revolve around vacations and cars. I want to be able to take care of myself (which I could do happily with 15 or 20 grand per year, for JUST ME) and my future children and family. At the rate we're heading, I don't see people getting cost of living wages to keep up with the rapid price increase of everything lately. What's considered the poverty threshold now will more than likely double in the future, as history shows. I'd rather play it safe and reach for a decent/high end paying job in the long run, than believe \"if I'm okay now, then I'll be okay later\".","Summary: Humans and Neandy's got busy and had lots o' babies, some of them being sterile.\n\nPost: I think I remember seeing a doco years ago about how it's entirely plausible that modern humans and neanderthals interbred.. I could be wrong tho. \n Edit: Did some research. Not only was it plausible that they interbred, but it's actually documented that some modern humans have /some/ neanderthal DNA. But, it was noted that since much of the neanderthal genome is missing, that's a classic sign that the two parents (modern human/neanderthal) had lower fertility rates.. that means their hybrid babies had moderate to high chances of being sterile. BUT BUT, the hybrid offspring that were fertile passed on useful neanderthal traits, such as adaptability to colder climates.","Summary: I possibly missed the birth of my first in-game twins, and I have no way to verify if they are in fact, twins.\n\nPost: I didn't play my usual household for a few days, and when I came back, there were two babies in my living room.. I couldn't tell if it was one baby from a previous birth and then the new baby (I made her shoot out babies rapid fire), or if they were twins. That, plus the game gave them names that were completely unlike my previous 4 children. Luckily, you can change sim names at any time.","Summary: Everything clogs in my house at the same time, and my dad blames it on my toilet paper use. Other than wiping with a rag, what can we I do?\n\nPost: Additional info: The house was built in 1966. Both bathrooms, 2 toilets, 2 sinks and 2 showers/tubs, feed into one pipe in the laundry room. Problem is, whenever one fixture gets a clog, they all back up. Toilets won't flush, sinks won't drain, showers won't drain, and sometimes sewage water backs up into the bathtubs. \n When this happens, my dad goes on top of the roof and shoves the water hose down this pipe until all of the sewage water drains. He has to do this at least every other month, and chews me out for using too much toilet paper. For the last couple of months I've limited toilet tissue down to two small \"wads\", for lack of a better word, and apparently this is still too much. \n His suggestion: Put toilet paper in a sack next to the toilet. Obviously, that's disgusting. \n What are your suggestions?","Summary: Me and my mother are at opposite ends of the world. Suggest what we can do to bridge that gap without World War 3 happening in the mean time.\n\nPost: Let's get this clear right now; I love my mom. I absolutely do, and it becomes more evident as I get older, but at the same time... \n The differences. We are, without an inkling of a doubt, the equivalent of fire and ice. We repel each other. Not on purpose, but a natural progression of our being around each other for prolonged periods leads to one or both of us going nuclear. \n I'll give you an example. \n Yesterday, my mother had her grandsons (my nephews) over. When it is time for her to go to work, she either puts the children to bed or has me drive them somewhere, so they don't cry. Now... this is a sore point for both of us; I think it's completely ridiculous to have to drive children somewhere in order to go to work, just to prevent them from crying. Grandma thinks it's for the best. \n 2:35pm - So my mother told me \"LET YOUR DOG OUTSIDE!!!\" after I let him in to eat. That already put a stitch in my side, since I just let him in to eat, and I was on my way outside to feed the other one. (They get a bit snappy when eating together outside). \n 2:40pm - I'm outside, my one pup is eating, and we stop to play some fetch before I let my other dog out. \n 2:45pm - Mother comes to the back door. \"Do you mind taking nephews to the drive thru? Get them some fries\". \n Me: \"Sure, no problem.\" \n Mother: \"Take them right now.\" \n Me: \"......\". Stitch #2. I'm covered in dog hair, mud, a little poop, and saliva, and she wants me to immediately jump in my car, for what I consider a completely pointless endeavor. Clearly she's asking me to take them out of the house so she can go to work at 3pm. \n 2:46pm - I'm taking one nephew out the door and calling the other nephew to come on... When he gets to the door, he has no pants on. I tell him stay here, since he's the oldest and no longer cries when his grandma leaves. No point in taking him with me. \n 3:02pm - I come back home to find my mother is still here, so my 15 minute sit at the park was completely pointless. \n Mother: \" Why did you leave nephew 1? He went to put on his pants, and you were already gone, now he's been crying like a newborn child \" \n Me: \".....\". Stitch #3. Nuclear. \n Me: \"I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TAKE THESE CHILDREN ANYWHERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! THE WHOLE THING IS RIDICULOUS, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THEY ONLY CRY WITH YOU !!! THEY DON'T CRY AT ALL WITH ME, I CAN TELL THEM \"GRANDMA'S GOING TO WORK\" AND THEY ACCEPT THAT !! THE FACT THAT YOU'D RATHER TAKE THEM COMPLETELY OUT OF THE HOUSE IS JUST STUPID!! \n 3:10pm - Mother: \"Why didn't you get them the fries?\" \n Me: \"Please... just go to work, so I can put this crying child down..\". \n All I wanted to do was to get cleaned up before going out to get them food. But in my mother's mind (and now my sister, who's the parent of my nephews and pretty much a duplicate of my mother), by not getting them food between 2:45pm and 3:00pm, it was assumed I didn't want to feed my nephews. \n Rinse and repeat. \n Help. I don't want to feel like me and my mother are burdens to each other, but I can't help but feel like we tax each other to the extremes, without even trying.","Summary: I have a socially debilitating disorder that often ends in public shaming, isolation, unemployment, and I can't even receive disability because it isn't a recognized disorder. My options are learn to live a miserable life, or not have one at all.\n\nPost: I'll start from the beginning, but give the quick version: \n 6 years ago, I started getting a long list of unusual symptoms. Went to multiple doctors and none of them had answers, other than I'm just imagining my issues. Up until early this year, I held on to the belief that I would find a solution to my problems, and that's honestly the only thing that has kept me sane all of this time. \n My metabolic disorder is TMAU. Uncommon, incurable, untreatable, and imo one of the worst things anyone could ever have to deal with. Not because I'm in pain, or physically handicapped, or anything of the sort; this would honestly be an improvement from my circumstances. I suffer with a condition that is virtually invisible to the medical community, and therefore, it doesn't qualify as a disability. I couldn't receive help for this on my worst day, despite the fact that I haven't been able to keep a job since this started. \n I've been able to brunt the ridicule, and harsh reactions, public shunning and isolation for this long because I thought it wouldn't last forever . I was so sure there would be a solution at the end of this trial, but no... there's not. \n Now, I don't know what to do. I don't have the willpower or desire to deal with this for the rest of my life. I don't have any support to get through this. My family is entirely unequipped to help me, and there is no one else.","Summary: My vagina will be bleeding within the next few days and my cash cushion was getting a little too deflated for my comfort. \n Luckily I have cookies right now.\n\nPost: I'm achey, and irritable, and my acid reflux has been acting up. I have anxiety for whatever reason, and I can't fucking sleep well enough to combat the lack of sleep I've been getting over the last few days. My car is undriveable since I got a flat today, IN THE FUCKING STEM OF THE TIRE, so it can't be patched with a tire patch. Every tire place is closed on Sunday, so I couldn't even get it fixed today. Apparently I'm now lactose intolerant since every time I have milk with cereal, the amount of gas I produce could fuel NASA. I want junk food and I don't want junk food, and I need more money. \n That may be the source of crabbiness, I need more income. The job that /was/ supposed to pay well has been an absolute bust, and until recently it was required to give a certain amount of time dedicated to that job. Luckily that time commitment has been lifted for next month, so I'm hoping to actually earn a decent amount of money for a change.","Summary: I don't like feeling disappointed over new episodes, so no more leaks, spoilers or sneak peaks for me. Going in with zero expectations is much better than having impossibly high expectations not being met every week.\n\nPost: While it's immensely satisfying to get a glimpse of a future episode at first, the follow-up (guessing what happens, what certain parts mean, just coming up with theories in general) leaves me feeling deflated... almost disappointed when the episode actually airs. \n We tend to come up with all of these grandiose, super plot heavy, super lore heavy episode theories with In-Your-Face significance, when that's not even the overall theme of SU. This show is nuanced; it has a slower pace and it's very thorough. While there are certainly some episodes full of the meat of the story, most are just appetizers, samples, and that's ok .","Summary: Didn't need to buy a $200 dollar walking board, since a $7 dollar particle board works just as well.\n\nPost: It's been broken for over a year now, since the walking board got divots and warpy spots from years of use. We sanded it down a few months ago, but it still wasn't smooth enough to function. Bought a piece of ultra smooth particle board, placed it on top of the walking board, and now it works like new again."],"string":"[\n \"Summary: I smelled my dad across a massive and busy parking lot, like a dog.\\n\\nPost: One time I was coming out of Walmart garden center with my mom, and I instantly looked up (and yes, my nose was in the air like a fucking dog) thinking my dad was nearby, but I couldn't figure out why I'd get such a strong feeling that he's near. \\n Not 5 minutes later when we're pulling out of the parking lot, my dad pulled up behind us in his own car. He just walked out of the store from the exits on the opposite end, buying groceries.\",\n \"Summary: Sport-Gifters of the world, Unite <3\\n\\nPost: Sport Gifter\\\" \\n I never knew there was a term for this, but I now know what I am. \\n It's my first time being an SS, and it was a rush finally getting my match. He also didn't have anything on his profile other than \\\"programming and technology\\\" so I contacted him. He updated his profile soon after, and I happily spent the last 2 hours shopping around, creating, and putting together his very own gift box. I would have kept going for even longer if the damn Cyber Monday sale wasn't gonna end in a few minutes :|\",\n \"Summary: Connections. The chance of making connections.\\n\\nPost: If you're in the US, I would say that it's just American custom. I'm sure our level of expected \\\"happiness\\\" isn't necessary in other countries, but in the US, it's just the standard. I don't know why. I guess it's easier to interact with someone who is happy instead of \\\"neutral\\\" or openly unhappy. \\n I look at it this way: All of the people I come into contact with on a daily basis while at work, I may run into them in the future, and they may remember how I made them feel (warm, welcome, comfortable, etc). Maybe a supervisor, or a human resources rep., or even the regular fast food worker, all of those people just might offer me something in return for consistent positive interactions. I've had job offers from various managers of different companies (and even my own company) solely because of my disposition with the public. I've gotten free food from all over the place because I'm good to those fast food workers. I've gotten complimented on my way with customers from the customers themselves, partly because it looks good for the company I'm working for, but mostly because it makes me look good, and opens my opportunities in ways I would never have guessed.\",\n \"Summary: most people have HSV-1, around 25%-60% of people have HSV-2 and many of them don't show symptoms in their lifetime, which is how the virus spreads so prevalently.\\n\\nPost: He's taking about herpes simplex viruses, and one of those you actually get through familiar contact (kiss from grandma, drinking from your cousin's cup, etc) and poses minimal threat healthwise, other than those ugly lip eruptions. Most people have sufficient antibodies and antivirals in the body to prevent the lip crust. The other herpes is much less prevalent in developed countries, but varies by population and quantity of sexual partners.\",\n \"Summary: A woman can have her own tastes in men. If you don't fit her type, it's okay. You're someone else's type. \\n Also, it seems like his chances are fairly high in going on a date with her.\\n\\nPost: You do realize that the \\\"friendzone\\\" doesn't exist, right? If a woman wants to sleep with a man and the man with her, then it'll happen. If she doesn't want to sleep with him, there's no mountain he can climb or god to pray to that's going to change her mind about his current state. By claiming \\\"Friendzone\\\" is a real thing, there's this underlying suggestion that a woman has to be /convinced/ or /coerced/ into having sex with you, as if she doesn't have (or shouldn't have) her own likes and wants in men.\",\n \"Summary: If a woman wants to FUCK you, then you're already attractive to her. If you're not attractive to her visually, then there's not much else you can do to convince her to FUCK you, just short of shape-shifting.\\n\\nPost: Okay. Let me put it this way: \\n If your only goal is to FUCK HER, then that should be her motivation towards you as well. When it comes down to FUCKING someone, the biggest factor is physical attraction for women, with a bit of other influences like your voice, how you speak, how you carry yourself, and other nuances. There are minor things you could do to increases your chances of being FUCKED by someone, but overall, it's still up to her being physically attracted to you, and what she finds attractive in men on the most basic level (such as height, voice, smile, etc).\",\n \"Summary: Cost of living increases. Paychecks aren't. This will probably be an on-going trend to some extent. I don't wanna be poor.\\n\\nPost: Nah. But then again, I've been disconnected from most television/magazine/news/advertisements for several years now, so I don't get nearly as much exposure as the average person. I do want to make a certain amount of money by so-and-so age, but my reasons for this don't revolve around vacations and cars. I want to be able to take care of myself (which I could do happily with 15 or 20 grand per year, for JUST ME) and my future children and family. At the rate we're heading, I don't see people getting cost of living wages to keep up with the rapid price increase of everything lately. What's considered the poverty threshold now will more than likely double in the future, as history shows. I'd rather play it safe and reach for a decent/high end paying job in the long run, than believe \\\"if I'm okay now, then I'll be okay later\\\".\",\n \"Summary: Humans and Neandy's got busy and had lots o' babies, some of them being sterile.\\n\\nPost: I think I remember seeing a doco years ago about how it's entirely plausible that modern humans and neanderthals interbred.. I could be wrong tho. \\n Edit: Did some research. Not only was it plausible that they interbred, but it's actually documented that some modern humans have /some/ neanderthal DNA. But, it was noted that since much of the neanderthal genome is missing, that's a classic sign that the two parents (modern human/neanderthal) had lower fertility rates.. that means their hybrid babies had moderate to high chances of being sterile. BUT BUT, the hybrid offspring that were fertile passed on useful neanderthal traits, such as adaptability to colder climates.\",\n \"Summary: I possibly missed the birth of my first in-game twins, and I have no way to verify if they are in fact, twins.\\n\\nPost: I didn't play my usual household for a few days, and when I came back, there were two babies in my living room.. I couldn't tell if it was one baby from a previous birth and then the new baby (I made her shoot out babies rapid fire), or if they were twins. That, plus the game gave them names that were completely unlike my previous 4 children. Luckily, you can change sim names at any time.\",\n \"Summary: Everything clogs in my house at the same time, and my dad blames it on my toilet paper use. Other than wiping with a rag, what can we I do?\\n\\nPost: Additional info: The house was built in 1966. Both bathrooms, 2 toilets, 2 sinks and 2 showers/tubs, feed into one pipe in the laundry room. Problem is, whenever one fixture gets a clog, they all back up. Toilets won't flush, sinks won't drain, showers won't drain, and sometimes sewage water backs up into the bathtubs. \\n When this happens, my dad goes on top of the roof and shoves the water hose down this pipe until all of the sewage water drains. He has to do this at least every other month, and chews me out for using too much toilet paper. For the last couple of months I've limited toilet tissue down to two small \\\"wads\\\", for lack of a better word, and apparently this is still too much. \\n His suggestion: Put toilet paper in a sack next to the toilet. Obviously, that's disgusting. \\n What are your suggestions?\",\n \"Summary: Me and my mother are at opposite ends of the world. Suggest what we can do to bridge that gap without World War 3 happening in the mean time.\\n\\nPost: Let's get this clear right now; I love my mom. I absolutely do, and it becomes more evident as I get older, but at the same time... \\n The differences. We are, without an inkling of a doubt, the equivalent of fire and ice. We repel each other. Not on purpose, but a natural progression of our being around each other for prolonged periods leads to one or both of us going nuclear. \\n I'll give you an example. \\n Yesterday, my mother had her grandsons (my nephews) over. When it is time for her to go to work, she either puts the children to bed or has me drive them somewhere, so they don't cry. Now... this is a sore point for both of us; I think it's completely ridiculous to have to drive children somewhere in order to go to work, just to prevent them from crying. Grandma thinks it's for the best. \\n 2:35pm - So my mother told me \\\"LET YOUR DOG OUTSIDE!!!\\\" after I let him in to eat. That already put a stitch in my side, since I just let him in to eat, and I was on my way outside to feed the other one. (They get a bit snappy when eating together outside). \\n 2:40pm - I'm outside, my one pup is eating, and we stop to play some fetch before I let my other dog out. \\n 2:45pm - Mother comes to the back door. \\\"Do you mind taking nephews to the drive thru? Get them some fries\\\". \\n Me: \\\"Sure, no problem.\\\" \\n Mother: \\\"Take them right now.\\\" \\n Me: \\\"......\\\". Stitch #2. I'm covered in dog hair, mud, a little poop, and saliva, and she wants me to immediately jump in my car, for what I consider a completely pointless endeavor. Clearly she's asking me to take them out of the house so she can go to work at 3pm. \\n 2:46pm - I'm taking one nephew out the door and calling the other nephew to come on... When he gets to the door, he has no pants on. I tell him stay here, since he's the oldest and no longer cries when his grandma leaves. No point in taking him with me. \\n 3:02pm - I come back home to find my mother is still here, so my 15 minute sit at the park was completely pointless. \\n Mother: \\\" Why did you leave nephew 1? He went to put on his pants, and you were already gone, now he's been crying like a newborn child \\\" \\n Me: \\\".....\\\". Stitch #3. Nuclear. \\n Me: \\\"I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TAKE THESE CHILDREN ANYWHERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! THE WHOLE THING IS RIDICULOUS, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THEY ONLY CRY WITH YOU !!! THEY DON'T CRY AT ALL WITH ME, I CAN TELL THEM \\\"GRANDMA'S GOING TO WORK\\\" AND THEY ACCEPT THAT !! THE FACT THAT YOU'D RATHER TAKE THEM COMPLETELY OUT OF THE HOUSE IS JUST STUPID!! \\n 3:10pm - Mother: \\\"Why didn't you get them the fries?\\\" \\n Me: \\\"Please... just go to work, so I can put this crying child down..\\\". \\n All I wanted to do was to get cleaned up before going out to get them food. But in my mother's mind (and now my sister, who's the parent of my nephews and pretty much a duplicate of my mother), by not getting them food between 2:45pm and 3:00pm, it was assumed I didn't want to feed my nephews. \\n Rinse and repeat. \\n Help. I don't want to feel like me and my mother are burdens to each other, but I can't help but feel like we tax each other to the extremes, without even trying.\",\n \"Summary: I have a socially debilitating disorder that often ends in public shaming, isolation, unemployment, and I can't even receive disability because it isn't a recognized disorder. My options are learn to live a miserable life, or not have one at all.\\n\\nPost: I'll start from the beginning, but give the quick version: \\n 6 years ago, I started getting a long list of unusual symptoms. Went to multiple doctors and none of them had answers, other than I'm just imagining my issues. Up until early this year, I held on to the belief that I would find a solution to my problems, and that's honestly the only thing that has kept me sane all of this time. \\n My metabolic disorder is TMAU. Uncommon, incurable, untreatable, and imo one of the worst things anyone could ever have to deal with. Not because I'm in pain, or physically handicapped, or anything of the sort; this would honestly be an improvement from my circumstances. I suffer with a condition that is virtually invisible to the medical community, and therefore, it doesn't qualify as a disability. I couldn't receive help for this on my worst day, despite the fact that I haven't been able to keep a job since this started. \\n I've been able to brunt the ridicule, and harsh reactions, public shunning and isolation for this long because I thought it wouldn't last forever . I was so sure there would be a solution at the end of this trial, but no... there's not. \\n Now, I don't know what to do. I don't have the willpower or desire to deal with this for the rest of my life. I don't have any support to get through this. My family is entirely unequipped to help me, and there is no one else.\",\n \"Summary: My vagina will be bleeding within the next few days and my cash cushion was getting a little too deflated for my comfort. \\n Luckily I have cookies right now.\\n\\nPost: I'm achey, and irritable, and my acid reflux has been acting up. I have anxiety for whatever reason, and I can't fucking sleep well enough to combat the lack of sleep I've been getting over the last few days. My car is undriveable since I got a flat today, IN THE FUCKING STEM OF THE TIRE, so it can't be patched with a tire patch. Every tire place is closed on Sunday, so I couldn't even get it fixed today. Apparently I'm now lactose intolerant since every time I have milk with cereal, the amount of gas I produce could fuel NASA. I want junk food and I don't want junk food, and I need more money. \\n That may be the source of crabbiness, I need more income. The job that /was/ supposed to pay well has been an absolute bust, and until recently it was required to give a certain amount of time dedicated to that job. Luckily that time commitment has been lifted for next month, so I'm hoping to actually earn a decent amount of money for a change.\",\n \"Summary: I don't like feeling disappointed over new episodes, so no more leaks, spoilers or sneak peaks for me. Going in with zero expectations is much better than having impossibly high expectations not being met every week.\\n\\nPost: While it's immensely satisfying to get a glimpse of a future episode at first, the follow-up (guessing what happens, what certain parts mean, just coming up with theories in general) leaves me feeling deflated... almost disappointed when the episode actually airs. \\n We tend to come up with all of these grandiose, super plot heavy, super lore heavy episode theories with In-Your-Face significance, when that's not even the overall theme of SU. This show is nuanced; it has a slower pace and it's very thorough. While there are certainly some episodes full of the meat of the story, most are just appetizers, samples, and that's ok .\",\n \"Summary: Didn't need to buy a $200 dollar walking board, since a $7 dollar particle board works just as well.\\n\\nPost: It's been broken for over a year now, since the walking board got divots and warpy spots from years of use. We sanded it down a few months ago, but it still wasn't smooth enough to function. Bought a piece of ultra smooth particle board, placed it on top of the walking board, and now it works like new again.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":15,"string":"15"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":94,"string":"94"}}},{"rowIdx":95,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"Dylox78"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the content for a reddit post what are compression buttons for? Do they have to be pressed EVERY TIME? Thank you guys."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"My m just bought a used 2005 HD Heritage. She bought it from a HD dealer and upon coming home I realized there had been Compression buttons installed in top of each head. My mom says she knows they told her there \"had been some engine work done\" and that every time before she starts the bike she has to press the buttons. My question is, what are these buttons for exactly? What type Of mods need these mods?"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"My m just bought a used 2005 HD Heritage. She bought it from a HD dealer and upon coming home I realized there had been Compression buttons installed in top of each head. My mom says she knows they told her there \"had been some engine work done\" and that every time before she starts the bike she has to press the buttons. My question is, what are these buttons for exactly? What type Of mods need these mods?"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Summary: I still plan on buying an STI because I am not buying it to be a fast racecar, I am buying it because that is what I want/like/enjoy.\n\nPost: This. In the next 2-3 months I am going to be in the market for a new car, and I still plan on buying a '15 or '16 STI (depending on which is on the lot with the options I want). I know I will get a lot of flack for this, but I will never use the STI to the cars full potential. I most likely won't track it or race it; it will be a DD for me. This brings up the point, \"why even pay the extra $$ for an STI if a WRX would be plenty for what you need?\" Well, I want an STI, I like the looks, and that is what it comes down to for me. I do not care that the EJ engine is old, and that in the next year or two an FA model will be available. I am not getting an STI because I want to be the fastest thing on the road between my house and my office. I am getting one because I like them, I can afford one, and it is what I want.","Summary: I would recommend renting a locker for the semester. You can store your toiletries while you shower, which is free.\n\nPost: You have two options for lockers. You can either use the temporary lockers that are located all around the gym area, in which you type a temporary personal code and use the locker. Or you can go through the service desk and rent a locker in the locker room on a semester to semester basis. There are two sets of showers in both the male and female locker rooms, both sets located toward the back of the room (close to the aquatic center entrance). Showers are free for any rec user, so you do not have to rent a locker to gain access. This also means you have no one to store your stuff while showering.","Summary: Go somewhere special to ya'll, if that is the fountains then wait for a better day.\n\nPost: Kudos for hiring a photographer, I did the same thing and my fiance absolutely loved it. \n Shame on you for asking where to do it. Not a single person on this site knows where would be best for you to propose but you. It should be somewhere special to the both of you. I proposed on a scenic trail my fiance and I first would go walk on \"dates\" before we started dating. Wait for the weather to cooperate if the fountains is that place for you.","Summary: If you have a good salary, and decent credit a 2015 STI should be less than $600 per month (based of the online build your car tool).\n\nPost: Is your credit atrocious? Unless they are giving you a 15% interest rate (so your credit must suck) or you are not putting any money down (then you should probably not buy a new car anyways) I do not see how your payment would have been $700/month. \n Granted I have only looked at the \"estimate your payment\" with a STI and the nav/sound package ($37,800) with ~20% down and a reasonable interest rate >6%, you should be able to get a payment for well under $600/month (this example with a 6% rate gave me $575/month).","Summary: FIRE KUBES!\n\nPost: While I agree with you, I think this really comes down to play calling. The entire game Keenum was forced to take snaps from under center and do the same \"Generic Texans\" run run pass run offense. Schaub comes out, takes every snap from the gun and starts making plays that look great. Did the exact same thing not happen when Case first got to come in off the bench? Our play calling has stunted our offense, as soon as a new quarterback comes on to the field, and the plays are finally changed up, we start making progress.","Summary: it is a comprehensive problem, but yes Levine is pissing me off.\n\nPost: Hard to call. We could really use a well rounded QB, but then again who couldn't? Ward has legs, but is highly inaccurate with his passing game. O'Korn played like garbage for the first few games and was benched with good reason. \n This being said, in no way shape or form is the blame solely to be put onto our QB's. There have been some bad play calls, and a shaky OC and line coach. \n To this point in the season our defense has helped a lot, and saturday they were not playing as well as they had been. With no real pass threat we have trouble spreading the defense and giving our RBs gaps to hit.","Summary: app will ask for id credentials that were originally used to purchase said app. I authorized my iTunes library for both my old and new Apple ID in order to not have to re-download new apps and loose saved data.\n\nPost: If you originally purchased the game with your old Apple ID that is the ID it will ask you for when you go to update it. The App associates itself with the purchasing ID. This happened to me when me and my dad shared an ID for years, once I created my own, every time I would update an old app it wanted his information. The easiest way I found to fix this was to authorize my new Apple ID iTunes library with the old ID credentials.","Summary: The car is slow even with bolt ons. Save your money.\n\nPost: I owned a '97 GTP with an exhaust and intake. The car is not what you think it will be. I loved my car, and it sure was fun to cruise around town in, but it is slow. How slow? Lost drag race to both a 2008 V-6 mustang and a 2009 Nissan Altima S Coupe. I ended up selling the GTP after sinking well over $1500 in a couple of months in repairs that inevitably led to more and more repairs. They become money pits and take a lot of work. Get a car and save your money for maintenance.","Summary: YES, YES they do, and I am butthurt about it...\n\nPost: Yes they have a very large fan base in Houston, which is why the article names several UT and A&M related headlines. Sometimes it irks me that their fan base is so huge here. I attend the University of Houston, and have a very very hard time finding stores with a large and diverse UH apparel section. The UT and A&M sections in Academy and Walmart absolutely trump any other schools.","Summary: Earlier this week I bought the 4th gen because I did not want to wait till mid semester to get the device I planned on using to take notes...and instant gratification rocks:)\n\nPost: Here is my suggestion, based off my recent personnel experience (aka earlier this week)! I was having trouble deciding if waiting was going to be worth my while, in one hand the iPad 5 will be released with IOS7 and run slightly smoother. On the other hand getting the iPad 4 gives you two things: instant gratification (which is a very nice feeling) and the ability to get everything set up, ready to go, and familiarize yourself with the device before half way through the semester.","Summary: Ninja\n\nPost: Welcome to the family man! I started riding when I was 19 (21 now). I started on a HD 1200 custom. Rode it for about 1.25 years and then switched to a Ninja 500R. Never looked back. Both my parents have touring HD's (street glide and heritage). I ride them from time to time and it just is not the same. I pick my ninja over them any day. Biggest downside is no tunes (I ended up getting helmet speakers and solved that problem). Thanks for reading my story man, ride safe!","Summary: No, no you don't. This can hurt your wallet and your kitty cat. \n Ninja edit: I am fun at parties.\n\nPost: No, you really don't. Their weight bends and breaks the branches and limbs. When they climb up the tree the vigorous shaking knocks quite a few ornaments off, breaking some. If they climb high enough with an unstable base, the tree topples over, breaking ornaments, the tree, and potentially harming the cat. Keep in mind of this happens while your not home you either come home to a wrecked house, or a injured cat in pain.","Summary: Houston lacks the \"college town\" feel and thus our team spirit is lacking towards our sports programs.\n\nPost: I go to every home game that I can, the only reasons \"I can't\" would be studying for an exam, or a function I can not skip. I love the atmosphere of games, even though you may not know anyone around you, you instantly feel a connection when you are all cheering together, and I feel that in a \"non college town\" like Houston that atmosphere is limited to the stadium. This limits some people wanting to attend. I have been in college station on gameday, the entire town is full of this atmosphere and unity, shops and businesses have TAMU flags up, everyone walking around and inside restaurants is wearing team shirts and talking about football. In Houston there are people attending UH from the Woodlands, less people are likely to drive to go to the game. Some schools, like TAMU, the stadium is in walking distance, even for people who live off campus.","Summary: Battery life has depleted rapidly. Tried a few tricks to no avail. Seemed to start after phone downloaded some cellular update. \n Thanks! \n EDIT: The update appears to be a AT&T Carrier Update that has begun to automatically send you Government and Amber Alert notifications unless you go into your settings and turn them off. Perhaps this is what has begun to drain the battery if it is alwasy checking for alerts? I switched them off and will see what happens.\n\nPost: Hello fellow iPhone users! \n I have had my iPhone 4s since its release in September of 2011. Up to this weekend I have experienced good battery life, moderated usuage would drain the battery to around 40% by the time I went to bed and plugged it in. As of this weekend the battery life has dropped drastically, two hours after a full charge I have sent two (2) text messages and the battery has dropped down to 66%. 34% loss of battery for a mere 2 texts? Something is not right. \n What I have tried: \n -Hard Reset\n-Chaged wall outlets\n-Charged on my computer\n-Restored and resynced the phone \n I have not downloaded any new apps recently beside Kindle for iPhone, but that was a few days before this happened. The one thing that seemed to happen right before this started? My Phone downloaded some new cellular software or something. I turned my phone on and a box popped up saying some sort of celluar software was updated that was required, same thing happened to my parents iPhones. \n Any ideas what could be causing my battery life problem?","Summary: I am leaning towards applying standard opti-coat myself versus paying a lot more for the \"pro\" grade. Thoughs?\n\nPost: I will be taking delivery of my 2016 DGM STI any day now, and I want to make sure the paint looks it's best for as long as possible. I was quoted locally (Houston) for opti-coat pro application for $850. This is applied to the car, glass, rims, and calipers after a full detail (included 5 year warranty). You can buy the regular opti-coat (non pro) from Amazon for $52 and it last 2 years. \n What is /r/subaru thoughts on applying the standard opti-coat versus paying bookoos of money for the \"pro\"?.","Summary: any suggestions for first time English bulldog owners before they buy?\n\nPost: Hey guys, \n I have always loved English bulldogs, and once I am out of college, and I have a stable job, I am planning on purchasing my first one. What are se tips and advice for people looking to own and love such a great dog? I have been looking at as my breeder, they are local and seem to have all the experience and accreditations. I am aware that owning a bullie may take some work and money, but I am fully willing to give anything for this dog.","Summary: front tire began to feel lose through a turn, wonder what happened?\n\nPost: I was riding through a moderate right hander today, about 50 MPH posted turn. I was hitting it at about 70MPH, and half way through when my front tire felt like it began to wash out and lose traction. I eased ever so slightly off the throttle and babied it through the remainder of the turn. Pulled off the roadway and inspected the bike and everything was fine. The rest of the ride went great. Any ideas what could of happen? \n Edit: any chance chicken strips are slicker than the rest of the tire? Maybe I leaned onto them and lost some traction?","Summary: what are your personal experiences with your local dealerships?\n\nPost: Hello, let me first say I hope this sub takes off because that would be a great way of setting up meets and meeting new people that share a common love. \n I recently ordered my 2016 DGM STI from West Houston Subaru for delivery scheduled the last week of July. I noticed a couple of things at the local dealerships. \n First time I went to a dealership it was West Houston, I was very underwhelmed. The salesman was reluctant to show me an STI, and kept repeating how they do not let people test drive STI's without first submitting to a credit check. \n Second I went to Gillman Southwest and already had the test drive setup via email with a salesman before I arrived. I chose the car I wanted to drive (2015 STI with H/k, pushbutton, and nav) and he agreed to it over email, and assured he would have it ready at the predetermined time. When I arrived he told me all they \"had available\" to test was a 2015 limited without the pushbutton and the nav. I asked if the one we previously talked about had sold, and he said no. I get the impression he was trying to make a hard sale for the more expensive model. \n I eventually settled with West Houston to place my order for the simple fact that a second, internet, salesman I worked with was very pleasant, offered a great price (with a extra freebie), and it much closer to my house.","Summary: where is a good place to stay where we can be within walking distance (or short transit) to the night life scene?\n\nPost: My wife and I are looking into our first trip to NYC January of 2016. We will be staying for 5 days, most likely from Wednesday-Sunday. We want to do all the touristy things: Central Park, the statue, see a show, eat good pizza/food. We also would like to be close to the night life (bars and good hangouts to get a drink after hours). I read on another thread a common mistake is to stay near Time Square thinking that is where stuff happens, when in reality it happens \"in the Villages\", but since this is my first time I have no idea what the villages are, or which one to stay in.","Summary: Shufffle plays the same loops for days until I restart a new shuffle.\n\nPost: I will play a shuffle during my 8 hour shift at work and then stop listening at the end of work. The next morning when I start the shuffle (presumably from where I ended the night before) it starts from where it began the previous morning and plays through the same eight hours of songs as the previous day. Any thoughts?","Summary: Should I shoot in 1080p @30fps or 720p @60fps for motorcycle rides? Thanks.\n\nPost: I just received my Contour Roam2 yesterday and have been getting it all set up. However, me not being a camera guy, I can not decide if I should shoot in 1080p @30fps or 720p @60fps. based off some number crunching, memory space is not a problem because in either mode the battery will die prior to running out of space. Also I am planning on using the camera on, you guessed it, my motorcycle so I will be travelling at a higher speed.","Summary: iPhone 6s Plus through Verizon keeps displaying \"No Service\" and a restart fixes the issue. What could cause/fix this?Thanks!\n\nPost: I have an iPhone 6s Plus 64 gig, serviced through Verizon. I bought the phone out right with cash from Verizon, so that may mean the phone is \"unlocked\", not 100% sure on the validity of that though. \n The last couple of days my phone has shown \"No Service\" instead of the dots. A restart fixes the issue, but it has been happening every few hours. Today the phone came up and said \"Sim Invalid\" and once again I restarted and it fixed the problem. Any thoughts as to what could cause this? The phone is \"stock\" as in not jailbroken or messed with in any way.","Summary: If you have taken Space Vehicle Design what are your thoughts on it? Thanks!\n\nPost: I am going into my Senior year in the MECE program and currently looking into what 2 MECE 5XXX electives I would like to take. I noticed John Alred is teaching MECE 5397: Space Vehicle Design this up and coming semester. Has anyone here taken this course? I am wondering your thoughts on it. It seems very interesting, and a good way to mix things up as far as course work goes. It also has a very ominous name, and I would hate to dig myself into a hole my last year.","Summary: Who knows of a breeder in Houston, TX?\n\nPost: I am looking into adding a Border Collie to my family with in the next couple of years and have started researching breeders in the Houston, TX area. I have yet to find one actually in Houston, some are in Louisiana and neighboring towns. Anyone know of a good breeder located in Houston, TX? \n Thanks.","Summary: how can I tell on a simple 2x2 matrix if with an initial guess the power iteration method will converge?\n\nPost: Hey guys, can anyone tell me why the power iteration method (to solve for largest eigenvalues) will not converge to an eigenvector? Let's say you have a 2x2 identity matrix, and am until guess x_0=[1 1]'. This never converges and just keeps spitting out variations of the original guess with sign changes.","Summary: x_4s CANNOT EQUAL x_4 right? If it cannot, is there another way to solve for state 3 given the quality at 4? \n EDIT: I must have read the problem five separate times and every time I read it as \"assume ideal turbine and pump efficiencies of 90%\" So I was trying to solve the turbines as reversible and irreversible at the same time, and that is why I thought the problem made no sense. Now I see that only the pump has a \"n_p\".\n\nPost: I could really use some help solving this Rankine Cycle with reheat. I understand how to solve for parts (a), (c), and (d)., I only need help finding out part (b) the required T_3. We have access to the .7MPa superheated table and the saturated water tables. \n > A Rankine cycle with reheat uses water as the working fluid.\nSuperheated vapor enters the first stage turbine at 10 Mpa and 480°C. Steam\nexpands through the first-stage turbine to 0.7 Mpa and is then reheated\nbefore it enters the condenser at 6 kPa. It is desired to keep the moisture\npercentage in the turbine exhaust to less than 10%. Assuming ideal turbines\nand a pump efficiency of 90%, do the following:\na) (5) Sketch a layout of the system, using simple symbols to represent boiler,\nturbine, pump, and condenser.\nb) (10) What is required minimum reheat temperature?\nc) (20) What is the thermal efficiency of this cycle working under the\nminimum required conditions?\nd) (5) Sketch the cycle on a T-s diagram. \n My methods: \n a) Trial and Error: Picking an arbitrary T_3 from the .7MPa superheated steam tables, and reading off your h_3 and s_3. Then with these values you go to 6 KPa on the saturated table and solve for your x_4s (since s_3=s_4s) and your h_4s. Now with all this information you can use the equation h_4=h_3-(n_t)(h_3-h_4s) to get h_4. Now with h_4 you solve for what x_4 would be and repeat this process till you find a quality of .9 as stated in the problem statement. \n b) My professor said:\n>x_4=0.9 is used as a condition to determine your state 4 (along with the pressure). Then use the relation between state 3 and 4 to determine your state 3. There is no trial and error at all. \n I do not see how this can be done. With x_4 you can solve for h_4 and s_4, but you cannot solve for h_4s, or s_4s. It is almost like she is trying to make the assumption that x_4=x_4s.","Summary: master link came apart while riding, I am safe.\n\nPost: Master link from previous owner came apart on my 2003 Ninja 500R yesterday. Luckily I could tell the bike was running funny and backed off the power to about 25MPH and when it finally let loose and wrapped around the front sprocket I pulled the clutch and killed the bike and coasted to safety. Could\nOf caused mucho for damage to me and my bike. Put on a new chain and it runs fine!:)"],"string":"[\n \"Summary: I still plan on buying an STI because I am not buying it to be a fast racecar, I am buying it because that is what I want/like/enjoy.\\n\\nPost: This. In the next 2-3 months I am going to be in the market for a new car, and I still plan on buying a '15 or '16 STI (depending on which is on the lot with the options I want). I know I will get a lot of flack for this, but I will never use the STI to the cars full potential. I most likely won't track it or race it; it will be a DD for me. This brings up the point, \\\"why even pay the extra $$ for an STI if a WRX would be plenty for what you need?\\\" Well, I want an STI, I like the looks, and that is what it comes down to for me. I do not care that the EJ engine is old, and that in the next year or two an FA model will be available. I am not getting an STI because I want to be the fastest thing on the road between my house and my office. I am getting one because I like them, I can afford one, and it is what I want.\",\n \"Summary: I would recommend renting a locker for the semester. You can store your toiletries while you shower, which is free.\\n\\nPost: You have two options for lockers. You can either use the temporary lockers that are located all around the gym area, in which you type a temporary personal code and use the locker. Or you can go through the service desk and rent a locker in the locker room on a semester to semester basis. There are two sets of showers in both the male and female locker rooms, both sets located toward the back of the room (close to the aquatic center entrance). Showers are free for any rec user, so you do not have to rent a locker to gain access. This also means you have no one to store your stuff while showering.\",\n \"Summary: Go somewhere special to ya'll, if that is the fountains then wait for a better day.\\n\\nPost: Kudos for hiring a photographer, I did the same thing and my fiance absolutely loved it. \\n Shame on you for asking where to do it. Not a single person on this site knows where would be best for you to propose but you. It should be somewhere special to the both of you. I proposed on a scenic trail my fiance and I first would go walk on \\\"dates\\\" before we started dating. Wait for the weather to cooperate if the fountains is that place for you.\",\n \"Summary: If you have a good salary, and decent credit a 2015 STI should be less than $600 per month (based of the online build your car tool).\\n\\nPost: Is your credit atrocious? Unless they are giving you a 15% interest rate (so your credit must suck) or you are not putting any money down (then you should probably not buy a new car anyways) I do not see how your payment would have been $700/month. \\n Granted I have only looked at the \\\"estimate your payment\\\" with a STI and the nav/sound package ($37,800) with ~20% down and a reasonable interest rate >6%, you should be able to get a payment for well under $600/month (this example with a 6% rate gave me $575/month).\",\n \"Summary: FIRE KUBES!\\n\\nPost: While I agree with you, I think this really comes down to play calling. The entire game Keenum was forced to take snaps from under center and do the same \\\"Generic Texans\\\" run run pass run offense. Schaub comes out, takes every snap from the gun and starts making plays that look great. Did the exact same thing not happen when Case first got to come in off the bench? Our play calling has stunted our offense, as soon as a new quarterback comes on to the field, and the plays are finally changed up, we start making progress.\",\n \"Summary: it is a comprehensive problem, but yes Levine is pissing me off.\\n\\nPost: Hard to call. We could really use a well rounded QB, but then again who couldn't? Ward has legs, but is highly inaccurate with his passing game. O'Korn played like garbage for the first few games and was benched with good reason. \\n This being said, in no way shape or form is the blame solely to be put onto our QB's. There have been some bad play calls, and a shaky OC and line coach. \\n To this point in the season our defense has helped a lot, and saturday they were not playing as well as they had been. With no real pass threat we have trouble spreading the defense and giving our RBs gaps to hit.\",\n \"Summary: app will ask for id credentials that were originally used to purchase said app. I authorized my iTunes library for both my old and new Apple ID in order to not have to re-download new apps and loose saved data.\\n\\nPost: If you originally purchased the game with your old Apple ID that is the ID it will ask you for when you go to update it. The App associates itself with the purchasing ID. This happened to me when me and my dad shared an ID for years, once I created my own, every time I would update an old app it wanted his information. The easiest way I found to fix this was to authorize my new Apple ID iTunes library with the old ID credentials.\",\n \"Summary: The car is slow even with bolt ons. Save your money.\\n\\nPost: I owned a '97 GTP with an exhaust and intake. The car is not what you think it will be. I loved my car, and it sure was fun to cruise around town in, but it is slow. How slow? Lost drag race to both a 2008 V-6 mustang and a 2009 Nissan Altima S Coupe. I ended up selling the GTP after sinking well over $1500 in a couple of months in repairs that inevitably led to more and more repairs. They become money pits and take a lot of work. Get a car and save your money for maintenance.\",\n \"Summary: YES, YES they do, and I am butthurt about it...\\n\\nPost: Yes they have a very large fan base in Houston, which is why the article names several UT and A&M related headlines. Sometimes it irks me that their fan base is so huge here. I attend the University of Houston, and have a very very hard time finding stores with a large and diverse UH apparel section. The UT and A&M sections in Academy and Walmart absolutely trump any other schools.\",\n \"Summary: Earlier this week I bought the 4th gen because I did not want to wait till mid semester to get the device I planned on using to take notes...and instant gratification rocks:)\\n\\nPost: Here is my suggestion, based off my recent personnel experience (aka earlier this week)! I was having trouble deciding if waiting was going to be worth my while, in one hand the iPad 5 will be released with IOS7 and run slightly smoother. On the other hand getting the iPad 4 gives you two things: instant gratification (which is a very nice feeling) and the ability to get everything set up, ready to go, and familiarize yourself with the device before half way through the semester.\",\n \"Summary: Ninja\\n\\nPost: Welcome to the family man! I started riding when I was 19 (21 now). I started on a HD 1200 custom. Rode it for about 1.25 years and then switched to a Ninja 500R. Never looked back. Both my parents have touring HD's (street glide and heritage). I ride them from time to time and it just is not the same. I pick my ninja over them any day. Biggest downside is no tunes (I ended up getting helmet speakers and solved that problem). Thanks for reading my story man, ride safe!\",\n \"Summary: No, no you don't. This can hurt your wallet and your kitty cat. \\n Ninja edit: I am fun at parties.\\n\\nPost: No, you really don't. Their weight bends and breaks the branches and limbs. When they climb up the tree the vigorous shaking knocks quite a few ornaments off, breaking some. If they climb high enough with an unstable base, the tree topples over, breaking ornaments, the tree, and potentially harming the cat. Keep in mind of this happens while your not home you either come home to a wrecked house, or a injured cat in pain.\",\n \"Summary: Houston lacks the \\\"college town\\\" feel and thus our team spirit is lacking towards our sports programs.\\n\\nPost: I go to every home game that I can, the only reasons \\\"I can't\\\" would be studying for an exam, or a function I can not skip. I love the atmosphere of games, even though you may not know anyone around you, you instantly feel a connection when you are all cheering together, and I feel that in a \\\"non college town\\\" like Houston that atmosphere is limited to the stadium. This limits some people wanting to attend. I have been in college station on gameday, the entire town is full of this atmosphere and unity, shops and businesses have TAMU flags up, everyone walking around and inside restaurants is wearing team shirts and talking about football. In Houston there are people attending UH from the Woodlands, less people are likely to drive to go to the game. Some schools, like TAMU, the stadium is in walking distance, even for people who live off campus.\",\n \"Summary: Battery life has depleted rapidly. Tried a few tricks to no avail. Seemed to start after phone downloaded some cellular update. \\n Thanks! \\n EDIT: The update appears to be a AT&T Carrier Update that has begun to automatically send you Government and Amber Alert notifications unless you go into your settings and turn them off. Perhaps this is what has begun to drain the battery if it is alwasy checking for alerts? I switched them off and will see what happens.\\n\\nPost: Hello fellow iPhone users! \\n I have had my iPhone 4s since its release in September of 2011. Up to this weekend I have experienced good battery life, moderated usuage would drain the battery to around 40% by the time I went to bed and plugged it in. As of this weekend the battery life has dropped drastically, two hours after a full charge I have sent two (2) text messages and the battery has dropped down to 66%. 34% loss of battery for a mere 2 texts? Something is not right. \\n What I have tried: \\n -Hard Reset\\n-Chaged wall outlets\\n-Charged on my computer\\n-Restored and resynced the phone \\n I have not downloaded any new apps recently beside Kindle for iPhone, but that was a few days before this happened. The one thing that seemed to happen right before this started? My Phone downloaded some new cellular software or something. I turned my phone on and a box popped up saying some sort of celluar software was updated that was required, same thing happened to my parents iPhones. \\n Any ideas what could be causing my battery life problem?\",\n \"Summary: I am leaning towards applying standard opti-coat myself versus paying a lot more for the \\\"pro\\\" grade. Thoughs?\\n\\nPost: I will be taking delivery of my 2016 DGM STI any day now, and I want to make sure the paint looks it's best for as long as possible. I was quoted locally (Houston) for opti-coat pro application for $850. This is applied to the car, glass, rims, and calipers after a full detail (included 5 year warranty). You can buy the regular opti-coat (non pro) from Amazon for $52 and it last 2 years. \\n What is /r/subaru thoughts on applying the standard opti-coat versus paying bookoos of money for the \\\"pro\\\"?.\",\n \"Summary: any suggestions for first time English bulldog owners before they buy?\\n\\nPost: Hey guys, \\n I have always loved English bulldogs, and once I am out of college, and I have a stable job, I am planning on purchasing my first one. What are se tips and advice for people looking to own and love such a great dog? I have been looking at as my breeder, they are local and seem to have all the experience and accreditations. I am aware that owning a bullie may take some work and money, but I am fully willing to give anything for this dog.\",\n \"Summary: front tire began to feel lose through a turn, wonder what happened?\\n\\nPost: I was riding through a moderate right hander today, about 50 MPH posted turn. I was hitting it at about 70MPH, and half way through when my front tire felt like it began to wash out and lose traction. I eased ever so slightly off the throttle and babied it through the remainder of the turn. Pulled off the roadway and inspected the bike and everything was fine. The rest of the ride went great. Any ideas what could of happen? \\n Edit: any chance chicken strips are slicker than the rest of the tire? Maybe I leaned onto them and lost some traction?\",\n \"Summary: what are your personal experiences with your local dealerships?\\n\\nPost: Hello, let me first say I hope this sub takes off because that would be a great way of setting up meets and meeting new people that share a common love. \\n I recently ordered my 2016 DGM STI from West Houston Subaru for delivery scheduled the last week of July. I noticed a couple of things at the local dealerships. \\n First time I went to a dealership it was West Houston, I was very underwhelmed. The salesman was reluctant to show me an STI, and kept repeating how they do not let people test drive STI's without first submitting to a credit check. \\n Second I went to Gillman Southwest and already had the test drive setup via email with a salesman before I arrived. I chose the car I wanted to drive (2015 STI with H/k, pushbutton, and nav) and he agreed to it over email, and assured he would have it ready at the predetermined time. When I arrived he told me all they \\\"had available\\\" to test was a 2015 limited without the pushbutton and the nav. I asked if the one we previously talked about had sold, and he said no. I get the impression he was trying to make a hard sale for the more expensive model. \\n I eventually settled with West Houston to place my order for the simple fact that a second, internet, salesman I worked with was very pleasant, offered a great price (with a extra freebie), and it much closer to my house.\",\n \"Summary: where is a good place to stay where we can be within walking distance (or short transit) to the night life scene?\\n\\nPost: My wife and I are looking into our first trip to NYC January of 2016. We will be staying for 5 days, most likely from Wednesday-Sunday. We want to do all the touristy things: Central Park, the statue, see a show, eat good pizza/food. We also would like to be close to the night life (bars and good hangouts to get a drink after hours). I read on another thread a common mistake is to stay near Time Square thinking that is where stuff happens, when in reality it happens \\\"in the Villages\\\", but since this is my first time I have no idea what the villages are, or which one to stay in.\",\n \"Summary: Shufffle plays the same loops for days until I restart a new shuffle.\\n\\nPost: I will play a shuffle during my 8 hour shift at work and then stop listening at the end of work. The next morning when I start the shuffle (presumably from where I ended the night before) it starts from where it began the previous morning and plays through the same eight hours of songs as the previous day. Any thoughts?\",\n \"Summary: Should I shoot in 1080p @30fps or 720p @60fps for motorcycle rides? Thanks.\\n\\nPost: I just received my Contour Roam2 yesterday and have been getting it all set up. However, me not being a camera guy, I can not decide if I should shoot in 1080p @30fps or 720p @60fps. based off some number crunching, memory space is not a problem because in either mode the battery will die prior to running out of space. Also I am planning on using the camera on, you guessed it, my motorcycle so I will be travelling at a higher speed.\",\n \"Summary: iPhone 6s Plus through Verizon keeps displaying \\\"No Service\\\" and a restart fixes the issue. What could cause/fix this?Thanks!\\n\\nPost: I have an iPhone 6s Plus 64 gig, serviced through Verizon. I bought the phone out right with cash from Verizon, so that may mean the phone is \\\"unlocked\\\", not 100% sure on the validity of that though. \\n The last couple of days my phone has shown \\\"No Service\\\" instead of the dots. A restart fixes the issue, but it has been happening every few hours. Today the phone came up and said \\\"Sim Invalid\\\" and once again I restarted and it fixed the problem. Any thoughts as to what could cause this? The phone is \\\"stock\\\" as in not jailbroken or messed with in any way.\",\n \"Summary: If you have taken Space Vehicle Design what are your thoughts on it? Thanks!\\n\\nPost: I am going into my Senior year in the MECE program and currently looking into what 2 MECE 5XXX electives I would like to take. I noticed John Alred is teaching MECE 5397: Space Vehicle Design this up and coming semester. Has anyone here taken this course? I am wondering your thoughts on it. It seems very interesting, and a good way to mix things up as far as course work goes. It also has a very ominous name, and I would hate to dig myself into a hole my last year.\",\n \"Summary: Who knows of a breeder in Houston, TX?\\n\\nPost: I am looking into adding a Border Collie to my family with in the next couple of years and have started researching breeders in the Houston, TX area. I have yet to find one actually in Houston, some are in Louisiana and neighboring towns. Anyone know of a good breeder located in Houston, TX? \\n Thanks.\",\n \"Summary: how can I tell on a simple 2x2 matrix if with an initial guess the power iteration method will converge?\\n\\nPost: Hey guys, can anyone tell me why the power iteration method (to solve for largest eigenvalues) will not converge to an eigenvector? Let's say you have a 2x2 identity matrix, and am until guess x_0=[1 1]'. This never converges and just keeps spitting out variations of the original guess with sign changes.\",\n \"Summary: x_4s CANNOT EQUAL x_4 right? If it cannot, is there another way to solve for state 3 given the quality at 4? \\n EDIT: I must have read the problem five separate times and every time I read it as \\\"assume ideal turbine and pump efficiencies of 90%\\\" So I was trying to solve the turbines as reversible and irreversible at the same time, and that is why I thought the problem made no sense. Now I see that only the pump has a \\\"n_p\\\".\\n\\nPost: I could really use some help solving this Rankine Cycle with reheat. I understand how to solve for parts (a), (c), and (d)., I only need help finding out part (b) the required T_3. We have access to the .7MPa superheated table and the saturated water tables. \\n > A Rankine cycle with reheat uses water as the working fluid.\\nSuperheated vapor enters the first stage turbine at 10 Mpa and 480°C. Steam\\nexpands through the first-stage turbine to 0.7 Mpa and is then reheated\\nbefore it enters the condenser at 6 kPa. It is desired to keep the moisture\\npercentage in the turbine exhaust to less than 10%. Assuming ideal turbines\\nand a pump efficiency of 90%, do the following:\\na) (5) Sketch a layout of the system, using simple symbols to represent boiler,\\nturbine, pump, and condenser.\\nb) (10) What is required minimum reheat temperature?\\nc) (20) What is the thermal efficiency of this cycle working under the\\nminimum required conditions?\\nd) (5) Sketch the cycle on a T-s diagram. \\n My methods: \\n a) Trial and Error: Picking an arbitrary T_3 from the .7MPa superheated steam tables, and reading off your h_3 and s_3. Then with these values you go to 6 KPa on the saturated table and solve for your x_4s (since s_3=s_4s) and your h_4s. Now with all this information you can use the equation h_4=h_3-(n_t)(h_3-h_4s) to get h_4. Now with h_4 you solve for what x_4 would be and repeat this process till you find a quality of .9 as stated in the problem statement. \\n b) My professor said:\\n>x_4=0.9 is used as a condition to determine your state 4 (along with the pressure). Then use the relation between state 3 and 4 to determine your state 3. There is no trial and error at all. \\n I do not see how this can be done. With x_4 you can solve for h_4 and s_4, but you cannot solve for h_4s, or s_4s. It is almost like she is trying to make the assumption that x_4=x_4s.\",\n \"Summary: master link came apart while riding, I am safe.\\n\\nPost: Master link from previous owner came apart on my 2003 Ninja 500R yesterday. Luckily I could tell the bike was running funny and backed off the power to about 25MPH and when it finally let loose and wrapped around the front sprocket I pulled the clutch and killed the bike and coasted to safety. Could\\nOf caused mucho for damage to me and my bike. Put on a new chain and it runs fine!:)\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":27,"string":"27"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":95,"string":"95"}}},{"rowIdx":96,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"Tamlar"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the content for a reddit post because, democracy."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Because these outbursts (threats by NK etc) cause public panic....I'm a member of the public, I pay my taxes, the taxes fund the military. I think living in fear can be just as bad as war itself (for the public, not for the military of course) \n So .... yeah that's what gives me the right, I'm a citizen. I deserve to live without constant fear from crazy people with death bombs. If the government can't/won't provide me with that, then why should I include myself in society at all? And more importantly why should I pay for the current military operations that the government (not the guys fighting) choose to go in, which I don't agree with at all, and even half of the government and a decent % of the military disagree with. \n In this specific case, we are told, and tend to surmise, that NK isn't a real threat. But how are we really supposed to know that? And it doesn't stop South Korean public from panic buying goods often."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Because these outbursts (threats by NK etc) cause public panic....I'm a member of the public, I pay my taxes, the taxes fund the military. I think living in fear can be just as bad as war itself (for the public, not for the military of course) \n So .... yeah that's what gives me the right, I'm a citizen. I deserve to live without constant fear from crazy people with death bombs. If the government can't/won't provide me with that, then why should I include myself in society at all? And more importantly why should I pay for the current military operations that the government (not the guys fighting) choose to go in, which I don't agree with at all, and even half of the government and a decent % of the military disagree with. \n In this specific case, we are told, and tend to surmise, that NK isn't a real threat. But how are we really supposed to know that? And it doesn't stop South Korean public from panic buying goods often."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Summary: If you're going to make a prop a key story element, then don't fucking zoom in on it with the camera, fuck you director.\n\nPost: I watched the Alan Partridge movie the other night. He writes something down during a scene and it was absolutely obvious by the camera angles that we would be re-incorporating that later. \n So then I had to sit through 60 minutes of footage before they refer back to it. I mean that's practically 60 minutes of USELESS story-telling...I know no-one can die, there won't be a massive twist, I know where everyone is going to be in ~60 minutes time.","Summary: when it comes to keeping your kids safe from strangers it's useless to look at any single statistic.\n\nPost: That was my point, there aren't many actual studies on brains because it's unethical. \n Let's say there was a pedophile gene (for simplicities sake) and we could test the whole human race. EVEN THEN that doesn't tell you anything about who your daughter/son is safe with because : \n a) individuals have preferences.... \n b) being a pedophile doesn't mean you steal kids from the street, there are (most probably) plenty of pedophiles who don't do this. So we have to look for pedophiles with violent / immoral tendencies.","Summary: My 2 cents as an avid follower of this issue.\n\nPost: Yes and No. There are a lot of arguments phrased as such that they do not necessarily connect with religion. \"Family Values\" argument for example (see: Family Values Penn & Teller Bullshit!) \n There are also (although very few nowadays) medical testimonies that homosexuality is a disability and there's actually at least a small biological argument for this - except that it's found EVERYWHERE in nature. \n Many of the arguments, however - even the non religious ones, are born out of bigotry - because all premises can be proven wrong, and have only biased research and evidence to support them. This bigotry is suspected the majority of the time to be either a direct or indirect consequence of religious reasoning.","Summary: I think it's logical to want a pretty darn good reason before removing anything that 99% of humans are born with which can't grow back.\n\nPost: RC271.D52.L426.2] Diet and Cancer Survivorship\nA diet based on plant foods, legumes, whole grains, and less red meat, to avoid weight gain with daily physical activity, good sleep habits, avoidance of tobacco, and limited alcohol intake may decrease the risk of recurrence or a new secondary cancer and promote survival.\" \n Yes there's actually a lot of things that help cause/help prevent all sorts of cancers. Is chopping off part of your son/daughter's genitals just as good as education on drugs and nutrition? I don't see your point, there isn't a direct and proven link applicable to circumcision with no side-effects. \n Go overseas to the UK - where i was born and the situation is completely different - with the same scientific evidence. \n My parents were offered to circumcise me at birth because the doctor was concerned I could develop difficulties (not relevant tbh). They were told, ''it will probably be fine - and only if it was definitely going to be a problem would i suggest a circumcision.'' \n The foreskin has a physiological purpose. It's not like picking trainers or shoes...","Summary: whatever feels most comfortable, and suits the amount of time you spend editing the code daily.\n\nPost: Perforce, Bazaar (freeware), any form of version control. \n It depends how often you're changing things. If you're working on it 8 hours a day each then you want some simple version control at the very least. \n If you are friends who work at the same times roughly then you should be able to communicate any time you have a conflict or need to adjust each others code.... \n There's no reason you can't follow the standard practice of a larger team: personal branches and C.I. to main","Summary: Not accurately and safely.\n\nPost: Only if you could read data from the phones of the users in the other car. So some from of buddy system which uses GPS to calculate avg speed etc. \n GPS sucks in phones so it wouldn't be accurate, and wouldn't be that useful. \n Using the camera to record the incident and using the video at home to calculate the speed based on car width etc would be more accurate and useful, but any aspect of using the camera would be illegal whilst driving.","Summary: there is a serious economic or other benefit to having your hands in everybody's business. We use military to do this.\n\nPost: Come on...we're not that naive. If that's the military's only job, then explain the war on terror. America has been in every major conflict since it's short life began. What people are they protecting? \n There are no boats on your harbors, there are no planes in your skies, there are no soldiers at your border. No one is attacking the US, and no one has for a long time. Even 9/11 which I think is fair to say was a fluke, rather than an actual attack (evident by the fact that it has never been repeated, and it's not the fucking TSA stopping that) was over 10 years ago. \n Foreign policy, NATO, UN: The armed forces are pawns to these people, to manipulate the world as they want. If it was only about protecting YOU and your countries resources, then it wouldn't matter who was running Syria/Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan as long as they weren't attacking you. \n All the while you're[US citizens] being fed propaganda about how the whole of Iraq is planning the destruction of the west, and you HAVE to go and stop them, otherwise it'll be too late. \n I get that we don't want that the fight is on American soil before the military responds, but there hasn't been even a near miss. There's been one incident in 15 years, and that was using for all intents and purposes, a vehicle. \n If a country had actually condemned yours to death, there would be nothing to stop missiles flying through your window, the fact is there is no organized military in the world who pose a threat to the US.","Summary: He know he wrong. \n Edit: You're/your\n\nPost: Motorcyclist is wrong of course. Everyone with a license knows it's your responsibility to try and avoid an accident, and in this case he weaved through (partially) moving traffic (even though it shouldn't have been there) when he had the option of waiting - or at least slowing the fuck down.","Summary: give your kid a neutral name, you never know how they'll turn out.\n\nPost: That's because it's a stupid name. \n Link and Zelda being stupid names for a child doesn't mean that 'northwest' and 'hope' are not stupid names..... \n Naming your child anything which already has an identity is seen as idiotic, as it infers stereotypes and is easily the subject of ridicule. \n For example - naming your kid \"Boxer\" for him to become a world class ballerina is ironic enough to laugh at. Naming your kid Link, and he becomes a butcher or an expat plumber in Italy, that's going to be difficult.","Summary: if companies didn't brush dirt under the rug and censor negative opinions then there would be no need to go to metacritic and watch the world burn.\n\nPost: I get your point and have mixed feelings. DA2 deserved all the shit it got, there were almost no improvements from the first game (mage animations and some aethetics were the only real things I noticed) but the story was CRINGE-WORTHY. ME3 however, only really had 1 massive soul-crushing flaw, but as a game in general was well-made. \n But, to get to your point: \n This is how you take it up with the developer, this is how you form a boycott, at least if you want to see a result. \n You tell the developers (N.B.) in a medium they care about, that their game is 'le bad' - and they should feel bad. \n If you send private emails they will not be read, if you post on forums it will be deleted. So metacritic is where the majority have found an effective place to feedback to developers. \n This game is NOT IN BETA therefore it is absolutely unacceptable to have so many glaringly horrible bugs and call it \"released\" and charge full-whack for it. \n We (as the buying public) are not here to test your games and suck your dicks for going indie and for not relying on the strength of a big corporation. You have to make decent games too.","Summary: she has an escape, but she is the defensive equivalent of a wet paper towel.\n\nPost: That's why i said that fa should gank less than valk, because fa has no escape and needs bkb against most lineups. \n I agree with you it's very different when you have an escape or you don't, but valk still needs farm. She needs to be able to kill a hero in 5 seconds before getting stunned/disabled, since she dies so quickly without that escape. \n I also don't think that prism is much of an escape. It has a massive cost, a cast time, a delay time before invis, and doesn't last so long that you can't take a decent guess as to where she goes. \n It is however a great move to initiate as a group or to confuse and escape as a group. Comparing it with an assassins shroud for example that a lot of (semi) carries take as an escape it's no where close, not to mention just as easy to counter.","Summary: that study is completely inconclusive, and only someone who's injected THC through their skull for 25 years should struggle to see that. \n Added some satire tags to make it simpler to read.\n\nPost: If anyone on this god-forsaken barren excuse for a community would actually read the sources for that article there wouldn't be any such problem. \n An equivalent argument (with only a couple less data points!): \n [true] I smoked when I was 13, I exited high school 1 year early with straight A's. My IQ is measurably higher than the majority of my peers[/true], [satire] therefore weed is good for you. \n Nothing to do with my education.... nothing to do with my teachers, parents, peers, social-life, hobbies. no no no.... the only thing that affected my IQ was the weed. \n Just like how the only thing that can possibly decrease IQ is weed. [/satire]","Summary: you don't need to defend yourself for mocking religion, unlike most things it's fun and it's free.\n\nPost: It shouldn't matter if it's fire and brimstone. How passionate someone is about a spiritual/non-material subject shouldn't change the rules. Although it seems to happen all the time.... \n By the same logic - if I think potatoes were created by a devil more evil and personal than you can ever understand, and when you know this and eat crisps/potato chips in front of me, does that make you an asshole? \n Of course not, I'm psychotic! I believe in magic potatoes!","Summary: If you give someone a booking for a tantrum, you have to consider if it is justified or not. Simply saying - you can never be angry with the ref, no exceptions no matter what, even if 55000 people in the stadium agree with you, and 10 million people on TV agree with you, 1 single man gets the last word.\n\nPost: I play football, I am British, so you're 0 for 2. \n I understand exactly why he gets a booking for it.. and I understand perfectly why you think it's okay. \n But in any other case of human interaction where you punish someone for being angry because they were denied a reward they had deserved (free kick); You are an irrational dick. \n They would be perfectly valid in showing anger. \n So it's this whole pseudo-dictatorship the referee has on the field, because there has to be \"one voice\" to keep the game flowing. This however isn't appropriate anymore since televised football, because now we can go back and see exactly what happened - and yet Danny keeps the yellow card on his record, and the ref walks away.","Summary: attitude doesn't change how a virus spreads, cavalier attitudes will not change the perception of most western citizens.\n\nPost: I don't think them keeping their mouths shut does anything to help or hinder us. Noone is going to rub their face in an ebola patients for fun or to prove a point. Everyone in the western world understands how a virus spreads. But until it is somewhat close by and someone on my street has it - I can't \"be vigilant\" or start any counter-measure.","Summary: She should have approached with an officer, or have been prepared to have her request denied. this is murica. etc. \n edit of/or\n\nPost: temporarily confiscating it(after she had tried asking them to stop) \n \n There's no such thing as temporarily confiscating any of my property, no-one except the police or a federal agency has the right to do that. So no matter the context of someone taking my property it's theft. \n \n On which authority did she ask them to stop? She has the right to ask them, but she has no authority to enforce it. Looks like a lot of people live and share that property.","Summary: Silly American Anti-Atheists talk about Christianity vs Atheism as if America is the only place where it matters (oh wait....maybe it is). IT'S ALL USED POLITICALLY AND THEY SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN\n\nPost: I love when they say on Fox \"News\" (or some other ridiculous show) that \"Atheists want X, Atheists want us all to think Y. Well 'America' doesn't agree with the atheists\". \n It's really funny to me as a European atheist, firstly: When Fox says Atheists, are they including me? Because i don't really care about what Americans believe (sorry but we have our own problems). \n When Fox says 'Americans' do they sometimes... just mean Christians?? \n and they are saying it's good to be called American? I'd be ashamed. \n And when they talk about the war on Atheism or fighting back (\"with their snigger 'faith') are they fighting with me? Or just American atheists.","Summary: This is how an overprotective parent would write a magazine, it speaks volumes.\n\nPost: That was my point that seems to have skimmed over your head. \n It's a magazine.......it doesn't have to be factual. To these people the end justifies the means. \n Imagine if you opened it and saw tips on safe sex and contraception: \n To you this would be good solid advice. \n To any mother or father of a teenage daughter - they'd scream bloody murder and be all up in their internets.","Summary: support is HARD TO PLAY properly. \n Also if you want to be coached/just practice then you can add this account name. That goes for anyone who thinks they can benefit. 1772 MMR currently, no try-hard.\n\nPost: You think emerald warden is difficult to play? You're crazy dude, sorry. There is a difference between 'easiest to play' and 'item dependant' \n This guy plays lol so let's assume he can last hit, and in fact in LoL there is no such thing as a support character (not like hon, since support needs farm in lol) so this will be much more difficult for him/her to play properly.","Summary: it's all relative, which is why the only sensible thing to say about a 10 second encounter you read is to reserve judgement. Of course that's your choice, and that's why I formed my opinion; to see how others perceive it.\n\nPost: Did I say force a diet? My (n.b.)hypothetical is that THEY HAVE NO MONEY. Damn you'd think everyone understood poverty. I took part in some pseudo \"family-diet\" when i was younger and unexpected bills came in, this is what poor families have to do when they have no money. \n So if forcing a child to diet is okay when they are obese, what about if they are only overweight? What BMI makes it okay? Do we have to outlaw \"fasting\" as part of religious freedom? \n The sad fact is that we are no more qualified than each other to make this judgement. We do not know the overall well being of the child, the family, the financial stability they can provide etc. Not many parents have a kid and intend to do a bad job, so if you don't want a morally superior doctor (edit:whom you cannot question) telling you everything you can and can't do to your child, then you have to live with the fact that some parents will be worse than you, and some better.","Summary: I wanted to make an impulse buy - paypal was only payment option - 6 days later and personal cost I still can't order shit. \n Sounds like I should have been more upset with the website having only 1 payment option rather than get mad at PayPal's system. There have been so many things I would buy/donate to if they considered not solely relying on PayPal. \n Now I simply refuse to make an account due to news of PayPal and how it operates over the years.\n\nPost: Not suggesting it's more secure, it can be equally secure. \n My primary objection is that it takes a few days and a trip into town (this was back in the days before internet banking, but I guess it's still possible to not have internet banking on an account). I had to pay to travel into town so I could check my account, then after 5 days they wouldn't confirm it still, and wanted to repeat the process. This was a while ago so I don't remember the exact circumstances, it's perfectly possible I did something wrong. \n Note: It's cheaper to travel in to town than it would have been to endure a phone service for hours, I don't even know if this type of request is something they'd handle over the phone.","Summary: To me outlawing abortion is to say: \"be celibate, or be rich.\"\n\nPost: You're twisting my words. I said \"a human being in an early stage of development.\" \n He didn't twist your words, you said it's a human being, and he said it's not. He is right, it's not by any definition a human. It's a collection of cells in the early stage of development. It might become a human being it might not. You can't call every fetus a potential for human life and draw the line unless every single fetus would, unhindered, became one. \n >No woman wants to have an abortion? \n Hang on to your gear, we have sweeping generalisations coming through. I don't think this is fair to say. \n I find a lot of distaste for your comparison of euthanasia to abortion. Euthanasia is a sentient human being killing another. Abortion is a human being stopping grow of a fertilized egg. I don't think it's a decent comparison. \n That said I'm not here just to play devil's advocate and troll you, I think you have a good idea of what you believe. I think it's fair to say there are different degrees of pro-choice. \n I think for example it's almost always okay to abort if both parents wish so. Truly, that child could come out with any number of difficulties whether he/she develops them or is born with them. Anything serious means you will have to give up a very considerate amount of time and money to raise a child not capable of loving you the way you envisioned. \n Instead of being so careful about when to have abortions or not we should be much more careful over when to use contraception or not. Because there is always the potential for a life as long as men and women co-exist, and the odds of 2 people being able to handle any circumstance of which their child must suffer has a direct dependence on income and education. \n I wouldn't even dream of risking a pregnancy until I'm prepared for that, and if it happens despite my best efforts? I deserve an escape, everyone does."],"string":"[\n \"Summary: If you're going to make a prop a key story element, then don't fucking zoom in on it with the camera, fuck you director.\\n\\nPost: I watched the Alan Partridge movie the other night. He writes something down during a scene and it was absolutely obvious by the camera angles that we would be re-incorporating that later. \\n So then I had to sit through 60 minutes of footage before they refer back to it. I mean that's practically 60 minutes of USELESS story-telling...I know no-one can die, there won't be a massive twist, I know where everyone is going to be in ~60 minutes time.\",\n \"Summary: when it comes to keeping your kids safe from strangers it's useless to look at any single statistic.\\n\\nPost: That was my point, there aren't many actual studies on brains because it's unethical. \\n Let's say there was a pedophile gene (for simplicities sake) and we could test the whole human race. EVEN THEN that doesn't tell you anything about who your daughter/son is safe with because : \\n a) individuals have preferences.... \\n b) being a pedophile doesn't mean you steal kids from the street, there are (most probably) plenty of pedophiles who don't do this. So we have to look for pedophiles with violent / immoral tendencies.\",\n \"Summary: My 2 cents as an avid follower of this issue.\\n\\nPost: Yes and No. There are a lot of arguments phrased as such that they do not necessarily connect with religion. \\\"Family Values\\\" argument for example (see: Family Values Penn & Teller Bullshit!) \\n There are also (although very few nowadays) medical testimonies that homosexuality is a disability and there's actually at least a small biological argument for this - except that it's found EVERYWHERE in nature. \\n Many of the arguments, however - even the non religious ones, are born out of bigotry - because all premises can be proven wrong, and have only biased research and evidence to support them. This bigotry is suspected the majority of the time to be either a direct or indirect consequence of religious reasoning.\",\n \"Summary: I think it's logical to want a pretty darn good reason before removing anything that 99% of humans are born with which can't grow back.\\n\\nPost: RC271.D52.L426.2] Diet and Cancer Survivorship\\nA diet based on plant foods, legumes, whole grains, and less red meat, to avoid weight gain with daily physical activity, good sleep habits, avoidance of tobacco, and limited alcohol intake may decrease the risk of recurrence or a new secondary cancer and promote survival.\\\" \\n Yes there's actually a lot of things that help cause/help prevent all sorts of cancers. Is chopping off part of your son/daughter's genitals just as good as education on drugs and nutrition? I don't see your point, there isn't a direct and proven link applicable to circumcision with no side-effects. \\n Go overseas to the UK - where i was born and the situation is completely different - with the same scientific evidence. \\n My parents were offered to circumcise me at birth because the doctor was concerned I could develop difficulties (not relevant tbh). They were told, ''it will probably be fine - and only if it was definitely going to be a problem would i suggest a circumcision.'' \\n The foreskin has a physiological purpose. It's not like picking trainers or shoes...\",\n \"Summary: whatever feels most comfortable, and suits the amount of time you spend editing the code daily.\\n\\nPost: Perforce, Bazaar (freeware), any form of version control. \\n It depends how often you're changing things. If you're working on it 8 hours a day each then you want some simple version control at the very least. \\n If you are friends who work at the same times roughly then you should be able to communicate any time you have a conflict or need to adjust each others code.... \\n There's no reason you can't follow the standard practice of a larger team: personal branches and C.I. to main\",\n \"Summary: Not accurately and safely.\\n\\nPost: Only if you could read data from the phones of the users in the other car. So some from of buddy system which uses GPS to calculate avg speed etc. \\n GPS sucks in phones so it wouldn't be accurate, and wouldn't be that useful. \\n Using the camera to record the incident and using the video at home to calculate the speed based on car width etc would be more accurate and useful, but any aspect of using the camera would be illegal whilst driving.\",\n \"Summary: there is a serious economic or other benefit to having your hands in everybody's business. We use military to do this.\\n\\nPost: Come on...we're not that naive. If that's the military's only job, then explain the war on terror. America has been in every major conflict since it's short life began. What people are they protecting? \\n There are no boats on your harbors, there are no planes in your skies, there are no soldiers at your border. No one is attacking the US, and no one has for a long time. Even 9/11 which I think is fair to say was a fluke, rather than an actual attack (evident by the fact that it has never been repeated, and it's not the fucking TSA stopping that) was over 10 years ago. \\n Foreign policy, NATO, UN: The armed forces are pawns to these people, to manipulate the world as they want. If it was only about protecting YOU and your countries resources, then it wouldn't matter who was running Syria/Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan as long as they weren't attacking you. \\n All the while you're[US citizens] being fed propaganda about how the whole of Iraq is planning the destruction of the west, and you HAVE to go and stop them, otherwise it'll be too late. \\n I get that we don't want that the fight is on American soil before the military responds, but there hasn't been even a near miss. There's been one incident in 15 years, and that was using for all intents and purposes, a vehicle. \\n If a country had actually condemned yours to death, there would be nothing to stop missiles flying through your window, the fact is there is no organized military in the world who pose a threat to the US.\",\n \"Summary: He know he wrong. \\n Edit: You're/your\\n\\nPost: Motorcyclist is wrong of course. Everyone with a license knows it's your responsibility to try and avoid an accident, and in this case he weaved through (partially) moving traffic (even though it shouldn't have been there) when he had the option of waiting - or at least slowing the fuck down.\",\n \"Summary: give your kid a neutral name, you never know how they'll turn out.\\n\\nPost: That's because it's a stupid name. \\n Link and Zelda being stupid names for a child doesn't mean that 'northwest' and 'hope' are not stupid names..... \\n Naming your child anything which already has an identity is seen as idiotic, as it infers stereotypes and is easily the subject of ridicule. \\n For example - naming your kid \\\"Boxer\\\" for him to become a world class ballerina is ironic enough to laugh at. Naming your kid Link, and he becomes a butcher or an expat plumber in Italy, that's going to be difficult.\",\n \"Summary: if companies didn't brush dirt under the rug and censor negative opinions then there would be no need to go to metacritic and watch the world burn.\\n\\nPost: I get your point and have mixed feelings. DA2 deserved all the shit it got, there were almost no improvements from the first game (mage animations and some aethetics were the only real things I noticed) but the story was CRINGE-WORTHY. ME3 however, only really had 1 massive soul-crushing flaw, but as a game in general was well-made. \\n But, to get to your point: \\n This is how you take it up with the developer, this is how you form a boycott, at least if you want to see a result. \\n You tell the developers (N.B.) in a medium they care about, that their game is 'le bad' - and they should feel bad. \\n If you send private emails they will not be read, if you post on forums it will be deleted. So metacritic is where the majority have found an effective place to feedback to developers. \\n This game is NOT IN BETA therefore it is absolutely unacceptable to have so many glaringly horrible bugs and call it \\\"released\\\" and charge full-whack for it. \\n We (as the buying public) are not here to test your games and suck your dicks for going indie and for not relying on the strength of a big corporation. You have to make decent games too.\",\n \"Summary: she has an escape, but she is the defensive equivalent of a wet paper towel.\\n\\nPost: That's why i said that fa should gank less than valk, because fa has no escape and needs bkb against most lineups. \\n I agree with you it's very different when you have an escape or you don't, but valk still needs farm. She needs to be able to kill a hero in 5 seconds before getting stunned/disabled, since she dies so quickly without that escape. \\n I also don't think that prism is much of an escape. It has a massive cost, a cast time, a delay time before invis, and doesn't last so long that you can't take a decent guess as to where she goes. \\n It is however a great move to initiate as a group or to confuse and escape as a group. Comparing it with an assassins shroud for example that a lot of (semi) carries take as an escape it's no where close, not to mention just as easy to counter.\",\n \"Summary: that study is completely inconclusive, and only someone who's injected THC through their skull for 25 years should struggle to see that. \\n Added some satire tags to make it simpler to read.\\n\\nPost: If anyone on this god-forsaken barren excuse for a community would actually read the sources for that article there wouldn't be any such problem. \\n An equivalent argument (with only a couple less data points!): \\n [true] I smoked when I was 13, I exited high school 1 year early with straight A's. My IQ is measurably higher than the majority of my peers[/true], [satire] therefore weed is good for you. \\n Nothing to do with my education.... nothing to do with my teachers, parents, peers, social-life, hobbies. no no no.... the only thing that affected my IQ was the weed. \\n Just like how the only thing that can possibly decrease IQ is weed. [/satire]\",\n \"Summary: you don't need to defend yourself for mocking religion, unlike most things it's fun and it's free.\\n\\nPost: It shouldn't matter if it's fire and brimstone. How passionate someone is about a spiritual/non-material subject shouldn't change the rules. Although it seems to happen all the time.... \\n By the same logic - if I think potatoes were created by a devil more evil and personal than you can ever understand, and when you know this and eat crisps/potato chips in front of me, does that make you an asshole? \\n Of course not, I'm psychotic! I believe in magic potatoes!\",\n \"Summary: If you give someone a booking for a tantrum, you have to consider if it is justified or not. Simply saying - you can never be angry with the ref, no exceptions no matter what, even if 55000 people in the stadium agree with you, and 10 million people on TV agree with you, 1 single man gets the last word.\\n\\nPost: I play football, I am British, so you're 0 for 2. \\n I understand exactly why he gets a booking for it.. and I understand perfectly why you think it's okay. \\n But in any other case of human interaction where you punish someone for being angry because they were denied a reward they had deserved (free kick); You are an irrational dick. \\n They would be perfectly valid in showing anger. \\n So it's this whole pseudo-dictatorship the referee has on the field, because there has to be \\\"one voice\\\" to keep the game flowing. This however isn't appropriate anymore since televised football, because now we can go back and see exactly what happened - and yet Danny keeps the yellow card on his record, and the ref walks away.\",\n \"Summary: attitude doesn't change how a virus spreads, cavalier attitudes will not change the perception of most western citizens.\\n\\nPost: I don't think them keeping their mouths shut does anything to help or hinder us. Noone is going to rub their face in an ebola patients for fun or to prove a point. Everyone in the western world understands how a virus spreads. But until it is somewhat close by and someone on my street has it - I can't \\\"be vigilant\\\" or start any counter-measure.\",\n \"Summary: She should have approached with an officer, or have been prepared to have her request denied. this is murica. etc. \\n edit of/or\\n\\nPost: temporarily confiscating it(after she had tried asking them to stop) \\n \\n There's no such thing as temporarily confiscating any of my property, no-one except the police or a federal agency has the right to do that. So no matter the context of someone taking my property it's theft. \\n \\n On which authority did she ask them to stop? She has the right to ask them, but she has no authority to enforce it. Looks like a lot of people live and share that property.\",\n \"Summary: Silly American Anti-Atheists talk about Christianity vs Atheism as if America is the only place where it matters (oh wait....maybe it is). IT'S ALL USED POLITICALLY AND THEY SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN\\n\\nPost: I love when they say on Fox \\\"News\\\" (or some other ridiculous show) that \\\"Atheists want X, Atheists want us all to think Y. Well 'America' doesn't agree with the atheists\\\". \\n It's really funny to me as a European atheist, firstly: When Fox says Atheists, are they including me? Because i don't really care about what Americans believe (sorry but we have our own problems). \\n When Fox says 'Americans' do they sometimes... just mean Christians?? \\n and they are saying it's good to be called American? I'd be ashamed. \\n And when they talk about the war on Atheism or fighting back (\\\"with their snigger 'faith') are they fighting with me? Or just American atheists.\",\n \"Summary: This is how an overprotective parent would write a magazine, it speaks volumes.\\n\\nPost: That was my point that seems to have skimmed over your head. \\n It's a magazine.......it doesn't have to be factual. To these people the end justifies the means. \\n Imagine if you opened it and saw tips on safe sex and contraception: \\n To you this would be good solid advice. \\n To any mother or father of a teenage daughter - they'd scream bloody murder and be all up in their internets.\",\n \"Summary: support is HARD TO PLAY properly. \\n Also if you want to be coached/just practice then you can add this account name. That goes for anyone who thinks they can benefit. 1772 MMR currently, no try-hard.\\n\\nPost: You think emerald warden is difficult to play? You're crazy dude, sorry. There is a difference between 'easiest to play' and 'item dependant' \\n This guy plays lol so let's assume he can last hit, and in fact in LoL there is no such thing as a support character (not like hon, since support needs farm in lol) so this will be much more difficult for him/her to play properly.\",\n \"Summary: it's all relative, which is why the only sensible thing to say about a 10 second encounter you read is to reserve judgement. Of course that's your choice, and that's why I formed my opinion; to see how others perceive it.\\n\\nPost: Did I say force a diet? My (n.b.)hypothetical is that THEY HAVE NO MONEY. Damn you'd think everyone understood poverty. I took part in some pseudo \\\"family-diet\\\" when i was younger and unexpected bills came in, this is what poor families have to do when they have no money. \\n So if forcing a child to diet is okay when they are obese, what about if they are only overweight? What BMI makes it okay? Do we have to outlaw \\\"fasting\\\" as part of religious freedom? \\n The sad fact is that we are no more qualified than each other to make this judgement. We do not know the overall well being of the child, the family, the financial stability they can provide etc. Not many parents have a kid and intend to do a bad job, so if you don't want a morally superior doctor (edit:whom you cannot question) telling you everything you can and can't do to your child, then you have to live with the fact that some parents will be worse than you, and some better.\",\n \"Summary: I wanted to make an impulse buy - paypal was only payment option - 6 days later and personal cost I still can't order shit. \\n Sounds like I should have been more upset with the website having only 1 payment option rather than get mad at PayPal's system. There have been so many things I would buy/donate to if they considered not solely relying on PayPal. \\n Now I simply refuse to make an account due to news of PayPal and how it operates over the years.\\n\\nPost: Not suggesting it's more secure, it can be equally secure. \\n My primary objection is that it takes a few days and a trip into town (this was back in the days before internet banking, but I guess it's still possible to not have internet banking on an account). I had to pay to travel into town so I could check my account, then after 5 days they wouldn't confirm it still, and wanted to repeat the process. This was a while ago so I don't remember the exact circumstances, it's perfectly possible I did something wrong. \\n Note: It's cheaper to travel in to town than it would have been to endure a phone service for hours, I don't even know if this type of request is something they'd handle over the phone.\",\n \"Summary: To me outlawing abortion is to say: \\\"be celibate, or be rich.\\\"\\n\\nPost: You're twisting my words. I said \\\"a human being in an early stage of development.\\\" \\n He didn't twist your words, you said it's a human being, and he said it's not. He is right, it's not by any definition a human. It's a collection of cells in the early stage of development. It might become a human being it might not. You can't call every fetus a potential for human life and draw the line unless every single fetus would, unhindered, became one. \\n >No woman wants to have an abortion? \\n Hang on to your gear, we have sweeping generalisations coming through. I don't think this is fair to say. \\n I find a lot of distaste for your comparison of euthanasia to abortion. Euthanasia is a sentient human being killing another. Abortion is a human being stopping grow of a fertilized egg. I don't think it's a decent comparison. \\n That said I'm not here just to play devil's advocate and troll you, I think you have a good idea of what you believe. I think it's fair to say there are different degrees of pro-choice. \\n I think for example it's almost always okay to abort if both parents wish so. Truly, that child could come out with any number of difficulties whether he/she develops them or is born with them. Anything serious means you will have to give up a very considerate amount of time and money to raise a child not capable of loving you the way you envisioned. \\n Instead of being so careful about when to have abortions or not we should be much more careful over when to use contraception or not. Because there is always the potential for a life as long as men and women co-exist, and the odds of 2 people being able to handle any circumstance of which their child must suffer has a direct dependence on income and education. \\n I wouldn't even dream of risking a pregnancy until I'm prepared for that, and if it happens despite my best efforts? I deserve an escape, everyone does.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":22,"string":"22"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":96,"string":"96"}}},{"rowIdx":97,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"nightsfrost"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the content for a reddit post I like the changes, some might be ridiculously OP in the hands of a good ranger, but overall, they are decent and I'm interested to see where they go."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Remove spirits. They clutter up the map and provide less strategic value with target changes. Instead, apply an aura to the pet that does the same thing spirits currently do. \n This would be a great, great change in my opinion. Clutter on the battle field is already annoying for trying to keep track of your pets location. That being said, I would really only want to see this with a change to pet management, which is basically stated in the net section. \n > Pets should take less damage from AoE and one-shot mechanics.\n> Pets should take 30% damage from AoEs, be immune to one shot mechanics and take 25% damage from cleaves when not the selected target. \n This is one of those things that I've always been mega iffy about. I feel like you'd need to make sure that it's balanced, so that you don't get pets breaking mechanics of fights (which is a real issue, you can use pets to do pulls that break what noramlly should be pulled. That is, you can use them to pull single targets when it should be pulling a group. Kind of fun when solo'ing dungeons or something) \n > Pets can’t keep up in combat. \n Allie lists Melee Range changes, speed increase and being able to attack and move at the same time. I think the melee range change could be nice, but 600 might be a bit big and make some weird looking fights. The faster attack animation and being able to move/attack at the same time would be really nice. \n > When the pet is stowed, the Ranger should gain “aspect of the <pet name>” effect which provides unique buffs based on the pet family and specific pet. \n Personally, part of being a ranger is having a pet and knowing how to control it. Removing this really removes the whole special piece that makes rangers... rangers... Also, we'd need a major buff to our DPS if this was done, to compensate for the lack of pets. \n > Use new UI symbols for each pet type \n I'd love to actually have a little commander tag or symbol of sorts over my pet, so I know where it is at a quick glance. It'd help the ranger have better control over their pet. \n > New trait: Master: Cleansing Swap: When you swap pets, you lose 2 conditions (ICD of 10 seconds).\n> Counterplay – when ranger swaps pets, the pet loses boons\n> Gives Rangers a good option for mobile condi removal. \n I love this idea, but I'm not sure what line it would be good in. I would think it would fall into NM or BM, as that would make the most sense context wise, but it'd probably be more useful in Skirmishing or Wilderness Survival. \n > New trait: Grand Master: Camaraderie: When you swap pets, the inactive pet gains the same boons as the active pet (boon values are capped).\n> Counterplay – if you swap when your pet is dead, there are no boons to copy. \n Honestly, I think this should just happen without traiting. That is, unless the balance changes to pets makes it really over powered, then make a trait, but I'd love to see it as part of the normal mechanic. \n > Longbow: Reward max range and synergize with pet.\n> Vulnerability instead of damage increase with range (s1), cripple (s2), immobilize (s3), knockdown (s5)\n> Pet might (s3), swiftness (s2), regen (s5) \n If the changes to the pet mechanics makes them a lot easier to work with sooner (that is, lower the skill barrier a tad on using the pets), synergization between weapons and pets would be great. I was actually playing around with a new build I made that used the \"on crit, pet gets X buff/heal\" and it's pretty fun and strong. \n > Shortbow: Condition Damage\n> Burning (s3), Torment (s4), s3 should be s5 w/ leapback + confusion \n Torment would be awesome on Rangers, especially since we're one of the kings/queens of the kiting and I was surprised when we didn't get Torment early on. I also wouldn't mind seeing more interrupts on the bar of SB (actually, I would want to see more interrupts across the board for all classes). This could play well with some other condi based pets. \n >Sword: Power\n>Dodge overrides animation (s1), s2 jumps reversed (first goes in, second goes out), s3 cast time reduced to better time evades \n S3 is already a pretty long evade, I think the response time for it would be better, rather than cast. (Though, both would work out well) \n > Torch: Condition application\n> S4 sets location of target on fire (small aoe), s5 causes burning and blindness \n A blindness field would make solo'ing big bosses a lot easier for people, possibly open up dungeon soloing on ranger if the field is good enough. (A trap that does blindness too, wouldn't hurt, imo) \n > Improve traps in terms of utility, damage and group oriented play.\n> Give Rangers the option to fire off traps manually. \n In PvP, manual trap deployment could be really powerful and maybe a little too powerful since it would theoretically remove the 'tell' that a ranger has placed a trap? I might be over thinking that one. \n > Wilderness experts should be the masters of poisons. Therefore, Rangers should have the most potent poisons available.\n> Rangers should be given some trait options to improve poison in various ways (extended duration, improved healing suppression, higher damage values, bonuses against poisoned foes, etc.). \n In PvP this would make for great anti-bunkers, but I don't see where else this might be really effective. \n >Winter’s Bite – Throw an axe that removes a two boons. Your pet’s next attack inflicts Chilled. [Chilled] 3.25s (Increase the base damage by a bit) \n For PvP this would probably move Axe up to a highly used weapon. Tie this in with poison change and rangers could be pretty powerful caster/bunker killers. If we could get more 'rupts (or dazes, etc) we could see rangers move to a similar position they were in GW1, playing the role as caster shutdown. (Anti-mages, if you want to call 'em that). \n I like most of these suggestions, and these are a bunch of random thoughts I had about them. I definitely am pleased with how ANet is listening and these suggestions they've noted. I'm excited to see what they do with these suggestions and hopefully we can see more rangers in the game (and be rangers that no one hate!)"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Remove spirits. They clutter up the map and provide less strategic value with target changes. Instead, apply an aura to the pet that does the same thing spirits currently do. \n This would be a great, great change in my opinion. Clutter on the battle field is already annoying for trying to keep track of your pets location. That being said, I would really only want to see this with a change to pet management, which is basically stated in the net section. \n > Pets should take less damage from AoE and one-shot mechanics.\n> Pets should take 30% damage from AoEs, be immune to one shot mechanics and take 25% damage from cleaves when not the selected target. \n This is one of those things that I've always been mega iffy about. I feel like you'd need to make sure that it's balanced, so that you don't get pets breaking mechanics of fights (which is a real issue, you can use pets to do pulls that break what noramlly should be pulled. That is, you can use them to pull single targets when it should be pulling a group. Kind of fun when solo'ing dungeons or something) \n > Pets can’t keep up in combat. \n Allie lists Melee Range changes, speed increase and being able to attack and move at the same time. I think the melee range change could be nice, but 600 might be a bit big and make some weird looking fights. The faster attack animation and being able to move/attack at the same time would be really nice. \n > When the pet is stowed, the Ranger should gain “aspect of the <pet name>” effect which provides unique buffs based on the pet family and specific pet. \n Personally, part of being a ranger is having a pet and knowing how to control it. Removing this really removes the whole special piece that makes rangers... rangers... Also, we'd need a major buff to our DPS if this was done, to compensate for the lack of pets. \n > Use new UI symbols for each pet type \n I'd love to actually have a little commander tag or symbol of sorts over my pet, so I know where it is at a quick glance. It'd help the ranger have better control over their pet. \n > New trait: Master: Cleansing Swap: When you swap pets, you lose 2 conditions (ICD of 10 seconds).\n> Counterplay – when ranger swaps pets, the pet loses boons\n> Gives Rangers a good option for mobile condi removal. \n I love this idea, but I'm not sure what line it would be good in. I would think it would fall into NM or BM, as that would make the most sense context wise, but it'd probably be more useful in Skirmishing or Wilderness Survival. \n > New trait: Grand Master: Camaraderie: When you swap pets, the inactive pet gains the same boons as the active pet (boon values are capped).\n> Counterplay – if you swap when your pet is dead, there are no boons to copy. \n Honestly, I think this should just happen without traiting. That is, unless the balance changes to pets makes it really over powered, then make a trait, but I'd love to see it as part of the normal mechanic. \n > Longbow: Reward max range and synergize with pet.\n> Vulnerability instead of damage increase with range (s1), cripple (s2), immobilize (s3), knockdown (s5)\n> Pet might (s3), swiftness (s2), regen (s5) \n If the changes to the pet mechanics makes them a lot easier to work with sooner (that is, lower the skill barrier a tad on using the pets), synergization between weapons and pets would be great. I was actually playing around with a new build I made that used the \"on crit, pet gets X buff/heal\" and it's pretty fun and strong. \n > Shortbow: Condition Damage\n> Burning (s3), Torment (s4), s3 should be s5 w/ leapback + confusion \n Torment would be awesome on Rangers, especially since we're one of the kings/queens of the kiting and I was surprised when we didn't get Torment early on. I also wouldn't mind seeing more interrupts on the bar of SB (actually, I would want to see more interrupts across the board for all classes). This could play well with some other condi based pets. \n >Sword: Power\n>Dodge overrides animation (s1), s2 jumps reversed (first goes in, second goes out), s3 cast time reduced to better time evades \n S3 is already a pretty long evade, I think the response time for it would be better, rather than cast. (Though, both would work out well) \n > Torch: Condition application\n> S4 sets location of target on fire (small aoe), s5 causes burning and blindness \n A blindness field would make solo'ing big bosses a lot easier for people, possibly open up dungeon soloing on ranger if the field is good enough. (A trap that does blindness too, wouldn't hurt, imo) \n > Improve traps in terms of utility, damage and group oriented play.\n> Give Rangers the option to fire off traps manually. \n In PvP, manual trap deployment could be really powerful and maybe a little too powerful since it would theoretically remove the 'tell' that a ranger has placed a trap? I might be over thinking that one. \n > Wilderness experts should be the masters of poisons. Therefore, Rangers should have the most potent poisons available.\n> Rangers should be given some trait options to improve poison in various ways (extended duration, improved healing suppression, higher damage values, bonuses against poisoned foes, etc.). \n In PvP this would make for great anti-bunkers, but I don't see where else this might be really effective. \n >Winter’s Bite – Throw an axe that removes a two boons. Your pet’s next attack inflicts Chilled. [Chilled] 3.25s (Increase the base damage by a bit) \n For PvP this would probably move Axe up to a highly used weapon. Tie this in with poison change and rangers could be pretty powerful caster/bunker killers. If we could get more 'rupts (or dazes, etc) we could see rangers move to a similar position they were in GW1, playing the role as caster shutdown. (Anti-mages, if you want to call 'em that). \n I like most of these suggestions, and these are a bunch of random thoughts I had about them. I definitely am pleased with how ANet is listening and these suggestions they've noted. I'm excited to see what they do with these suggestions and hopefully we can see more rangers in the game (and be rangers that no one hate!)"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Summary: I probably talk too much also.\n\nPost: I think you're right about the two camps. I also think it boils down to basically how patient is someone? I'm a relatively patient person, so what I described is fine for me. Whereas with someone else who might not be patient would see everything needing a grind. \n As such, I would conclude that most of the vocal GW2 community are impatient.","Summary: Pick up a World Editor (Hammer, Unreal Engine 4, Creation Kit, Unity, etc) for your favorite game and just start making levels. Learn, iterate, move on).\n\nPost: If you're looking for Level design, you'll want to focus more-so on the 3D world editors. Programs like Hammer . Find a game you like that has a level editor (which is a lot, and they're free!), and start building with that. Learn what makes a level good, bad and avoid pitfalls (unless deathpits are what you want.... ^^Bad ^^Level ^^design ^^humor:) ). Unreal Engine 4 will give out student licenses to the program if you have a facalty member/the school sign off on it, or you can get a month subscription through [here]( Fan of Unreal Tournament? Pick up UE4, connect to the UT2k14 Git and start making maps for that. Find a game you enjoy, and make something for it, especially if you're starting out. This makes things really, really useful. Oh, and if there is a community devoted to LD for a certain game, join it! Be active in it! Show 'em what you got, it could be bad at first, but learn and make it better. \n That all being said, don't ignore modeling (Maya, 3Dsmax, Blender) having the ability to make your own assets is a huge plus on resumes/portfolios. \n 2 years isn't a whole lot of time when you're a student (unless you have a ton of free time). Some single levels can take that long to properly design, test, develop, art, optimize, etc if you're doing it in your spare time and are busy with other things. If you can devote more time to it, then you should be fine. Start with small levels before moving up to bigger ones. Level designers are a dime a dozen in the industry, so if you can develop extra skills (programming, 3D art, technical art, texture work) that will put you a step above the competition. \n (","Summary: I liek rangers.\n\nPost: For me, I have 2 rangers, probably going to make a third soon. \n I like rangers; I like them a lot. I loved leveling rangers, and that is probably the reason why I made a second one. \n I have my main guy, primarily for PvE, gets most of the shiney toys and is generally the guy I do everything with, except WvW. The other ranger is primary WvW, WvW builds for him, gear for WvW and even a commanders tag. \n The third one? No idea. I'll probably just make him to level. Charr or Norn. I need achievements for both races, so I'll probably end up making both in the end. I'll find non-storage uses for them (PvP, perhaps... Champ running, etc.)","Summary: Making it easier to get ascended items will make it harder for higher-tier fractal groups to be successful. \n EDIT: Downvotes, again, for a somewhat reasonable concern. For people who are looking forward to this, can I know why?\n\nPost: I'm not sure I like this, so allow me to explain why. \n Short background: \nPersonally, I think giving the ability for anyone who is in a group with a higher level to go up to that level is already a bad idea. Yes, I will acknowledge that it will be a LOT easier for groups to form, but the quality of that group is going to not be optimal, if not worse (even for guild groups). You'll have people who maybe have gotten up to level 3, trying to do level 10 or 20's. Sure, they can get the rings from an alt at 10 or something, but that person's experience on that character is not going to be what it should be for a 10,20,30+ fractal. They could be more of a liability to the group, than a benefit; and the group might as be down a member or 2. \n My point: \n Adding the ability to get Amulets/Rings from Laurels will just make it easier for players who are not experienced enough for the higher level fractals to jump into groups they are not prepared for. It's not a gear thing, it's an experience thing. \n If I'm forming a level 20 daily group, I want to know for sure that my group members has done 1-19, and know what they are getting into, learning curve and all. I want to know that they are experienced on their characters, and that (while we still might fail) it's certain they have experience at/around level 20.","Summary: Rangers like purple dragons and you should probably just read that all because I wrote it.\n\nPost: A couple questions though, what build do you run on your ranger? \n As someone who has played close to 1300 hours of ranger and loves ranger so much that I have 2 (possibly soon a third), I'm curious. I saw this update and was REALLY excited to see the changes. \n Path of Scars (Offhand Axe 4): We now have a pull, something trappers love. Being a trapper, I am quite happy with this. This makes Axe/Dagger + Sword/Axe Rangers pretty Ideal (specifically for PvP mind you, I was trying it yesterday. Far better than Sword/Dagger + SB in my opinion. \n Nature Magic and Spirits: Well tits, spirits are FINALLY becoming viable. This was a pretty big buff in the this line, and Evasive Purity makes me consider throwing Points into NM to get it in PvP or even for ANY Melee Ranger. \n Longbow : You can now trait yourself to be basically a mobile arrowcart. Huge Support there with Muddy Terrain (buff) and LB Barrage. \n Increase Pet Leash : If you can micro your pets (which, if you're a ranger you really should be able to do) then this is great for when you use pets to hold back mobs or causing diversions. \n Muddy Terrain: Decrease the duration, but it's pulses are more, so that it'll hit things more often, make it much more dangerous and harder to get out of. \n I will admit that there are some things are nerfed, but they were either not functioning as they were, or bring them in line with other skills from the same weapon from other profs (Shortbow on thief has a range of 900). \n But really, the huge majority of this update was a buff for ranger. I could continue on rattling on about what is good and what is bad, what certain skill changes mean for builds and why certain things are better than others. We have diversity now! Really, pop into the Heart of the mists and toy with the traits (You don't have to do PvP, but it's free retraiting to test stuff).","Summary: 0 30 30 10 0 is what you'll want, but you need to get to level 60 before you get there, then put 30 immediately into skirmishing)\n\nPost: A 0 30 30 10 0 trapper bunker (condition) would be good. You'll need to get to 30 in skirmishing to get the grandmaster trapper trait that allows you to use ground targeted traps and the master trait, which doubles size and duration of conditions, these are a must. Then, go from there. You can go beast master with your current build goal, but I think the trapper bunker is better for AoE damage and soloing. \n I'm not sure of a 0 0 30 10 30 build, there is a 0 0 30 30 10 build that uses natures voice grandmaster trait in nature magic to maintain permanent regeneration. \n (","Summary: No, buy cooking lessons.\n\nPost: I don't know if I would invest in the armor. It's been shown that the armor/jewelry magic find buffs are not worth the sacrifice of the stats. \n You could get the Luck sigil for your weapons, and instead of investing in armor, invest in cooking. Investing in cooking means you'll be able to make your own MF food buffs (Raspberry bars, or Omnomberry bars. Omnom's are better, but Raspberry are cheaper). The MF food buffs are really really useful, so if anything, get 400 chef, and make your own MF food buffs. \n Conversly, you could just buy the MF food buffs like like 1s a pop (I don't know current prices).","Summary: if you had to teach science to anyone, how would you do it, with your current experience and knowledge?\n\nPost: Hi Adam, thanks for doing this! \n I've seen mythbusters clips used in classrooms from middle school to college level classes, all over the place. It has kind of become the big science show of the generatation. With that, if for some odd reason (for example, evil penguins enslave the human race) you had to teach science to an age group/grade of your choice (the penguins grant you this choice), using only the experience and knowledge you have learned through your career, in the setting of a classroom, how would you go about doing it? Something more like the hands on curriculum style that is starting to appear in some schools, or something like the lecture and lab tradiational style? Mix of both?","Summary: Putting a merchant into the game is easy. The design of the game that would need to be changed around this is not. \n EDIT: for clarification/grammar\n\nPost: There is more than just putting in the merchant for it. \n What would happen to the economy? What would happen to karma farms? Would people do the farms more, or would they do dungeons? \n This would add a lot more focus on gaining karma if you're going for a legendary. You need at least 500k already, so making a merchant that sells lodestones for karma just adds to the amount of karma you need. \n They'd need to balance out the game around gettting this karma, which means re-working the design of the dynamic event rewards and such. You'd need to rebuild then loot systems since more people will be doing events, more monsters will be killed. You'd then probably get a higher concentration of people in the higher-level zones doing Events, which lowers the amount of people in the other zones. \n And don't even think about how you would deal with the communities response.","Summary: Database dis-syncronization makes funny names .\n\nPost: With how it's been happening, Asian characters getting replaced for English ones (other languages too maybe?), I think (emphasis on the think) that it's a database error. The game runs where some of the databases that provide info for the game... like the Trading post, Loot tables, mystic forge, Guilds/Parties and chat, and item/bank databases. \n Looking at the item database, that has a table of codes for the item and it's respective name. I assume what was happening was that he chinese localization files (as in, the things that make the game chinese) was getting mixed up in with the other localization files. Thus, you see like some things (like the voting ballets during cut throat politics) were getting asian characters. \n As for items getting blank ping effects... the most of what I've see are from new items, so I'm presuming that the game just isn't finding the proper connection in the item database to get the name.","Summary: Co-Op is underwhelming: Player one does the decisions, Player 2 supports and heals and does little things to guide the main player through. Purely a back-seat supportive role.\n\nPost: One controls Aurora (the girl) and the other person plays the orb of light. I got to play this at PAX EAST a few weeks ago and the Co-Op was underwhelming. I Only got about 30 minutes of continuous play and 15 minutes of watching it being played, so take this with a grain of salt \n Combat wise: \nThe player who controls Aurora will be the one who makes all the combat decisions for Aurora and the NPC's that will accompany her at times. The player who controls the Orb of light can heal Aurora or the NPC's (by hovering over them holding a button). The orb can also 'distract' foes by hovering around them and holding the same button. You have to time this with the action bar so that you're distracting the foe right when its icon is passing the 'attacking' part of the action bar. The orb has a limited about of energy to do this that slowly can regen over time. There is also a couple of plants that the orb can float over and regain more energy quicker. \n Explore/Story: \nFrom the short bits of story I played and watched, Aurora again does all the decision making, but the orb needs to do certain actions to allow Aurora to pass, like hovering over a stone to cause a spikey wall to move out of the way. Probably one of the more creative things the orb can do is cast a shadow from some objects and line them up with markings on the wall to open passages. \n Overall: \nCo-op is nice, but the Orb of Light player will probably find themselves bored or having to be an 'active' back-set Player 1 / support role. At least, that is what I felt (and I usually enjoy support roles!). \n Should be noted that (control wise) the only difference between Co-op and Single player is that Player 2 takes control of the Orb. For Single-player the Orb is controlled by the Right Analog stick (If I remember correctly). \n Based on my 30(ish) minutes of continuous play, and 15 minutes of just watching it being played, I'd give it a 7.5/10 overall.","Summary: Micro your pets, and you will go from UP to OP.\n\nPost: So I guess I half responded with the wrong answer for the comments about Ranger, but the rest of the info still stands in a PvE and \"pets are infact useful\" standpoint. I misread the poster as saying \"Pets are useless.\" My apologies. \n See, I disagree (And allow me to preface this with \"Yes, pets need work, BUT....\"). Most rangers I've met either consider their pet stupid and just a temporary meat shield OR the only pet they know is a bear/lynx. If you know how to micro manage your pet, it is extremely extremely powerful. \n \n Fern Hound - AoE Regen \n Brown Bear - AoE condition removal \n Lashtale Deveourer - Can inflict 10 stacks of bleeding, tie that in with Shortbow crossfire and some good - placement, you can hit 25 stacks extremely easily. \n Lashtale Devourer (aquatic) - Stuns for 2 attacks \n Krytan Drakehound - Group Fear (also has a KD) \n River Drake - Lightning Breath: Mass Bouncing Damage \n Carrion Devourer (Aquatic) - AoE Regen (like the Fern hound) \n \n There are more that I use, and I adjust pets per-situation. Pets are far from stupid, and work really well. I can still do mass damage even with my pet on 24/7 passive. Saying Pets being broken kill a good 33% of the rangers damage is just a massive exaggeration. If you know what your pets do, you can easily do more than what a normal ranger can do.","Summary: doesn't matter if ANet had officially stated it was an exploit or not, it was suspicious, \"too-good-to-be-true\" and unbalanced and it should've raised some flags with players. \n EDIT: Okay, downvotes. I feel like I'm making a fair point. And it's true. ArenaNet puts a LOT of trust in players to NOT exploit things. When people DO exploit things that are clearly suspicious, they will come down hard, as shown here. It's common sense to play it safe. (And I just saw this, so this is new info to me) \n EDIT2: To [link to what Gaile grey has said on the issue](\n\nPost: The issue with the \"exploit\" is that, it didn't follow normal jeweler crafting recipes and was more/less a really good, and unbalanced deal. This should've raised a TON of red flags saying \"This might not be what is supposed to happen, maybe I should just not do it.\" \n ANet policies put a lot of trust in the player to not repeat an exploit if they suspect it is an exploit, and instead, report it/post it on the forums and await a response. The people who were banned should've known fully well that what they were doing was suspicious (don't even need to have been told \"this is an exploit,\" they just needed to use some common sense) and stopped.","Summary: It comes down to money and time, most likely.\n\nPost: As much as they would love to be able to have all the teams enter, they can only do X amount for a reason. Extending the Tournament would cost money, which they can't spend on the tournament (can't break the budget). That applies to anyone, not just mistpedia or ANet, etc. \n The goal of the tournament was to provide a competitive competition that could help bring in new people into the competitive scene. Limiting the tourney to either first-come-first-server or highly ranked teams would kind of negate this. With a draw, everyone at least has an equal chance to enter.","Summary: Anet didn't make or give you the money you deleted, so they have no grounds to refund it. (EDIT: Nor were you hacked)\n\nPost: I guess the way I see it is this: \n They did not provide you the money, nor did you get a special edition of the game that gives you the money automatically. Thus, they did not provide you the money. \n The Mini Rytlock was an item that is apart of the digital deluxe edition, which you would buy, and ANet would provide you the item. So, you technically did not earn it yourself. \n If that makes any sense.","Summary: It's printing money, sucking up things and not putting anything back. Just my opinion. \n EDIT: I should note, that if you are doing CoF to buy something that doesn't involve the economy at all, like Cultural armor or a commanders title, that's still not great, but it's better than using the money to buy stuff of the trading post.\n\nPost: It's creating money with no tangible impact on the economy. \n You basically get 1gold for 5 minutes of work. Just out of thin air, poof. Then, you spend it on T6 mats. You then use that 1G and buy some T6 mats, but don't put any T6 mats back in. Now the T6 Mat supply is down 1G worth of mats, and there is no influx of T6's. (Yes, obviously there is some influx, but I'm just boiling it down). \n Basically, it's creating a supply shortage of stuff in the economy, and the stuff coming from that farm isn't enough to counter what is being taken out.","Summary: power rangers are now viable for roaming) \n If other classes, like warrior or mesmer get it, then I'd be a little concerned.\n\nPost: I wouldn't worry about rangers too much because our traps proc while you're stealthed anyways so it's not like we didn't already know where you were to begin with (I'm speaking in terms of WvW/PvP obviously). Giving us a reveal is just really nice so that we can run other builds (like Beast master) and not just traps. Perma-stealth thieves are impossible to kill unless you have an AoE attack, which is restricted to Condi-trap rangers. (","Summary: Players who play bearbow are almost certainly newer players who don't know how to play ranger. Give some of the other pets a try. Grab a Greatsword or Sword/WH and give it a try.\n\nPost: WARNING: A fair bit of generalization in here, sorry! \n Bearbow is generally hated because of the players that play it, they typically have no idea what to do and it frustrates players a whole lot when bearbow players screw up (which they generally do often). \n The PvE meta is all about Line of sighting, stacking and high DPS: \n \n Generally those who bearbow use a LB, don't stack and don't micro their pet. They push mobs out of the way and ruin the run. \n Mostly players who bear-bow just stand around at max range and space 1, maybe LB2 every once and a while. They don't contribute too the fight much at all. \n Bears don't provide good DPS or support. Jungle Stalker is used a lot because of the might it grants with its F2, Ravens/Owl/Hawk are used too for their high DPS and swiftness granting skills. They also don't move around too much when stacking. \n Using full signet is semi-frowned upon because it doesn't help the DPS. Quickening Zephyr and \"Sic 'em!\" and Frost spirit are the usual utilities for a PvE ranger. Signets don't help support your team either (unless you're running Signet of the Beast Master, in which case, some signets do, but remorseless is usually better.... in some cases) \n Bear bows usually don't run Spotter either, which is Rangers most powerful support trait. \n That all being said, if you really know how to play ranger, you can get away with using bears every once and while, but then again, if you really know how to play you know to not use Bears. \n \n The list can go on and on, but it basically boils down to: (","Summary: Play as a Breton. Use Heavy armor when enchantment is high enough. Don't worry about Magicka, if you perk the schools properly you just need a base of about 400. You should be able to easily do master and no have much issues.\n\nPost: I run with a Conjuration Warrior (heavy armor) \n First off, I'd suggest starting with a Breton, as they get the summon familiar spell right off. \n Really, if you get high enough magicka (~450) and perk into the magicka reducing perks in destruction/conjuration you should be fine without any magicka reducing enchantments. That being said, you'll want to have magicka regeneration enchantments. \n Also, you may want to go with heavy armor later on in the game. Unless you know how to place your summons properly so that they take the brunt of the damage, it doesn't hurt to have the heavy armor (when enchanted properly, there is no downside). \n Difficulty wise, I'm having very little issues with my character (I'm set on master). I have a fully perked out Conjuration tree, and summon 2 Draema Lords at once (or any of the 3 elemental ones, when needed) and things go pretty smoothly.","Summary: To help the team out, I ran S/D (or T) and S/WH. \n EDIT: Second thought, I could see where SotB is better than Remorseless most of time. Nevermind on that point.\n\nPost: Signet of the Beastmaster is great, but then you also have conflict with Remorseless, which is really nice for large group vuln stacking. \n For pugs, I would run with S/D because pugs aren't going to be as mega organized as a guild group, so the extra survivability was really nice. The offhand axe though I also felt (while useful ) wasn't a good choice verse most non-ranged bosses, I would still rather run S/D or even S/T if I knew my team had good blast finishers. Unless the boss had something to be reflected, the Whirlwind attack was meh at best and Path of Scars just sucked.","Summary: almost all of the ranger population doesn't actually know how to play ranger outside of bearbow and a cookie cutter build, thus, no one knows what to do with these changes.\n\nPost: The issue with rangers is that the population of players who play them are mega stratified. You have 97% of the population who play ranger but have absolutely no idea what their doing, only playing cookie cutter builds and not really taking the time to figure out what the classes strengths and weakness are. They're the ones who, if they have to change their build slightly or do something out of the norm of the build, struggle. Thats why a lot of changes always make most of the ranger population 'sad' ... a lot just don't know what to do with them. The remaining 3% of the population (which is not many people) actually try and learn the class, they're the ones who can adapt, aren't bearbows and can tell you why bearbows are bad. They're the ones who swap their pets, who know what weapons to use when. Stack in PvP, can read skills and dodge properly (and not just spam skills). \n Things I'm looking forward to this patch: \n \n Pets reacting instantly to my commands \n Master of Poison basically becoming the bane of bunkers, more poison applications is good, it's not necessarily all about the DPS in PvP. \n Viper's nest being a poison field. \n Read the Wind giving sniper rangers a huge buff, it's a really fun build to play in PvP and WvW Roaming \n Striders Defense, a trait that might actually make me want to put 30 points in Skirmishing when going Melee ranger in PvE \n Lightning Reflexes 'fix' and buff \n Survival of the Fittest: We need more condi removal \n Invigorating bond: Support and more support. \n \n As a longtime ranger and theorycrafter, I'm stoked.\nAlso, I apologize for being mean towards rangers, but lets face it: it's kind of true.","Summary: how to disable sourceTV, anything special on server needed for highlander matches?\n\nPost: Basically, is there anything specific I need to do to the server if I'm going to be hosting a highlander match on it (through tf2lobby of course). The server I'll be using does have an ever-watching \"Announcer\" (SourceTV) who we use to record demo's of matches. I know that I'll have to disable her to do so, but am not sure how.","Summary: Southsun Cove is a great place to farm.\n\nPost: In response to this post \n \n T6 Mat Farm Guide \n Much like many players, I'm dirt poor. I developed these runs in conjunction with a freind of mine. We're both working on Legendaries (Frostfang for him, Moot for myself) and don't really want to pay for our Gifts of Might and Magic. To remedy this, we're farming up all our T6 Mats. \n This guide includes farms for: \n \n Vicious Fangs \n Ancient Bone \n Vials of Powerful Blood \n Elaborate Totems \n Powerful Venom Sacs \n Vicious Claws \n Piles of Crystalline Dust \n \n Non T6 Mats included: \n \n Corrupted Lodestone \n Charged Lodestone \n Onyx Lodestone \n \n Some things to note: \n \n If the farming zone is full of bots, report them and try guesting on another server! \n MF is highly recommended if you want some more rare drops. I personally use [Spicy Pumpkin Cookies]( But any [MF Consumable]( is good. \n These are developed to be \"semi afkable\" so you don't really have to worry about dieing unless you really aren't paying attention. \n \n \n Vicious Fang/Vials of Powerful Blood Farm \n [Link to map] ( \n Here you will be killing [Reef Skelk]( Basically run from the Cove, north up the beach and back down, very simple. \n Recommended Skills: \n \n Speed Buffs (Signet of the Hunt, Signet of Shadow, Rampage as One, for example) \n AoE Damage Skills (Any Ele, dagger storm, whirling axe) \n \n There is no Veterans on this run. Average in 45 minutes was about 5-10 of each Vicious Fangs and Vials of Powerful Blood. \n \n Powerful Venom Sac Farm \n [Link to map]( \n Here you are killing Reef Riders . We basically run around in a circle, klling all the falls in our path. \n Recommended Skills: \n \n Speed Buffs (Same as above) \n \n There is 2 Veterans for this. Fights are straight forward. Watch for confusion and a reflection dome that they create. It will reflect all projectiles. \n \n Vicious Claw and Ancient Bone Farms \n [Link to map]( \n Here you are killing the [Ice Brood Colossus]( and [Corrupted Quaggan]( \n Recommended Skills: \n \n Speed Buffs (Same as above) \n The ability to dodge \n \n Other noted drops: \n \n Corrupted Lodestone \n \n There are no veterans along this path. \n \n Elaborate Totem/Ancient Bone Farm \n [Link to map]( \n Here you are killing the [Grawl]( \n Recommended Skills: \n \n Speed Buffs \n AoE Damage \n AoE Pulls (Binding Chains, for example) \n \n There are no veterans along this path. Tagging the \"friendly rabbits\" can also be benefical. They can drop loot. (For instance, when first developing this run, I tagged a rabbit, got an Unidentified Dye that turned into a Celestial. Good times) \n \n Piles of Crystalline Dust/Charged Lodestone + Other Lodestones \n \n [Link to map 1]( \n [Link to map 2]( \n \n (First picture) Here you are primarily killing the Sparks and Embers within the ring. There are multiple Veterans. You will need to open the Temple of Lyssa for this one. \n (Second Picture) Here you are killing ONLY Sparks and Air Elementals. There is four total veterans. An event will spawn where a champion risen knight will appear. You will need to open the Temple of Dwayna for this one. \n Note! The drop rate on the Charged Lodestone is low (as compared to say, the Corrupted Lodestones). The drop rate on the Crystalline dust is kind-of low, but factoring in the amount of incandescent dust that drops, the value of charged lodestones and the value of the Crystalline dust, we figure it's still a decent farm. Shocking Crystals are dropped often, and add up quickly, which can be sold for a good chunk of silver after every 30-40 minutes. \n Recommended Skills: \n \n Speed Buffs (Same as above) \n \n \n Other notes: \n \n I have not yet found a good place to farm Armored Scales outside of the WvWvW Borderlands Central Lake (the Krait there) \n Don't forget, you can promote [T5 materials to T6 ones!]( \n Bring a friend! Having someone else to chat with/run with makes things less dull! \n Listen to music! \n \n Thanks for reading!","Summary: Watch people make awesome maps fast because they can.\n\nPost: Hey r/tf2! \n In 4 hours from this post, the [TF2Maps.net 72hr Winter Mapping Special 2015]( will be starting! This is a 72hr mapping competition where ANY TF2 mapper is challenged to make a fully working, tf2 custom map in less than 72 hours. If you've ever wanted to see mappers from all around the world slowly descend into a sleep-deprived madness, all while making custom maps for TF2... nows your chance! This is a contest that we've been doing for years now and it's easily our most popular contest... Ever. \n We have an intel briefcase load of people streaming their mapping progress over at this link . Individual stream links provided at [the TF2Maps.net contest thread]( \n \n Some people you may know are involved with the contest too! \n \n KritzKast will be streaming live . \n [Egan]( and [Bakscratch]( creators of the second place map [pd_watergate]( from the Mercs. Vs. Aliens Contest will be streaming creation of possible new gamemodes. \n The Train-lord himself, [UEAKCrash will be streaming]( another ridiculously crazy I-don't-know-what-the-heck-he's-thinking-but-it'll-be-weird-map. \n YM, co-creator of cp_snowplow, co-creator of Mann Manor and author of pl_hoodoo [will also be streaming!]( \n \n This contest is open for EVERYONE! So if you're free this weekend, crack open hammer and make something! Just have it entered by the end of the deadline Monday. \n Best of luck everyone!","Summary: People are making maps in 72 hours, from Friday to Monday \n \n [Multi-Twitch]( of mappers building from scratch \n [TF2Maps.net 72hr Contest Post]( for the 72hr mapping event \n [TF2Maps.net post]( for the event, Merc Vs Aliens\n\nPost: Hello! Self post for this... thing. \n TF2Maps.net just started their 72hr mapping competition, where they have to make \"War of the Worlds\" themed TF2 maps in 72hrs. So if you're interested and want to see some people make custom maps, now's a great chance too. [This link]( will take you to a multi-twitch which includes all of the streamers to this date. These people have said they'll stream their work off/on for the duration of the contest. Fore-warning, this will take a while to load so if you're interested in more specific streams, you can check out this [main post]( over at TF2Maps.net which has individual links. \n The 72hr maps will be playtested often during this time, you can join our [steam group]( to get in-steam event announcements of when the maps are being tested. \n So if you're free and interested in mapping, aliens or people slowly descending into a lack-of-sleep madness, check out the streams, say hi, see whats up.","Summary: As a new ranger, you're going to want to focus on survival, with survival comes your power. This will allow you to push into zones 1-3 levels above your current level. Not only does this make leveling a little easier, it makes it more fun. You're moving, dodging, having close-calls and generally being really active. It makes the leveling less dull and tedious and more like you're actually doing something, rather than just grinding out Renown hearts. \n /u/lordtomato made [a great write up]( about using Longbows and Greatswords, totally worth a read for those who might want to try those when leveling! \n [Link to Part 1 - The Basics](\n\nPost: The Early Levels \n Nice work, hero, you've just slayed a worm, killed that rubix cube golem thing or saved an entire village from centaurs and/or ghosts (or you did that weird thing with dreams... was that even real? Does that even count?). You and your trusty pet find yourself out in the middle of no where starter-ville with nothing but an axe in your hand. Great, you have an axe, that's not very ranger like, now is it? Actually, the axe is probably one of your best starting weapons to have because it's a really good “training” weapon for ranger combat techniques (good choice ArenaNet!). You're now in a very good position to start having some fun. But, where to begin? What should I trait into? What on earth is there for me to do as a ranger? Calm down, let me explain the first 30 levels. \n (For those scanning, I'm going over first weapons and armor, how to deal with combat, picking utility skills and finally traits.) \n I also claim that this guide is written based on the knowledge I have discovered after 1400 some hours I have spent leveling two rangers (one is at 1100 hours, the other ~300). \n \n So I'm fresh out of the tutorial, what weapon should I have first, since I have 1 set for the first few levels? \n Generally, there is no “wrong” weapon (except Longbow), but there are some weapons that are better for solo play than others. My personal recommendation, and I highly suggest this for solo play, is the Axe and Warhorn. Axe is a good, general weapon. Richochet, the autoattack, bounces between three targets, so a pseudo-AoE. It provides solid kiting ability with the chill (#3 skill), and your pet provides weakness which also aids in kiting targets (#3, on pet attack). With the speed boost and fury with warhorn (#5), it's a good starter weapon for learning the basic techniques for standard Ranger combat and solo play. I'm covering the weapons in Part 3. After you hit level 7 for weapon swap, grab a shortbow until you start to do big group content. (You could, get longbow, but for the closer-kiting fighting, you'll want shortbow bow for the cripple (#3) and quick shot (Dodge, #4). \n Okay, what about the armor? \n Early on, you really only get a few choices for armor. Everyone else seems to go with power gear and that won't change for Rangers. Later on, in the 10-20's I will still suggest going with Power and Precision gear as the condition skills don't come out to play strongly until later. When purchasing armor, I would just stick with blue until around level 40, then at 50 you can start going into greens. If you're going to get rares, get it around level 70. I upgrade my armor every 10 levels, unless I get a drop that is better than what I am currently wearing (which you do early on between level 1 and 30ish. Don't fret if you are changing out your armor a lot in the early levels. It's perfectly fine). \n Okay, I have my weapon and armor. What the heck am I doing? \n Rangers are masters of kiting. If you don't know what kiting is, I'll explain it now. Much like you pull a kite and it follows you around, you do the same with foes. You use CC (crowd control skills) to slow down your foe and your basically run infront of it throwing off shots when you can, while it follows you. Rangers, as I mentioned in part 1 have many skills that make them extremely mobile, either directly (skill that causes evasion) or indirectly (skills that cause the foe to slow down/miss). You want to constantly be moving around when kiting (that is the whole point of it!) \n When facing an enemy, you'll want to keep kiting as much as possible. Use the chills, cripples, immobilizes when you can. Don't use them all at once, obviously; watch when you use your skills and chain them. Watch for attacks and dodge them appropriately. \n Utilities and Healing skills, what should I get first? \n You unlock utility slots at levels 5, 10 and 20. You'll need to buy more utilities (with skill points) before you can unlock the later tiers of them. Fortunately, when doing PvE zone clearing for leveling, skill points are bountiful and getting all the ones you need to unlock aren't hard. The biggest asset for a ranger is its mobility. By level 5, you have just (or close to) enough skill points to get two skills. My suggestion is Troll Unguent (for healing, costs 3 skill points) and Lightning Reflexes. \n Troll Unguent: There is an ongoing argument in the Ranger community as to which is better, Troll Unguent or Healing Spring. My vote goes towards Troll Unguent, it's can not be striped (no boons to remove), has a high rate of regeneration and relatively short cool down. The down side is you don't get the condition remove nor the group support. If you have a leveling partner who is someone with blast finishers, I suggest running healing spring instead, but for solo play (which rangers are perfectly fine with at any level) I would go with Unguent. \n Lightning Reflexes: One of the many “free” dodges that Rangers have. Upon using Lightning Reflexes, you gain 10 seconds of Vigor, a boon which provides 100% endurance regeneration for it's duration. Basically, it's a dodge that lets you dodge more often! As I mentioned early, you always want to keep moving and dodging as a Ranger. \n For the later levels, 10 and 20, you should look at skills that help your mobility. My personal favorites are Signet of the Hunt (25% increased movement speed), Signet of Renewel (Passive HP regen, also great for kiting) and Quickening Zephyr (Faster attacks, but you heal for less). My personal build at level 20 was QZ, Lightning Reflexes and one of the two signets. It really hasn't changed much for general leveling/PvE since then. It's a solid set up for Power builds. \n Okay, so now I have the armor, weapons, utilities to try out, what about the traits? \n At level 11 you can buy an adept training manual, I suggest looking for it on the Trading Post, as it is usually cheaper on there than buying straight from a merchant (in any of the major cities). Traits are what allow you to start specializing into specific roles. For the first 30 levels though, you don't have to worry too much about that as you'll be doing a lot of non-dungeon PvE stuff, so just focus on damage and survival. For now, I would put points into Skirmishing, Marksman ship and Wilderness survival. Each of those Minor Adept (the 5 point traits) will be really useful early on. You can choose what you feel is better to get, since everyone is different. But I would look into those 3. After you get the 5 points in one or two of them, you can look at getting 10 points into any of them. Your first 10 point trait will be at 30. My personal suggestion would be 10 in Skirmishing, for primal reflexes or 10 in Wilderness survival for Vigorous Renewal. \n Oh oh oh! Frost! You totally forgot to chat about WvW! (Thanks /u/Crobly for pointing that out!) \n You're right! Everything that I mentioned until now fully applies to WvW, moreso than ever. You always want to be moving around in WvW. Stand around and you're dead. Except, one thing is different. Axe/WH is still a great combo, but instead of Shortbow as your secondary weapon, run longbow. The Longbow is best at, you guessed it, long range. The Auto-attack (Long-Range Shot) does more damage, the farther away you are. \n When running in WvW, stay as far back from the fight as you can. You might be scaled up to 80, but you are still really disadvantaged if you don't know what you're doing. Barrage will get you plenty of hits, so you'll tag a lot of players along with crippling and causing bleeding * them. If someone gets to close, swap to axe. The chill (#3) will slow them down, and the #5 Warhorn skill will get you out quickly. Don't forget to Dodge to add protection if you have traited that far! \n *You can't bleed with barrage unless using traits or certain skills. My bad! \n Summing it all up (aka,"],"string":"[\n \"Summary: I probably talk too much also.\\n\\nPost: I think you're right about the two camps. I also think it boils down to basically how patient is someone? I'm a relatively patient person, so what I described is fine for me. Whereas with someone else who might not be patient would see everything needing a grind. \\n As such, I would conclude that most of the vocal GW2 community are impatient.\",\n \"Summary: Pick up a World Editor (Hammer, Unreal Engine 4, Creation Kit, Unity, etc) for your favorite game and just start making levels. Learn, iterate, move on).\\n\\nPost: If you're looking for Level design, you'll want to focus more-so on the 3D world editors. Programs like Hammer . Find a game you like that has a level editor (which is a lot, and they're free!), and start building with that. Learn what makes a level good, bad and avoid pitfalls (unless deathpits are what you want.... ^^Bad ^^Level ^^design ^^humor:) ). Unreal Engine 4 will give out student licenses to the program if you have a facalty member/the school sign off on it, or you can get a month subscription through [here]( Fan of Unreal Tournament? Pick up UE4, connect to the UT2k14 Git and start making maps for that. Find a game you enjoy, and make something for it, especially if you're starting out. This makes things really, really useful. Oh, and if there is a community devoted to LD for a certain game, join it! Be active in it! Show 'em what you got, it could be bad at first, but learn and make it better. \\n That all being said, don't ignore modeling (Maya, 3Dsmax, Blender) having the ability to make your own assets is a huge plus on resumes/portfolios. \\n 2 years isn't a whole lot of time when you're a student (unless you have a ton of free time). Some single levels can take that long to properly design, test, develop, art, optimize, etc if you're doing it in your spare time and are busy with other things. If you can devote more time to it, then you should be fine. Start with small levels before moving up to bigger ones. Level designers are a dime a dozen in the industry, so if you can develop extra skills (programming, 3D art, technical art, texture work) that will put you a step above the competition. \\n (\",\n \"Summary: I liek rangers.\\n\\nPost: For me, I have 2 rangers, probably going to make a third soon. \\n I like rangers; I like them a lot. I loved leveling rangers, and that is probably the reason why I made a second one. \\n I have my main guy, primarily for PvE, gets most of the shiney toys and is generally the guy I do everything with, except WvW. The other ranger is primary WvW, WvW builds for him, gear for WvW and even a commanders tag. \\n The third one? No idea. I'll probably just make him to level. Charr or Norn. I need achievements for both races, so I'll probably end up making both in the end. I'll find non-storage uses for them (PvP, perhaps... Champ running, etc.)\",\n \"Summary: Making it easier to get ascended items will make it harder for higher-tier fractal groups to be successful. \\n EDIT: Downvotes, again, for a somewhat reasonable concern. For people who are looking forward to this, can I know why?\\n\\nPost: I'm not sure I like this, so allow me to explain why. \\n Short background: \\nPersonally, I think giving the ability for anyone who is in a group with a higher level to go up to that level is already a bad idea. Yes, I will acknowledge that it will be a LOT easier for groups to form, but the quality of that group is going to not be optimal, if not worse (even for guild groups). You'll have people who maybe have gotten up to level 3, trying to do level 10 or 20's. Sure, they can get the rings from an alt at 10 or something, but that person's experience on that character is not going to be what it should be for a 10,20,30+ fractal. They could be more of a liability to the group, than a benefit; and the group might as be down a member or 2. \\n My point: \\n Adding the ability to get Amulets/Rings from Laurels will just make it easier for players who are not experienced enough for the higher level fractals to jump into groups they are not prepared for. It's not a gear thing, it's an experience thing. \\n If I'm forming a level 20 daily group, I want to know for sure that my group members has done 1-19, and know what they are getting into, learning curve and all. I want to know that they are experienced on their characters, and that (while we still might fail) it's certain they have experience at/around level 20.\",\n \"Summary: Rangers like purple dragons and you should probably just read that all because I wrote it.\\n\\nPost: A couple questions though, what build do you run on your ranger? \\n As someone who has played close to 1300 hours of ranger and loves ranger so much that I have 2 (possibly soon a third), I'm curious. I saw this update and was REALLY excited to see the changes. \\n Path of Scars (Offhand Axe 4): We now have a pull, something trappers love. Being a trapper, I am quite happy with this. This makes Axe/Dagger + Sword/Axe Rangers pretty Ideal (specifically for PvP mind you, I was trying it yesterday. Far better than Sword/Dagger + SB in my opinion. \\n Nature Magic and Spirits: Well tits, spirits are FINALLY becoming viable. This was a pretty big buff in the this line, and Evasive Purity makes me consider throwing Points into NM to get it in PvP or even for ANY Melee Ranger. \\n Longbow : You can now trait yourself to be basically a mobile arrowcart. Huge Support there with Muddy Terrain (buff) and LB Barrage. \\n Increase Pet Leash : If you can micro your pets (which, if you're a ranger you really should be able to do) then this is great for when you use pets to hold back mobs or causing diversions. \\n Muddy Terrain: Decrease the duration, but it's pulses are more, so that it'll hit things more often, make it much more dangerous and harder to get out of. \\n I will admit that there are some things are nerfed, but they were either not functioning as they were, or bring them in line with other skills from the same weapon from other profs (Shortbow on thief has a range of 900). \\n But really, the huge majority of this update was a buff for ranger. I could continue on rattling on about what is good and what is bad, what certain skill changes mean for builds and why certain things are better than others. We have diversity now! Really, pop into the Heart of the mists and toy with the traits (You don't have to do PvP, but it's free retraiting to test stuff).\",\n \"Summary: 0 30 30 10 0 is what you'll want, but you need to get to level 60 before you get there, then put 30 immediately into skirmishing)\\n\\nPost: A 0 30 30 10 0 trapper bunker (condition) would be good. You'll need to get to 30 in skirmishing to get the grandmaster trapper trait that allows you to use ground targeted traps and the master trait, which doubles size and duration of conditions, these are a must. Then, go from there. You can go beast master with your current build goal, but I think the trapper bunker is better for AoE damage and soloing. \\n I'm not sure of a 0 0 30 10 30 build, there is a 0 0 30 30 10 build that uses natures voice grandmaster trait in nature magic to maintain permanent regeneration. \\n (\",\n \"Summary: No, buy cooking lessons.\\n\\nPost: I don't know if I would invest in the armor. It's been shown that the armor/jewelry magic find buffs are not worth the sacrifice of the stats. \\n You could get the Luck sigil for your weapons, and instead of investing in armor, invest in cooking. Investing in cooking means you'll be able to make your own MF food buffs (Raspberry bars, or Omnomberry bars. Omnom's are better, but Raspberry are cheaper). The MF food buffs are really really useful, so if anything, get 400 chef, and make your own MF food buffs. \\n Conversly, you could just buy the MF food buffs like like 1s a pop (I don't know current prices).\",\n \"Summary: if you had to teach science to anyone, how would you do it, with your current experience and knowledge?\\n\\nPost: Hi Adam, thanks for doing this! \\n I've seen mythbusters clips used in classrooms from middle school to college level classes, all over the place. It has kind of become the big science show of the generatation. With that, if for some odd reason (for example, evil penguins enslave the human race) you had to teach science to an age group/grade of your choice (the penguins grant you this choice), using only the experience and knowledge you have learned through your career, in the setting of a classroom, how would you go about doing it? Something more like the hands on curriculum style that is starting to appear in some schools, or something like the lecture and lab tradiational style? Mix of both?\",\n \"Summary: Putting a merchant into the game is easy. The design of the game that would need to be changed around this is not. \\n EDIT: for clarification/grammar\\n\\nPost: There is more than just putting in the merchant for it. \\n What would happen to the economy? What would happen to karma farms? Would people do the farms more, or would they do dungeons? \\n This would add a lot more focus on gaining karma if you're going for a legendary. You need at least 500k already, so making a merchant that sells lodestones for karma just adds to the amount of karma you need. \\n They'd need to balance out the game around gettting this karma, which means re-working the design of the dynamic event rewards and such. You'd need to rebuild then loot systems since more people will be doing events, more monsters will be killed. You'd then probably get a higher concentration of people in the higher-level zones doing Events, which lowers the amount of people in the other zones. \\n And don't even think about how you would deal with the communities response.\",\n \"Summary: Database dis-syncronization makes funny names .\\n\\nPost: With how it's been happening, Asian characters getting replaced for English ones (other languages too maybe?), I think (emphasis on the think) that it's a database error. The game runs where some of the databases that provide info for the game... like the Trading post, Loot tables, mystic forge, Guilds/Parties and chat, and item/bank databases. \\n Looking at the item database, that has a table of codes for the item and it's respective name. I assume what was happening was that he chinese localization files (as in, the things that make the game chinese) was getting mixed up in with the other localization files. Thus, you see like some things (like the voting ballets during cut throat politics) were getting asian characters. \\n As for items getting blank ping effects... the most of what I've see are from new items, so I'm presuming that the game just isn't finding the proper connection in the item database to get the name.\",\n \"Summary: Co-Op is underwhelming: Player one does the decisions, Player 2 supports and heals and does little things to guide the main player through. Purely a back-seat supportive role.\\n\\nPost: One controls Aurora (the girl) and the other person plays the orb of light. I got to play this at PAX EAST a few weeks ago and the Co-Op was underwhelming. I Only got about 30 minutes of continuous play and 15 minutes of watching it being played, so take this with a grain of salt \\n Combat wise: \\nThe player who controls Aurora will be the one who makes all the combat decisions for Aurora and the NPC's that will accompany her at times. The player who controls the Orb of light can heal Aurora or the NPC's (by hovering over them holding a button). The orb can also 'distract' foes by hovering around them and holding the same button. You have to time this with the action bar so that you're distracting the foe right when its icon is passing the 'attacking' part of the action bar. The orb has a limited about of energy to do this that slowly can regen over time. There is also a couple of plants that the orb can float over and regain more energy quicker. \\n Explore/Story: \\nFrom the short bits of story I played and watched, Aurora again does all the decision making, but the orb needs to do certain actions to allow Aurora to pass, like hovering over a stone to cause a spikey wall to move out of the way. Probably one of the more creative things the orb can do is cast a shadow from some objects and line them up with markings on the wall to open passages. \\n Overall: \\nCo-op is nice, but the Orb of Light player will probably find themselves bored or having to be an 'active' back-set Player 1 / support role. At least, that is what I felt (and I usually enjoy support roles!). \\n Should be noted that (control wise) the only difference between Co-op and Single player is that Player 2 takes control of the Orb. For Single-player the Orb is controlled by the Right Analog stick (If I remember correctly). \\n Based on my 30(ish) minutes of continuous play, and 15 minutes of just watching it being played, I'd give it a 7.5/10 overall.\",\n \"Summary: Micro your pets, and you will go from UP to OP.\\n\\nPost: So I guess I half responded with the wrong answer for the comments about Ranger, but the rest of the info still stands in a PvE and \\\"pets are infact useful\\\" standpoint. I misread the poster as saying \\\"Pets are useless.\\\" My apologies. \\n See, I disagree (And allow me to preface this with \\\"Yes, pets need work, BUT....\\\"). Most rangers I've met either consider their pet stupid and just a temporary meat shield OR the only pet they know is a bear/lynx. If you know how to micro manage your pet, it is extremely extremely powerful. \\n \\n Fern Hound - AoE Regen \\n Brown Bear - AoE condition removal \\n Lashtale Deveourer - Can inflict 10 stacks of bleeding, tie that in with Shortbow crossfire and some good - placement, you can hit 25 stacks extremely easily. \\n Lashtale Devourer (aquatic) - Stuns for 2 attacks \\n Krytan Drakehound - Group Fear (also has a KD) \\n River Drake - Lightning Breath: Mass Bouncing Damage \\n Carrion Devourer (Aquatic) - AoE Regen (like the Fern hound) \\n \\n There are more that I use, and I adjust pets per-situation. Pets are far from stupid, and work really well. I can still do mass damage even with my pet on 24/7 passive. Saying Pets being broken kill a good 33% of the rangers damage is just a massive exaggeration. If you know what your pets do, you can easily do more than what a normal ranger can do.\",\n \"Summary: doesn't matter if ANet had officially stated it was an exploit or not, it was suspicious, \\\"too-good-to-be-true\\\" and unbalanced and it should've raised some flags with players. \\n EDIT: Okay, downvotes. I feel like I'm making a fair point. And it's true. ArenaNet puts a LOT of trust in players to NOT exploit things. When people DO exploit things that are clearly suspicious, they will come down hard, as shown here. It's common sense to play it safe. (And I just saw this, so this is new info to me) \\n EDIT2: To [link to what Gaile grey has said on the issue](\\n\\nPost: The issue with the \\\"exploit\\\" is that, it didn't follow normal jeweler crafting recipes and was more/less a really good, and unbalanced deal. This should've raised a TON of red flags saying \\\"This might not be what is supposed to happen, maybe I should just not do it.\\\" \\n ANet policies put a lot of trust in the player to not repeat an exploit if they suspect it is an exploit, and instead, report it/post it on the forums and await a response. The people who were banned should've known fully well that what they were doing was suspicious (don't even need to have been told \\\"this is an exploit,\\\" they just needed to use some common sense) and stopped.\",\n \"Summary: It comes down to money and time, most likely.\\n\\nPost: As much as they would love to be able to have all the teams enter, they can only do X amount for a reason. Extending the Tournament would cost money, which they can't spend on the tournament (can't break the budget). That applies to anyone, not just mistpedia or ANet, etc. \\n The goal of the tournament was to provide a competitive competition that could help bring in new people into the competitive scene. Limiting the tourney to either first-come-first-server or highly ranked teams would kind of negate this. With a draw, everyone at least has an equal chance to enter.\",\n \"Summary: Anet didn't make or give you the money you deleted, so they have no grounds to refund it. (EDIT: Nor were you hacked)\\n\\nPost: I guess the way I see it is this: \\n They did not provide you the money, nor did you get a special edition of the game that gives you the money automatically. Thus, they did not provide you the money. \\n The Mini Rytlock was an item that is apart of the digital deluxe edition, which you would buy, and ANet would provide you the item. So, you technically did not earn it yourself. \\n If that makes any sense.\",\n \"Summary: It's printing money, sucking up things and not putting anything back. Just my opinion. \\n EDIT: I should note, that if you are doing CoF to buy something that doesn't involve the economy at all, like Cultural armor or a commanders title, that's still not great, but it's better than using the money to buy stuff of the trading post.\\n\\nPost: It's creating money with no tangible impact on the economy. \\n You basically get 1gold for 5 minutes of work. Just out of thin air, poof. Then, you spend it on T6 mats. You then use that 1G and buy some T6 mats, but don't put any T6 mats back in. Now the T6 Mat supply is down 1G worth of mats, and there is no influx of T6's. (Yes, obviously there is some influx, but I'm just boiling it down). \\n Basically, it's creating a supply shortage of stuff in the economy, and the stuff coming from that farm isn't enough to counter what is being taken out.\",\n \"Summary: power rangers are now viable for roaming) \\n If other classes, like warrior or mesmer get it, then I'd be a little concerned.\\n\\nPost: I wouldn't worry about rangers too much because our traps proc while you're stealthed anyways so it's not like we didn't already know where you were to begin with (I'm speaking in terms of WvW/PvP obviously). Giving us a reveal is just really nice so that we can run other builds (like Beast master) and not just traps. Perma-stealth thieves are impossible to kill unless you have an AoE attack, which is restricted to Condi-trap rangers. (\",\n \"Summary: Players who play bearbow are almost certainly newer players who don't know how to play ranger. Give some of the other pets a try. Grab a Greatsword or Sword/WH and give it a try.\\n\\nPost: WARNING: A fair bit of generalization in here, sorry! \\n Bearbow is generally hated because of the players that play it, they typically have no idea what to do and it frustrates players a whole lot when bearbow players screw up (which they generally do often). \\n The PvE meta is all about Line of sighting, stacking and high DPS: \\n \\n Generally those who bearbow use a LB, don't stack and don't micro their pet. They push mobs out of the way and ruin the run. \\n Mostly players who bear-bow just stand around at max range and space 1, maybe LB2 every once and a while. They don't contribute too the fight much at all. \\n Bears don't provide good DPS or support. Jungle Stalker is used a lot because of the might it grants with its F2, Ravens/Owl/Hawk are used too for their high DPS and swiftness granting skills. They also don't move around too much when stacking. \\n Using full signet is semi-frowned upon because it doesn't help the DPS. Quickening Zephyr and \\\"Sic 'em!\\\" and Frost spirit are the usual utilities for a PvE ranger. Signets don't help support your team either (unless you're running Signet of the Beast Master, in which case, some signets do, but remorseless is usually better.... in some cases) \\n Bear bows usually don't run Spotter either, which is Rangers most powerful support trait. \\n That all being said, if you really know how to play ranger, you can get away with using bears every once and while, but then again, if you really know how to play you know to not use Bears. \\n \\n The list can go on and on, but it basically boils down to: (\",\n \"Summary: Play as a Breton. Use Heavy armor when enchantment is high enough. Don't worry about Magicka, if you perk the schools properly you just need a base of about 400. You should be able to easily do master and no have much issues.\\n\\nPost: I run with a Conjuration Warrior (heavy armor) \\n First off, I'd suggest starting with a Breton, as they get the summon familiar spell right off. \\n Really, if you get high enough magicka (~450) and perk into the magicka reducing perks in destruction/conjuration you should be fine without any magicka reducing enchantments. That being said, you'll want to have magicka regeneration enchantments. \\n Also, you may want to go with heavy armor later on in the game. Unless you know how to place your summons properly so that they take the brunt of the damage, it doesn't hurt to have the heavy armor (when enchanted properly, there is no downside). \\n Difficulty wise, I'm having very little issues with my character (I'm set on master). I have a fully perked out Conjuration tree, and summon 2 Draema Lords at once (or any of the 3 elemental ones, when needed) and things go pretty smoothly.\",\n \"Summary: To help the team out, I ran S/D (or T) and S/WH. \\n EDIT: Second thought, I could see where SotB is better than Remorseless most of time. Nevermind on that point.\\n\\nPost: Signet of the Beastmaster is great, but then you also have conflict with Remorseless, which is really nice for large group vuln stacking. \\n For pugs, I would run with S/D because pugs aren't going to be as mega organized as a guild group, so the extra survivability was really nice. The offhand axe though I also felt (while useful ) wasn't a good choice verse most non-ranged bosses, I would still rather run S/D or even S/T if I knew my team had good blast finishers. Unless the boss had something to be reflected, the Whirlwind attack was meh at best and Path of Scars just sucked.\",\n \"Summary: almost all of the ranger population doesn't actually know how to play ranger outside of bearbow and a cookie cutter build, thus, no one knows what to do with these changes.\\n\\nPost: The issue with rangers is that the population of players who play them are mega stratified. You have 97% of the population who play ranger but have absolutely no idea what their doing, only playing cookie cutter builds and not really taking the time to figure out what the classes strengths and weakness are. They're the ones who, if they have to change their build slightly or do something out of the norm of the build, struggle. Thats why a lot of changes always make most of the ranger population 'sad' ... a lot just don't know what to do with them. The remaining 3% of the population (which is not many people) actually try and learn the class, they're the ones who can adapt, aren't bearbows and can tell you why bearbows are bad. They're the ones who swap their pets, who know what weapons to use when. Stack in PvP, can read skills and dodge properly (and not just spam skills). \\n Things I'm looking forward to this patch: \\n \\n Pets reacting instantly to my commands \\n Master of Poison basically becoming the bane of bunkers, more poison applications is good, it's not necessarily all about the DPS in PvP. \\n Viper's nest being a poison field. \\n Read the Wind giving sniper rangers a huge buff, it's a really fun build to play in PvP and WvW Roaming \\n Striders Defense, a trait that might actually make me want to put 30 points in Skirmishing when going Melee ranger in PvE \\n Lightning Reflexes 'fix' and buff \\n Survival of the Fittest: We need more condi removal \\n Invigorating bond: Support and more support. \\n \\n As a longtime ranger and theorycrafter, I'm stoked.\\nAlso, I apologize for being mean towards rangers, but lets face it: it's kind of true.\",\n \"Summary: how to disable sourceTV, anything special on server needed for highlander matches?\\n\\nPost: Basically, is there anything specific I need to do to the server if I'm going to be hosting a highlander match on it (through tf2lobby of course). The server I'll be using does have an ever-watching \\\"Announcer\\\" (SourceTV) who we use to record demo's of matches. I know that I'll have to disable her to do so, but am not sure how.\",\n \"Summary: Southsun Cove is a great place to farm.\\n\\nPost: In response to this post \\n \\n T6 Mat Farm Guide \\n Much like many players, I'm dirt poor. I developed these runs in conjunction with a freind of mine. We're both working on Legendaries (Frostfang for him, Moot for myself) and don't really want to pay for our Gifts of Might and Magic. To remedy this, we're farming up all our T6 Mats. \\n This guide includes farms for: \\n \\n Vicious Fangs \\n Ancient Bone \\n Vials of Powerful Blood \\n Elaborate Totems \\n Powerful Venom Sacs \\n Vicious Claws \\n Piles of Crystalline Dust \\n \\n Non T6 Mats included: \\n \\n Corrupted Lodestone \\n Charged Lodestone \\n Onyx Lodestone \\n \\n Some things to note: \\n \\n If the farming zone is full of bots, report them and try guesting on another server! \\n MF is highly recommended if you want some more rare drops. I personally use [Spicy Pumpkin Cookies]( But any [MF Consumable]( is good. \\n These are developed to be \\\"semi afkable\\\" so you don't really have to worry about dieing unless you really aren't paying attention. \\n \\n \\n Vicious Fang/Vials of Powerful Blood Farm \\n [Link to map] ( \\n Here you will be killing [Reef Skelk]( Basically run from the Cove, north up the beach and back down, very simple. \\n Recommended Skills: \\n \\n Speed Buffs (Signet of the Hunt, Signet of Shadow, Rampage as One, for example) \\n AoE Damage Skills (Any Ele, dagger storm, whirling axe) \\n \\n There is no Veterans on this run. Average in 45 minutes was about 5-10 of each Vicious Fangs and Vials of Powerful Blood. \\n \\n Powerful Venom Sac Farm \\n [Link to map]( \\n Here you are killing Reef Riders . We basically run around in a circle, klling all the falls in our path. \\n Recommended Skills: \\n \\n Speed Buffs (Same as above) \\n \\n There is 2 Veterans for this. Fights are straight forward. Watch for confusion and a reflection dome that they create. It will reflect all projectiles. \\n \\n Vicious Claw and Ancient Bone Farms \\n [Link to map]( \\n Here you are killing the [Ice Brood Colossus]( and [Corrupted Quaggan]( \\n Recommended Skills: \\n \\n Speed Buffs (Same as above) \\n The ability to dodge \\n \\n Other noted drops: \\n \\n Corrupted Lodestone \\n \\n There are no veterans along this path. \\n \\n Elaborate Totem/Ancient Bone Farm \\n [Link to map]( \\n Here you are killing the [Grawl]( \\n Recommended Skills: \\n \\n Speed Buffs \\n AoE Damage \\n AoE Pulls (Binding Chains, for example) \\n \\n There are no veterans along this path. Tagging the \\\"friendly rabbits\\\" can also be benefical. They can drop loot. (For instance, when first developing this run, I tagged a rabbit, got an Unidentified Dye that turned into a Celestial. Good times) \\n \\n Piles of Crystalline Dust/Charged Lodestone + Other Lodestones \\n \\n [Link to map 1]( \\n [Link to map 2]( \\n \\n (First picture) Here you are primarily killing the Sparks and Embers within the ring. There are multiple Veterans. You will need to open the Temple of Lyssa for this one. \\n (Second Picture) Here you are killing ONLY Sparks and Air Elementals. There is four total veterans. An event will spawn where a champion risen knight will appear. You will need to open the Temple of Dwayna for this one. \\n Note! The drop rate on the Charged Lodestone is low (as compared to say, the Corrupted Lodestones). The drop rate on the Crystalline dust is kind-of low, but factoring in the amount of incandescent dust that drops, the value of charged lodestones and the value of the Crystalline dust, we figure it's still a decent farm. Shocking Crystals are dropped often, and add up quickly, which can be sold for a good chunk of silver after every 30-40 minutes. \\n Recommended Skills: \\n \\n Speed Buffs (Same as above) \\n \\n \\n Other notes: \\n \\n I have not yet found a good place to farm Armored Scales outside of the WvWvW Borderlands Central Lake (the Krait there) \\n Don't forget, you can promote [T5 materials to T6 ones!]( \\n Bring a friend! Having someone else to chat with/run with makes things less dull! \\n Listen to music! \\n \\n Thanks for reading!\",\n \"Summary: Watch people make awesome maps fast because they can.\\n\\nPost: Hey r/tf2! \\n In 4 hours from this post, the [TF2Maps.net 72hr Winter Mapping Special 2015]( will be starting! This is a 72hr mapping competition where ANY TF2 mapper is challenged to make a fully working, tf2 custom map in less than 72 hours. If you've ever wanted to see mappers from all around the world slowly descend into a sleep-deprived madness, all while making custom maps for TF2... nows your chance! This is a contest that we've been doing for years now and it's easily our most popular contest... Ever. \\n We have an intel briefcase load of people streaming their mapping progress over at this link . Individual stream links provided at [the TF2Maps.net contest thread]( \\n \\n Some people you may know are involved with the contest too! \\n \\n KritzKast will be streaming live . \\n [Egan]( and [Bakscratch]( creators of the second place map [pd_watergate]( from the Mercs. Vs. Aliens Contest will be streaming creation of possible new gamemodes. \\n The Train-lord himself, [UEAKCrash will be streaming]( another ridiculously crazy I-don't-know-what-the-heck-he's-thinking-but-it'll-be-weird-map. \\n YM, co-creator of cp_snowplow, co-creator of Mann Manor and author of pl_hoodoo [will also be streaming!]( \\n \\n This contest is open for EVERYONE! So if you're free this weekend, crack open hammer and make something! Just have it entered by the end of the deadline Monday. \\n Best of luck everyone!\",\n \"Summary: People are making maps in 72 hours, from Friday to Monday \\n \\n [Multi-Twitch]( of mappers building from scratch \\n [TF2Maps.net 72hr Contest Post]( for the 72hr mapping event \\n [TF2Maps.net post]( for the event, Merc Vs Aliens\\n\\nPost: Hello! Self post for this... thing. \\n TF2Maps.net just started their 72hr mapping competition, where they have to make \\\"War of the Worlds\\\" themed TF2 maps in 72hrs. So if you're interested and want to see some people make custom maps, now's a great chance too. [This link]( will take you to a multi-twitch which includes all of the streamers to this date. These people have said they'll stream their work off/on for the duration of the contest. Fore-warning, this will take a while to load so if you're interested in more specific streams, you can check out this [main post]( over at TF2Maps.net which has individual links. \\n The 72hr maps will be playtested often during this time, you can join our [steam group]( to get in-steam event announcements of when the maps are being tested. \\n So if you're free and interested in mapping, aliens or people slowly descending into a lack-of-sleep madness, check out the streams, say hi, see whats up.\",\n \"Summary: As a new ranger, you're going to want to focus on survival, with survival comes your power. This will allow you to push into zones 1-3 levels above your current level. Not only does this make leveling a little easier, it makes it more fun. You're moving, dodging, having close-calls and generally being really active. It makes the leveling less dull and tedious and more like you're actually doing something, rather than just grinding out Renown hearts. \\n /u/lordtomato made [a great write up]( about using Longbows and Greatswords, totally worth a read for those who might want to try those when leveling! \\n [Link to Part 1 - The Basics](\\n\\nPost: The Early Levels \\n Nice work, hero, you've just slayed a worm, killed that rubix cube golem thing or saved an entire village from centaurs and/or ghosts (or you did that weird thing with dreams... was that even real? Does that even count?). You and your trusty pet find yourself out in the middle of no where starter-ville with nothing but an axe in your hand. Great, you have an axe, that's not very ranger like, now is it? Actually, the axe is probably one of your best starting weapons to have because it's a really good “training” weapon for ranger combat techniques (good choice ArenaNet!). You're now in a very good position to start having some fun. But, where to begin? What should I trait into? What on earth is there for me to do as a ranger? Calm down, let me explain the first 30 levels. \\n (For those scanning, I'm going over first weapons and armor, how to deal with combat, picking utility skills and finally traits.) \\n I also claim that this guide is written based on the knowledge I have discovered after 1400 some hours I have spent leveling two rangers (one is at 1100 hours, the other ~300). \\n \\n So I'm fresh out of the tutorial, what weapon should I have first, since I have 1 set for the first few levels? \\n Generally, there is no “wrong” weapon (except Longbow), but there are some weapons that are better for solo play than others. My personal recommendation, and I highly suggest this for solo play, is the Axe and Warhorn. Axe is a good, general weapon. Richochet, the autoattack, bounces between three targets, so a pseudo-AoE. It provides solid kiting ability with the chill (#3 skill), and your pet provides weakness which also aids in kiting targets (#3, on pet attack). With the speed boost and fury with warhorn (#5), it's a good starter weapon for learning the basic techniques for standard Ranger combat and solo play. I'm covering the weapons in Part 3. After you hit level 7 for weapon swap, grab a shortbow until you start to do big group content. (You could, get longbow, but for the closer-kiting fighting, you'll want shortbow bow for the cripple (#3) and quick shot (Dodge, #4). \\n Okay, what about the armor? \\n Early on, you really only get a few choices for armor. Everyone else seems to go with power gear and that won't change for Rangers. Later on, in the 10-20's I will still suggest going with Power and Precision gear as the condition skills don't come out to play strongly until later. When purchasing armor, I would just stick with blue until around level 40, then at 50 you can start going into greens. If you're going to get rares, get it around level 70. I upgrade my armor every 10 levels, unless I get a drop that is better than what I am currently wearing (which you do early on between level 1 and 30ish. Don't fret if you are changing out your armor a lot in the early levels. It's perfectly fine). \\n Okay, I have my weapon and armor. What the heck am I doing? \\n Rangers are masters of kiting. If you don't know what kiting is, I'll explain it now. Much like you pull a kite and it follows you around, you do the same with foes. You use CC (crowd control skills) to slow down your foe and your basically run infront of it throwing off shots when you can, while it follows you. Rangers, as I mentioned in part 1 have many skills that make them extremely mobile, either directly (skill that causes evasion) or indirectly (skills that cause the foe to slow down/miss). You want to constantly be moving around when kiting (that is the whole point of it!) \\n When facing an enemy, you'll want to keep kiting as much as possible. Use the chills, cripples, immobilizes when you can. Don't use them all at once, obviously; watch when you use your skills and chain them. Watch for attacks and dodge them appropriately. \\n Utilities and Healing skills, what should I get first? \\n You unlock utility slots at levels 5, 10 and 20. You'll need to buy more utilities (with skill points) before you can unlock the later tiers of them. Fortunately, when doing PvE zone clearing for leveling, skill points are bountiful and getting all the ones you need to unlock aren't hard. The biggest asset for a ranger is its mobility. By level 5, you have just (or close to) enough skill points to get two skills. My suggestion is Troll Unguent (for healing, costs 3 skill points) and Lightning Reflexes. \\n Troll Unguent: There is an ongoing argument in the Ranger community as to which is better, Troll Unguent or Healing Spring. My vote goes towards Troll Unguent, it's can not be striped (no boons to remove), has a high rate of regeneration and relatively short cool down. The down side is you don't get the condition remove nor the group support. If you have a leveling partner who is someone with blast finishers, I suggest running healing spring instead, but for solo play (which rangers are perfectly fine with at any level) I would go with Unguent. \\n Lightning Reflexes: One of the many “free” dodges that Rangers have. Upon using Lightning Reflexes, you gain 10 seconds of Vigor, a boon which provides 100% endurance regeneration for it's duration. Basically, it's a dodge that lets you dodge more often! As I mentioned early, you always want to keep moving and dodging as a Ranger. \\n For the later levels, 10 and 20, you should look at skills that help your mobility. My personal favorites are Signet of the Hunt (25% increased movement speed), Signet of Renewel (Passive HP regen, also great for kiting) and Quickening Zephyr (Faster attacks, but you heal for less). My personal build at level 20 was QZ, Lightning Reflexes and one of the two signets. It really hasn't changed much for general leveling/PvE since then. It's a solid set up for Power builds. \\n Okay, so now I have the armor, weapons, utilities to try out, what about the traits? \\n At level 11 you can buy an adept training manual, I suggest looking for it on the Trading Post, as it is usually cheaper on there than buying straight from a merchant (in any of the major cities). Traits are what allow you to start specializing into specific roles. For the first 30 levels though, you don't have to worry too much about that as you'll be doing a lot of non-dungeon PvE stuff, so just focus on damage and survival. For now, I would put points into Skirmishing, Marksman ship and Wilderness survival. Each of those Minor Adept (the 5 point traits) will be really useful early on. You can choose what you feel is better to get, since everyone is different. But I would look into those 3. After you get the 5 points in one or two of them, you can look at getting 10 points into any of them. Your first 10 point trait will be at 30. My personal suggestion would be 10 in Skirmishing, for primal reflexes or 10 in Wilderness survival for Vigorous Renewal. \\n Oh oh oh! Frost! You totally forgot to chat about WvW! (Thanks /u/Crobly for pointing that out!) \\n You're right! Everything that I mentioned until now fully applies to WvW, moreso than ever. You always want to be moving around in WvW. Stand around and you're dead. Except, one thing is different. Axe/WH is still a great combo, but instead of Shortbow as your secondary weapon, run longbow. The Longbow is best at, you guessed it, long range. The Auto-attack (Long-Range Shot) does more damage, the farther away you are. \\n When running in WvW, stay as far back from the fight as you can. You might be scaled up to 80, but you are still really disadvantaged if you don't know what you're doing. Barrage will get you plenty of hits, so you'll tag a lot of players along with crippling and causing bleeding * them. If someone gets to close, swap to axe. The chill (#3) will slow them down, and the #5 Warhorn skill will get you out quickly. Don't forget to Dodge to add protection if you have traited that far! \\n *You can't bleed with barrage unless using traits or certain skills. My bad! \\n Summing it all up (aka,\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":26,"string":"26"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":97,"string":"97"}}},{"rowIdx":98,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"jonathon8903"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the content for a reddit post I am poor and can barely pay bills but my mother won't allow me to cut down on them."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I am hoping the /r/personalfinance can help me out her. But first a little background info. My mother divorced her ex-husband about 3-4 years ago and between that and a series of unfortunate events she now has horrible credit and is making a horribly low paycheck. I work at a grocery store but according to management, corporate has asked for hours to be cut so now I am stuck with two days a week at about ten hours this week. That comes out to be about $65-$70 a week or $260-$280 a month. I pay our cell phone bill and our internet/tv bill. This comes out to be about $220-$230 a month all together. I have considered cutting out the tv ($50 by itself) and getting three Roku boxes. I also want to get rid of the expensive smartphones and start working our way down to prepaid feature phones. I am a major tech geek but I think I can live with this considering that internet is only $30 a month and I have two computers. My mother however does not like these ideas because she has certain shows that she likes and acts like she can't live without them. I have also managed to get the woman addicted to her iPhone that she simply won't give up. I tried to be brunt with her and explain my logic of I pay the bills with my money so I should get to make these decisions. She first tried to claim that since she pays for everything else, she should start cutting back. But the thing is, is that she does have that right and she often does exercise it. Currently I have no car and with the way my expenses are going so far, there is no way I can save for one. Do you guys have any advice on what I can do?"},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"I am hoping the /r/personalfinance can help me out her. But first a little background info. My mother divorced her ex-husband about 3-4 years ago and between that and a series of unfortunate events she now has horrible credit and is making a horribly low paycheck. I work at a grocery store but according to management, corporate has asked for hours to be cut so now I am stuck with two days a week at about ten hours this week. That comes out to be about $65-$70 a week or $260-$280 a month. I pay our cell phone bill and our internet/tv bill. This comes out to be about $220-$230 a month all together. I have considered cutting out the tv ($50 by itself) and getting three Roku boxes. I also want to get rid of the expensive smartphones and start working our way down to prepaid feature phones. I am a major tech geek but I think I can live with this considering that internet is only $30 a month and I have two computers. My mother however does not like these ideas because she has certain shows that she likes and acts like she can't live without them. I have also managed to get the woman addicted to her iPhone that she simply won't give up. I tried to be brunt with her and explain my logic of I pay the bills with my money so I should get to make these decisions. She first tried to claim that since she pays for everything else, she should start cutting back. But the thing is, is that she does have that right and she often does exercise it. Currently I have no car and with the way my expenses are going so far, there is no way I can save for one. Do you guys have any advice on what I can do?"},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Summary: Work hard, it's a great job considering the alternatives and just don't give anybody trouble.\n\nPost: Also known as Walmart Unloaders, it really isn't too terrible of a job on the good days but on the bad days it can really suck. Granted I work in a small store so take my advice with a grain of salt but usually if you have enough people then everything flies by pretty fast but if you don't have enough then after an hour or two your shift really feels long. \n As previously mentioned, your entire job is pretty much getting everything ready for third shift to do their job. However expect to be seen as the do-everything crew. Although my official title is IMS Associate, I have had to Push carts, Plunge and Clean a toilet, Work a front end register, make keys, work sporting goods, work the toy section, watch electronics, and stock various other areas of the store. So by no means can you expect to remain in the backroom. However you should also know that being an unloader comes with a great deal of freedom that some other associates don't get. For one, you get a better dress code, so you can wear jeans instead of Khakis. Your freedom of speech will probably be less limited (Depending on your IMS Supervisor) I know that in our backroom we have some very weird and sometimes very perverse conversations and nobody seems to have any issue with it. Also because you are not on the floor as often, you get the benefit of not dealing with customers as often as a sales associate or cashier would which can sometimes be very nerve-racking. Wednesday I got the joy of listening to a (very obvious) crackhead tell me about how her relatives were cracking her phone. Sounded almost believable until I kept listening to her and realized that she was throwing computer terms out in a sentence that made little sense. \n If I had to give any advice, it would be to play some tetris before coming in to it. Trust me, the ability to stack good will help you out a lot. It would also be beneficial to work out at home because depending on what pallets you are working, strength and endurance is beneficial. Your first couple of weeks, you may need some type of energy boost because otherwise it may tire you out. Personally I take a caffeine supplement and it works for me but to each their own. Just work hard, don't give people (especially the managers) any shit and you'll do just fine. I've been working here for 8 months and I'm in line for a promotion, I've seen somebody else start here and in three months he was a CSM so promotion is very possible if that is what you are going for also.","Summary: I screw my bestfriend's sister during a camping trip. Now she no longer talks to me and my bestfriend still doesn't know and has been talking about another trip.\n\nPost: Well I suppose I am risking something by using my main account but let's see how this goes. \n About a year ago, by best friend was going to be going into the Navy soon. His naval base is in Chicago so he wanted to spend some time with his friends before he left. So we start planning who is going and what not and one of the people he debated on taking was his 23yo sister who he doesn't see much due to a complicated situation. Me having a slight crush on her, I try to encourage him to bring her. He finally agrees and I am of course excited about this. The thing about his sister though is that she is a married woman. She married a mexican(?) man so that he could live in the country. When I wanted her to come I honestly had no intentions of what would come later on. I was just a guy who was hoping to get his crush to come on a 3 day camping trip. \n Anyways skip forward to when we get to our spot, me and her really hit it off. The first night, we stayed up the entire night talking about our lives and really starting falling for each other a bit more (apparently she also had a thing for me). We went walking along the side of the road, we didn't do anything but just walk back and forth and talk. But about 2 hours later, the other guys start trying to track us down when they wake up and notice that we are gone and have been missing for a while. It is at this point that they start being suspicious about us (despite the fact that at this point we haven't even touched each other). The next afternoon me and her were in a tent talking and half trying to stay awake, when the wind starts picking up and we start preparing the camp site for the approaching storm. The wind picks up just a little and some of the people got a little scared and by majority vote (I was not for it) we decided to leave. So we rush to get all our stuff packed up and leave. Well on the way home we manage to encounter one drunk driver and later on, a deer jumps out in front of the lead car which leads her to slam on her brakes. The car behind her (our car) ended up rear ending her because due to the wet roads, we could not stop in time. Everybody is kinda freaking out and after parents are called and we get it sorted out we head home. My best friend, his sister, and me decide to go back to his house and spend the night there. My friend is tired and doesn't take long to pass out. Me and his sister are in her room talking about everything. When she asks for help applying aloe to her back to help with her sunburn. I start doing it and she began to undo the straps off her bra to help me out. Well at this point both our hormones are raging, and we are exhausted to our limits. Well apparently when you have raging hormones, and are exhausted, your limits are loosened a bit almost like being drunk and one thing led to another (I honestly can't remember the exact series of events) and we ended up fucking. After we were done, she cleaned herself up and we talked for about another half hour and then we went to bed. \n My friend still does not know we did that and unfortunately me and his sister no longer talk. I still wanna reconnect as just friends but she apparently doesn't. Maybe that is a good thing, maybe not. I just know I wish situations were different because we really connected during that trip.","Summary: Learn the truck and where everything is and relax and don't worry too much about fucking up, that is where you learn.\n\nPost: Granted I am not an EMT, yet but I have done a couple of ride-alongs on an ambulance and plenty on a fire truck. First of all, you are going to be nervous, give me a piece a paper with a question about how to handle a situation and I can give a great answer on how to handle it but put me in the situation in which I have to perform and I am nervous about the entire thing. \n Some pieces of advice I would suggest is talks to the medics and learn where every piece of equipment is on the truck. Do as many ride-alongs as you can, the more practice you get the more confident you become in your skills. When I started in this field I was less then useful on a scene, I was in the way and EMT's and Paramedics would sometimes hint to that. Now that I have been in it for a while and learned as much as I could, I feel like I am more useful on a scene and I have been asked for help a few times. Now don't get me wrong I still fuck up sometimes and you will also but an instructor of mine told me this one day, every fuck up is a chance to learn. Yeah I know, common advice and it is easy to take for granted but it is so true.","Summary: 100 Budget, Cricket Wireless NO Contract, Needs flashlight, AT&T LTE Bands, and allows tethering\n\nPost: Ok so my mother's phone just went kaput and stopped working. I gave her my $250 Huawei Ascend Mate 2, not a flagship phone but a really nice phone that has been my daily driver for a while. I figured I would just pop my Cricket Wireless sim into my old Verizon Moto X. Well the problem arises when apparently the Moto X only picks up HSPA+ and only 1-2 bars where the HAM2 was picking up full coverage LTE. I tried to see if she would trade, seeing as how she doesn't really use data but she says she just learned that phone and don't want to re-learn another. \n My phone usage is actually pretty basic, it needs to have a camera led light because I use the flashlight app a lot, but other then that it only needs to support AT&T LTE bands and allow for tethering.","Summary: If you're not going to read this then you wouldn't be able to provide very helpful advice.\n\nPost: Note, this started out as a request for help on my social issues but as I typed this, it just sorta evolved into a request for advice on my entire life situation I hope that you can give me some advice. \n \n Reddit, I am asking for your help. I try to live a very fulfilling life and try to live a fulfilling life but I have found that the one thing that really sets me back is my social life...or rather a complete and utter lack of. I have had one person before tell me that one reason that I don't have too much fun is because I don't socialize with people much. I believe the reason for this is because I don't think I have very good social skills. Parties scare me because I usually can't raise a conversation, when I am among groups of people I find that even though I wish to socialize, I tend to eventually just walk away because the few things that I can think of saying don't seem to interest anybody. I have realized that with girls I am worse. There is a girl who is a cashier in the local store and while I find her attractive and interesting, I understand she is already taken by somebody I believe. Despite this, I have found that because of my attraction to her, I feel like a 13 year old around her stumbling to talk (I'm 19). \n Some people may mention that maybe I need to get out more or something but this seems to be a problem to because I have no car nor a licence. My mother is struggling financially and I am doing what I can to help her by babysitting my brats of sibbilings while she works. Due to this I can't get another job (I should say I no longer have my first job due to situations of my own doing) and while I am studying to become a firefighter, I am sure that even when I get certified, this won't help much because I still have no time to work because of the babysitting and I don't have a reliable form of transportation so if I get asked to work at a station on the other side of the county, I won't be able to do it. This is pretty much leaving me stuck in my life situation without any clear way of getting out. I have dreams of moving away to a bigger city and out of this redneck town (sorry but I am sick of 'em) but I can't. What do you suggest Reddit.","Summary: involved with a girl I work with, she can't seem to make up her mind on where we stand relationship wise and we have been arguing a lot more recently. I'm not sure what to do.\n\nPost: So let's get some of the background out of the way first, I'm a 21 year old male living with his mother about to start applying for college while working in a retail setting. The involved girl is 22 also lives with her parents, while attending college and is a coworker. I'm technically her direct supervisor but that is only temporary because I've asked to step down about 2 weeks ago and as of last update, I know I'm being removed from the team. \n Me and this girl have been friends for most of the time she started working. We had a bit of a falling out but eventually made up and got a little serious. We are in a sort of friends with benefits type relationship. At least that is how I guess she wants to see it, I feel like we're dating and she just doesn't wanna call it that. We hang out at her house a lot and cuddle, watch movies, and have sex. We go grocery shopping together and I pay for the times we go eat out (although I will mention that was my idea from the start because of the debt she is in). She brings a lot of baggage from past relationships and I feel like she seems to view men as a lower tier on the social totem pole. I even asked her why she wasn't a lesbian based on some of her conversations and her reply was \"I like dick\" in text messages, she is very short, and often replies to messages with \"Yep\", \"Hmmm.. \" or \"idk\". It makes holding a conversation hard. \n During our better times, I've tried to get an understanding at how she views our relationship but I can never get a straight answer. Some days she seems to have feelings for me while others I feel like I'm just there for her enjoyment. I'm fine with the friends with benefits thing but it's starting to get confusing with the back and forth thing and I feel like I just need to understand where to have my feelings and if I should try to commit with this girl or move on and look for other girls. I feel like normally I'd probably just say fuck it, ignore her, and move on but working together and seeing each other multiple days a week makes that difficult.","Summary: May be fired soon because female associate is claiming I wronged her somehow, but unsure of what the official complaint is. Manager who is on my side explains that it really isn't looking very good for me. What should I do to prepare for a potential unemployment situation?\n\nPost: I was recently promoted in the company to a supervisor and got a great $4/h pay raise with benefits and more hours. I was mostly enjoying it until about two days ago when a female employee under me started some drama after I had a discussion with her about her attendance. I have not officially been called in to the investigation yet but one of the managers who helped me get this position warned me that based on what she was hearing, I was possibly at risk of loosing my job. \n Every firing I have ever seen at my company usually involved a long series of documentation before the firing took place. I have one write up from about 6 months ago for too many call outs while I was sick but other then that , no manager has had an issue with me and my status with the company has seemed stable so my financial matters are a bit fragile right now while I have been trying to cover my debt. \n I haven't started a savings fund yet because I was trying to max out payments to the couple of debtors I have to pay, to hurry and get rid of them. My biggest debts right now are about a $850 verizon account in collection that I was making structured payments towards, a $400 Secured Personal Loan that I had to take out to help my mother out, and about $500 in credit card debt. I have been making about $1400 a month and was pretty much putting almost all of it towards these three. \n If I loose my job, the credit card company I can hold off for 2-3 weeks, but I'm not sure about the Verizon account, and I know for sure that the moment I stop paying on the personal loan they will come to collect the collateral I put on the loan. I haven't had time to think too hard but I'm kinda a regular in the local Taco Bell and know the manager there well enough. I was considering putting in an application there just to keep paying something towards these bills. \n I have thought about Unemployment also but according to the Georgia Board of Labor, if I was fired for something that I did, I can not file for unemployment. Now while I tried to do everything right and by no means did I have anything against this girl, if they determine that I should no longer be working with the company, it will look like I was at fault and can't file.","Summary: I am making a CAD system as a programming project that will probably not be ever used in \"production\". As a dispatcher, what would you like to see in your dream CAD system?\n\nPost: Ok so I am currently a Volunteer Firefighter/First Responder, both parents are FF/EMT's (with my mother being an ex-dispatcher) and a majority of my friends happen to be in the fire service. In short, most of my life is the fire service.I have also been learning programming for about 6 months so far and have decided to tackle a project. I wanted to design a cad system that could potentially help our dispatch system but at the same time I hear that they may be getting their first CAD system sometime soon so there is no pressure for me to get this done and it is mostly a learning project. \n This project came to me when their main way of dispatching units, the Motorola Two-Tone paging system failed. Because of this a system I maintain, which many volunteers use failed also because it relied on hearing the tones. So I got the idea that why don't I build a system and put it in dispatch, something that would not fail so easily and if it did, it could be brought back up quickly. Now when I got good and established in it and had a plan set in place of how to do it, I learned of our local dispatch's plan to go ahead and get a CAD system in place. I figured at this point there was no point in abandoning a good chance to learn so I continued. \n So at this point my plan includes for a main web server that hosts the data while hosting web pages so that dispatchers can interact with it. The page would include the basic info of Address of the call, Call type, and units being dispatched. The Server would then at that point send out the info to units by either Email, text, or through an app which was my next project. It would also email a report to our NFIRS (Fire Reports) Admin. This way he doesn't have to call dispatch and ask them to fax all the dispatch sheets to him every day he works so that would be less work in both him and the dispatchers. \n So my question to you guys is how would you improve this? What have you always wanted in your CAD system? I understand this project may never go anywhere but it would make for something I could further my programming knowledge with and if successfully completed could be added to a portfolio for a later job prospect in the future.","Summary: I need cheap healthy food options for work while also being plain enough that I can store it without the brats eating it up.\n\nPost: Ok so I am trying to come up with a plan for food for me that has the most health benefits for the least amount of money, while still being decent enough to eat. I still live with my mother so while I am home, I usually have some basic things like bread, rice, and some sandwich meats (we are kinda lower-middle class). I have a microwave, stove, oven, rice-cooker, slow-cooker, blender, and toaster. I work from 4p-1a as a truck unloader most days so between my high metabolism and physical job, I need a lot of calories. \n In the past my plan has usually been a loaf of french bread while I'm working to keep my stomach happy, usually an energy drink of some kind because otherwise an hour or two into work and I'm ready to quit. For lunch I eat a can of Chef Boyardee or a bowl of rice with the occasional fast food. At home, I usually will eat sandwiches, Chef Boyardee, or ramen noodles. I know that my diet is unhealthy, not very nutritional, and the energy drink during work can get expensive. \n I usually budget around $80 a month for food and I would like to put together a menu that will provide the best nutrients for the cheapest price. I also have another small catch, I'd prefer things that don't appeal to kids too much. If I bring something like a $8 pack of ham, between my brother and sister they can go through it in about three days where it would take me probably 2 weeks. On the other hand, rice and beans nobody will touch. Same with plain stuff like Frosted mini-wheats cereal, I can bring that home and won't have to worry about it disappearing. \n I basically hide any type of interesting food that I bring home because I know that if I don't it could disappear as quickly as a day. That is a problem that I am working on but until then I just usually get stuff like rice, beans, ramen, or just resort to hiding it.","Summary: Scripts are easy to make, how do you tie them together into a full easy to code program?\n\nPost: Hey guys I have managed to get kinda ok at making small scripts work really well and I love to automate small things but every time I try to tie things together, it seems to fall apart. For example, I am loaning some money to somebody and just for the heck of it, I figured I would make a loan application that could keep up with all the transactions but I have been struggling trying to tie the Loan Class with other classes, and I really can't seem to figure out the best way to keep the data persistent. It's easy enough to make a class that with a makePayment() class and getBalance() class but what happens if the application is closed, the computer is restarted, etc.? How can I ensure that the transactions are kept and that it pulls the balance when restarted? Would a MySQL DB work for this?","Summary: I really like this girl but her mother (my ex boss) doesn't like me, how can I get her mother to allow me to take her daughter out for a bond fire?\n\nPost: Alright, I gotta admit, I am usually a lurker on here and have never posted but I want some advice from some other people and I am thinking you guys might be able to help. Me and a friend of mine is going to a mutual friend's house Friday for a bond fire. I would like to take another female friend of mine who I have good feelings for but there is a problem. You see her mother used to be my boss at a previous job but she always was the cause of a hostile working environment for not just myself but also many others. I quit that job about 9 months ago and kinda told her off on the phone. Now since then we have been respectful to each other ever since then if we ever see each other, as in if I see her I will say hey and she will say hey back and sometimes we will have a little bit of small talk but that is it. My past attempts at getting to see her daughter have been thwarted and while I am not 100% sure it is because of her feelings against me I am pretty sure that is the case. Now I don't expect to become buddy-buddy with this woman but how could I go along with getting her to agree to let me take her daughter to a bond fire which is only about 10 minutes away? \n Allow me to point out that I am not really the stereotypical \"bad boy\" I don't do drugs, I have only gotten drunk once in my life, and I really more of the nerd type then anything else.","Summary: Use spaces and don't try to get away with tabs.\n\nPost: So I have been working out of a python book and I finish writing out the source code and then hit execute and get a syntax error on a line I knew to be correct so I go through this program line for line trying to decipher what else it could be, after fixing some minor typos, it still wouldn't execute. After googling it I discovered the issue, I was using tabs in substitute of 4 spaces. I always assumed as long as it was indented correctly, it would be fine. I was never taught that tabs and spaces are not equivalent.","Summary: I am looking to see if it is possible to create a program that will take user input and put it into a simple web based reporting system for fire reports.\n\nPost: Hey guys, I have been learning a little bit of programming for about a month so far. I can't say I have learned much yet because I have kinda been dipping my toes in multiple languages rather then sit down and focus on one. However one thing that I would love to be able to do is create a program that goes through our fire reporting system and fills everything out for me. While technically the system is pretty easy to begin with and there aren't really any problems with it, it is web based and we always have slow internet at our stations and I think it would be great if I could just quickly input all the information needed into a program and then press a button and let it fill everything out while I move on to other things. I think this could also be beneficial to eventually move to phones and tablets so that we could do reports on scene and just upload them when we get back to the station. In theory, the system we have now is web based for us to do that already. However, it is not mobile optimized and between poor reception in some areas and some of the guys' low patience with technology, we can't really do that. \n I know that some people may call this laziness or whatever but isn't that sorta why programming is a huge interest to some? I just would love to do a lot of work up-front and get an easier solution for later. In case anybody was wondering, I am not really looking for any advanced methods of doing it, I really would just like to understand IF it is possible to program. \n [here]( is the demo page to see what the UI looks like. The entire site is plain html from what I can tell with no SSL encryption. The login page is also pretty plain with just a username and password prompt, along with the submit button.","Summary: Poor credit, unreliable vehicle, and odd work schedule. How can I still get a good education to get myself out of this rut?\n\nPost: Ok guys, let me lay down some background here. I am a 20, nearly 21 year old male who currently works as a truck unloader at walmart. This job means I work Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 4p-1a. I have an unreliable vehicle right now and when I left High school my gpa was less then 3.0. I know at the beginning of my senior year it was a 2.0 I'm not sure what it is right now to be honest. \n I'd like to go to college to pursue a career in programming. When I am working on a project I get a lot of joy out of it. I also feel like I'm ready to move out of my mother's house and get some independence. My problems lie in the fact that I don't work a typical job so I don't see how I could schedule school around my work. I also have the problem of financing school. My credit isn't that fantastic and neither is my mother's, there is no dad in the picture. I know their may be some grants but I'm not sure what is available or if it will be enough. I'm worried because at any point I could end up with a large vehicle repair or I could lose my current job and be stuck with college debt and have to drop out of college.","Summary: Power bill overdue, need $100 to cover until Thursday can pay back up to $150. Will provide ID and Paystub.\n\nPost: Alright guys so I live with my mother and we have this arrangement, I pay some bills and she pays some of the bills. Fair arrangement right? Well unfortunately she has once again gone late on the power bill and the power has been cut off. In the past when this has happened I have taken out personal loans with some of those small loan places that charge high interest, you know the type where I would take out $405 and have to pay back $600. Well I decided last time I would never do that again cause it was stupid to only need anywhere from $100-$200 and have to owe $600. Anyways I was going to just say whatever, I will just wait it out until Thursday when I get paid, but it isn't just me who lives in the house, there are two kids and my mother of course, they all need clothes to be washed, food to be cooked, and quite frankly I REALLY do not want to deal with the drama about why we don't have power. So I was hoping that I could borrow about $100 from one of you and get it turned back on and as soon as I get paid Thursday, I will be happy to pay you back as soon as I wake up. To whoever wishes to loan me the money I'm can pay any amount of interest up to $50 and I will be more then happy to provide a copy of my licence, and my paystub to show proof that I am able to pay. I'm about to have to go into work at 11:00am here, so if you send me a message after that I will be slow to reply but I will get back to you as soon as my next break comes up.","Summary: New Manager saying I'm not running CAP right and Grocery being a mess is my fault despite multiple issues stacked against me. She wants a game plan by Monday on how I will fix it, I don't know where to start.\n\nPost: So we recently got a new Store Manager who was previously a Co-Manager at a larger volume store and also served as our Market CAP Leader. When she was our CAP Leader, I looked forward to her visits for advice on how to improve. Now she is accusing me and several other associates and managers that we aren't doing our jobs correctly. \n In one of our conversations she pretty much told me that she didn't believe that I was suited for the job and I should consider moving to another position so she wouldn't have to go through coaching me. I was a bit upset and after lunch I pretty much decided on just dropping down to save face and hold on to my job but as I asked one of the ASM's for the location of the SM she gave me the advice that I need to sit down and try to get notes for improvement. So I went up to her office, sat down, and talked with her for about ten minutes. She explained that she is disappointed that we spend all the time in Grocery but yet it is still out of control. She is placing that fault in my lap but I have had numerous issues that I have had to try to overcome: \n \n Out of the 4 associates that I have, one of them is pregnant and is unable to do too much, one of them tries to give me an argument or just refuses to obey my requests. I believe it is partially because he wanted the position and it was not given to him, I also have another associate who tries to do what she feels is best. I asked her to go and do a set of bins and I had to repeat that request twice before she went and did it. \n \n The DM over Drinks and Candy completely leaves drinks alone. Nobody ever sees her touch drinks and she barely handles candy. We have 4 pallets of drinks on the floor and 1 in the steel. When we have the time to work these pallets about half of what we take out comes right back. \n \n We were told to leave exceptions alone so I believe that has contributed to Grocery counts getting messed up, especially considering that lately we have been getting a lot of freight that we already have. \n As of lately, the store manager has told O/N to stop working freight after lunch and start zoning. Numerous times we have had to come in and either work freight or try to figure out what was freight and which was overstock. \n \n Hour cuts: 2nd shift is already understaffed with only 6 people including supervisor and most days our shift has only had three people including myself. The store manager is saying that she wants us to start splitting up and quit spending all our time in Grocery but we are struggling to stay under control with everybody in grocery, there is no way we can keep it right by pulling somebody out of grocery. \n \n \n She has told me that she wants me to come up with Game plan on how I will fix Cap 1. She says at my paygrade, she basically wants me to act like the ASM over CAP. I feel like I am over my head with problems and really just don't have the man power to correct these issues. What I WANT to do is run through and do reverse picks on all the aisles, every day but we are never able to do that. Most days we can either work overstock into bins or do picks but it is a struggle to do both, that is just grocery and doesn't include other departments. I also need to figure out how to best discipline associates to ensure that they don't just run over me. When I worked as an unloader my supervisor was able to just tell everybody what to do and if anybody acted up, he was able to coach them. Multiple times I have brought issues up to management about one of my associates and even had paperwork documenting his lack of work (OSA First) and yet nothing was done. \n I feel like I am being setup to fail and really don't know what to do best, maybe somebody can offer some advice?","Summary: I defriended my old ex after she got annoying, she readded me and started talking about how happy her new-bf makes her. \n EDIT: some people feel this is a point-less post. Sure it is, but hell look at /r/teenagers, it is not a place to post very thoughtful content.\n\nPost: I few months ago I started dating my ex-boss's daughter and she seemed really cool at first, highly attractive and had a sexual side that she would show at times. Later we broke up basically because we never saw each other much. Well we chose to remain friends until I kinda got annoyed with her and some of the random shit she posted on facebook. I removed her and just stopped talking to her until today when she added me again, I figured whatever, I don't gotta talk to her but I will be nice and add her back. Well now she is messaging me back and all I keep hearing about is her current boyfriend. I couldn't tell if she was trying to make me jealous or just really wanted to talk about him so I figured that I would continue to be nice but gosh how I just want to fucking tell her I don't give a shit about her boyfriend that goes to her school that she will get to see everyday. I de-friended her because of how annoying she was.'","Summary: 66 credit hours total. How many in a term?/Total Cost?\n\nPost: Ok so I have been a high school graduate for about two years so far. I didn't do so well in High School and graduated with about a 2.0 GPA (yeah I know) because of that my education opportunities are a bit limited. I am thinking of going to a local Tech school in order to learn programming. But to understand what it will take to pay for college I need to know many credits are in a term. \n The program I am looking at is [here]( and the financial info is [here]("],"string":"[\n \"Summary: Work hard, it's a great job considering the alternatives and just don't give anybody trouble.\\n\\nPost: Also known as Walmart Unloaders, it really isn't too terrible of a job on the good days but on the bad days it can really suck. Granted I work in a small store so take my advice with a grain of salt but usually if you have enough people then everything flies by pretty fast but if you don't have enough then after an hour or two your shift really feels long. \\n As previously mentioned, your entire job is pretty much getting everything ready for third shift to do their job. However expect to be seen as the do-everything crew. Although my official title is IMS Associate, I have had to Push carts, Plunge and Clean a toilet, Work a front end register, make keys, work sporting goods, work the toy section, watch electronics, and stock various other areas of the store. So by no means can you expect to remain in the backroom. However you should also know that being an unloader comes with a great deal of freedom that some other associates don't get. For one, you get a better dress code, so you can wear jeans instead of Khakis. Your freedom of speech will probably be less limited (Depending on your IMS Supervisor) I know that in our backroom we have some very weird and sometimes very perverse conversations and nobody seems to have any issue with it. Also because you are not on the floor as often, you get the benefit of not dealing with customers as often as a sales associate or cashier would which can sometimes be very nerve-racking. Wednesday I got the joy of listening to a (very obvious) crackhead tell me about how her relatives were cracking her phone. Sounded almost believable until I kept listening to her and realized that she was throwing computer terms out in a sentence that made little sense. \\n If I had to give any advice, it would be to play some tetris before coming in to it. Trust me, the ability to stack good will help you out a lot. It would also be beneficial to work out at home because depending on what pallets you are working, strength and endurance is beneficial. Your first couple of weeks, you may need some type of energy boost because otherwise it may tire you out. Personally I take a caffeine supplement and it works for me but to each their own. Just work hard, don't give people (especially the managers) any shit and you'll do just fine. I've been working here for 8 months and I'm in line for a promotion, I've seen somebody else start here and in three months he was a CSM so promotion is very possible if that is what you are going for also.\",\n \"Summary: I screw my bestfriend's sister during a camping trip. Now she no longer talks to me and my bestfriend still doesn't know and has been talking about another trip.\\n\\nPost: Well I suppose I am risking something by using my main account but let's see how this goes. \\n About a year ago, by best friend was going to be going into the Navy soon. His naval base is in Chicago so he wanted to spend some time with his friends before he left. So we start planning who is going and what not and one of the people he debated on taking was his 23yo sister who he doesn't see much due to a complicated situation. Me having a slight crush on her, I try to encourage him to bring her. He finally agrees and I am of course excited about this. The thing about his sister though is that she is a married woman. She married a mexican(?) man so that he could live in the country. When I wanted her to come I honestly had no intentions of what would come later on. I was just a guy who was hoping to get his crush to come on a 3 day camping trip. \\n Anyways skip forward to when we get to our spot, me and her really hit it off. The first night, we stayed up the entire night talking about our lives and really starting falling for each other a bit more (apparently she also had a thing for me). We went walking along the side of the road, we didn't do anything but just walk back and forth and talk. But about 2 hours later, the other guys start trying to track us down when they wake up and notice that we are gone and have been missing for a while. It is at this point that they start being suspicious about us (despite the fact that at this point we haven't even touched each other). The next afternoon me and her were in a tent talking and half trying to stay awake, when the wind starts picking up and we start preparing the camp site for the approaching storm. The wind picks up just a little and some of the people got a little scared and by majority vote (I was not for it) we decided to leave. So we rush to get all our stuff packed up and leave. Well on the way home we manage to encounter one drunk driver and later on, a deer jumps out in front of the lead car which leads her to slam on her brakes. The car behind her (our car) ended up rear ending her because due to the wet roads, we could not stop in time. Everybody is kinda freaking out and after parents are called and we get it sorted out we head home. My best friend, his sister, and me decide to go back to his house and spend the night there. My friend is tired and doesn't take long to pass out. Me and his sister are in her room talking about everything. When she asks for help applying aloe to her back to help with her sunburn. I start doing it and she began to undo the straps off her bra to help me out. Well at this point both our hormones are raging, and we are exhausted to our limits. Well apparently when you have raging hormones, and are exhausted, your limits are loosened a bit almost like being drunk and one thing led to another (I honestly can't remember the exact series of events) and we ended up fucking. After we were done, she cleaned herself up and we talked for about another half hour and then we went to bed. \\n My friend still does not know we did that and unfortunately me and his sister no longer talk. I still wanna reconnect as just friends but she apparently doesn't. Maybe that is a good thing, maybe not. I just know I wish situations were different because we really connected during that trip.\",\n \"Summary: Learn the truck and where everything is and relax and don't worry too much about fucking up, that is where you learn.\\n\\nPost: Granted I am not an EMT, yet but I have done a couple of ride-alongs on an ambulance and plenty on a fire truck. First of all, you are going to be nervous, give me a piece a paper with a question about how to handle a situation and I can give a great answer on how to handle it but put me in the situation in which I have to perform and I am nervous about the entire thing. \\n Some pieces of advice I would suggest is talks to the medics and learn where every piece of equipment is on the truck. Do as many ride-alongs as you can, the more practice you get the more confident you become in your skills. When I started in this field I was less then useful on a scene, I was in the way and EMT's and Paramedics would sometimes hint to that. Now that I have been in it for a while and learned as much as I could, I feel like I am more useful on a scene and I have been asked for help a few times. Now don't get me wrong I still fuck up sometimes and you will also but an instructor of mine told me this one day, every fuck up is a chance to learn. Yeah I know, common advice and it is easy to take for granted but it is so true.\",\n \"Summary: 100 Budget, Cricket Wireless NO Contract, Needs flashlight, AT&T LTE Bands, and allows tethering\\n\\nPost: Ok so my mother's phone just went kaput and stopped working. I gave her my $250 Huawei Ascend Mate 2, not a flagship phone but a really nice phone that has been my daily driver for a while. I figured I would just pop my Cricket Wireless sim into my old Verizon Moto X. Well the problem arises when apparently the Moto X only picks up HSPA+ and only 1-2 bars where the HAM2 was picking up full coverage LTE. I tried to see if she would trade, seeing as how she doesn't really use data but she says she just learned that phone and don't want to re-learn another. \\n My phone usage is actually pretty basic, it needs to have a camera led light because I use the flashlight app a lot, but other then that it only needs to support AT&T LTE bands and allow for tethering.\",\n \"Summary: If you're not going to read this then you wouldn't be able to provide very helpful advice.\\n\\nPost: Note, this started out as a request for help on my social issues but as I typed this, it just sorta evolved into a request for advice on my entire life situation I hope that you can give me some advice. \\n \\n Reddit, I am asking for your help. I try to live a very fulfilling life and try to live a fulfilling life but I have found that the one thing that really sets me back is my social life...or rather a complete and utter lack of. I have had one person before tell me that one reason that I don't have too much fun is because I don't socialize with people much. I believe the reason for this is because I don't think I have very good social skills. Parties scare me because I usually can't raise a conversation, when I am among groups of people I find that even though I wish to socialize, I tend to eventually just walk away because the few things that I can think of saying don't seem to interest anybody. I have realized that with girls I am worse. There is a girl who is a cashier in the local store and while I find her attractive and interesting, I understand she is already taken by somebody I believe. Despite this, I have found that because of my attraction to her, I feel like a 13 year old around her stumbling to talk (I'm 19). \\n Some people may mention that maybe I need to get out more or something but this seems to be a problem to because I have no car nor a licence. My mother is struggling financially and I am doing what I can to help her by babysitting my brats of sibbilings while she works. Due to this I can't get another job (I should say I no longer have my first job due to situations of my own doing) and while I am studying to become a firefighter, I am sure that even when I get certified, this won't help much because I still have no time to work because of the babysitting and I don't have a reliable form of transportation so if I get asked to work at a station on the other side of the county, I won't be able to do it. This is pretty much leaving me stuck in my life situation without any clear way of getting out. I have dreams of moving away to a bigger city and out of this redneck town (sorry but I am sick of 'em) but I can't. What do you suggest Reddit.\",\n \"Summary: involved with a girl I work with, she can't seem to make up her mind on where we stand relationship wise and we have been arguing a lot more recently. I'm not sure what to do.\\n\\nPost: So let's get some of the background out of the way first, I'm a 21 year old male living with his mother about to start applying for college while working in a retail setting. The involved girl is 22 also lives with her parents, while attending college and is a coworker. I'm technically her direct supervisor but that is only temporary because I've asked to step down about 2 weeks ago and as of last update, I know I'm being removed from the team. \\n Me and this girl have been friends for most of the time she started working. We had a bit of a falling out but eventually made up and got a little serious. We are in a sort of friends with benefits type relationship. At least that is how I guess she wants to see it, I feel like we're dating and she just doesn't wanna call it that. We hang out at her house a lot and cuddle, watch movies, and have sex. We go grocery shopping together and I pay for the times we go eat out (although I will mention that was my idea from the start because of the debt she is in). She brings a lot of baggage from past relationships and I feel like she seems to view men as a lower tier on the social totem pole. I even asked her why she wasn't a lesbian based on some of her conversations and her reply was \\\"I like dick\\\" in text messages, she is very short, and often replies to messages with \\\"Yep\\\", \\\"Hmmm.. \\\" or \\\"idk\\\". It makes holding a conversation hard. \\n During our better times, I've tried to get an understanding at how she views our relationship but I can never get a straight answer. Some days she seems to have feelings for me while others I feel like I'm just there for her enjoyment. I'm fine with the friends with benefits thing but it's starting to get confusing with the back and forth thing and I feel like I just need to understand where to have my feelings and if I should try to commit with this girl or move on and look for other girls. I feel like normally I'd probably just say fuck it, ignore her, and move on but working together and seeing each other multiple days a week makes that difficult.\",\n \"Summary: May be fired soon because female associate is claiming I wronged her somehow, but unsure of what the official complaint is. Manager who is on my side explains that it really isn't looking very good for me. What should I do to prepare for a potential unemployment situation?\\n\\nPost: I was recently promoted in the company to a supervisor and got a great $4/h pay raise with benefits and more hours. I was mostly enjoying it until about two days ago when a female employee under me started some drama after I had a discussion with her about her attendance. I have not officially been called in to the investigation yet but one of the managers who helped me get this position warned me that based on what she was hearing, I was possibly at risk of loosing my job. \\n Every firing I have ever seen at my company usually involved a long series of documentation before the firing took place. I have one write up from about 6 months ago for too many call outs while I was sick but other then that , no manager has had an issue with me and my status with the company has seemed stable so my financial matters are a bit fragile right now while I have been trying to cover my debt. \\n I haven't started a savings fund yet because I was trying to max out payments to the couple of debtors I have to pay, to hurry and get rid of them. My biggest debts right now are about a $850 verizon account in collection that I was making structured payments towards, a $400 Secured Personal Loan that I had to take out to help my mother out, and about $500 in credit card debt. I have been making about $1400 a month and was pretty much putting almost all of it towards these three. \\n If I loose my job, the credit card company I can hold off for 2-3 weeks, but I'm not sure about the Verizon account, and I know for sure that the moment I stop paying on the personal loan they will come to collect the collateral I put on the loan. I haven't had time to think too hard but I'm kinda a regular in the local Taco Bell and know the manager there well enough. I was considering putting in an application there just to keep paying something towards these bills. \\n I have thought about Unemployment also but according to the Georgia Board of Labor, if I was fired for something that I did, I can not file for unemployment. Now while I tried to do everything right and by no means did I have anything against this girl, if they determine that I should no longer be working with the company, it will look like I was at fault and can't file.\",\n \"Summary: I am making a CAD system as a programming project that will probably not be ever used in \\\"production\\\". As a dispatcher, what would you like to see in your dream CAD system?\\n\\nPost: Ok so I am currently a Volunteer Firefighter/First Responder, both parents are FF/EMT's (with my mother being an ex-dispatcher) and a majority of my friends happen to be in the fire service. In short, most of my life is the fire service.I have also been learning programming for about 6 months so far and have decided to tackle a project. I wanted to design a cad system that could potentially help our dispatch system but at the same time I hear that they may be getting their first CAD system sometime soon so there is no pressure for me to get this done and it is mostly a learning project. \\n This project came to me when their main way of dispatching units, the Motorola Two-Tone paging system failed. Because of this a system I maintain, which many volunteers use failed also because it relied on hearing the tones. So I got the idea that why don't I build a system and put it in dispatch, something that would not fail so easily and if it did, it could be brought back up quickly. Now when I got good and established in it and had a plan set in place of how to do it, I learned of our local dispatch's plan to go ahead and get a CAD system in place. I figured at this point there was no point in abandoning a good chance to learn so I continued. \\n So at this point my plan includes for a main web server that hosts the data while hosting web pages so that dispatchers can interact with it. The page would include the basic info of Address of the call, Call type, and units being dispatched. The Server would then at that point send out the info to units by either Email, text, or through an app which was my next project. It would also email a report to our NFIRS (Fire Reports) Admin. This way he doesn't have to call dispatch and ask them to fax all the dispatch sheets to him every day he works so that would be less work in both him and the dispatchers. \\n So my question to you guys is how would you improve this? What have you always wanted in your CAD system? I understand this project may never go anywhere but it would make for something I could further my programming knowledge with and if successfully completed could be added to a portfolio for a later job prospect in the future.\",\n \"Summary: I need cheap healthy food options for work while also being plain enough that I can store it without the brats eating it up.\\n\\nPost: Ok so I am trying to come up with a plan for food for me that has the most health benefits for the least amount of money, while still being decent enough to eat. I still live with my mother so while I am home, I usually have some basic things like bread, rice, and some sandwich meats (we are kinda lower-middle class). I have a microwave, stove, oven, rice-cooker, slow-cooker, blender, and toaster. I work from 4p-1a as a truck unloader most days so between my high metabolism and physical job, I need a lot of calories. \\n In the past my plan has usually been a loaf of french bread while I'm working to keep my stomach happy, usually an energy drink of some kind because otherwise an hour or two into work and I'm ready to quit. For lunch I eat a can of Chef Boyardee or a bowl of rice with the occasional fast food. At home, I usually will eat sandwiches, Chef Boyardee, or ramen noodles. I know that my diet is unhealthy, not very nutritional, and the energy drink during work can get expensive. \\n I usually budget around $80 a month for food and I would like to put together a menu that will provide the best nutrients for the cheapest price. I also have another small catch, I'd prefer things that don't appeal to kids too much. If I bring something like a $8 pack of ham, between my brother and sister they can go through it in about three days where it would take me probably 2 weeks. On the other hand, rice and beans nobody will touch. Same with plain stuff like Frosted mini-wheats cereal, I can bring that home and won't have to worry about it disappearing. \\n I basically hide any type of interesting food that I bring home because I know that if I don't it could disappear as quickly as a day. That is a problem that I am working on but until then I just usually get stuff like rice, beans, ramen, or just resort to hiding it.\",\n \"Summary: Scripts are easy to make, how do you tie them together into a full easy to code program?\\n\\nPost: Hey guys I have managed to get kinda ok at making small scripts work really well and I love to automate small things but every time I try to tie things together, it seems to fall apart. For example, I am loaning some money to somebody and just for the heck of it, I figured I would make a loan application that could keep up with all the transactions but I have been struggling trying to tie the Loan Class with other classes, and I really can't seem to figure out the best way to keep the data persistent. It's easy enough to make a class that with a makePayment() class and getBalance() class but what happens if the application is closed, the computer is restarted, etc.? How can I ensure that the transactions are kept and that it pulls the balance when restarted? Would a MySQL DB work for this?\",\n \"Summary: I really like this girl but her mother (my ex boss) doesn't like me, how can I get her mother to allow me to take her daughter out for a bond fire?\\n\\nPost: Alright, I gotta admit, I am usually a lurker on here and have never posted but I want some advice from some other people and I am thinking you guys might be able to help. Me and a friend of mine is going to a mutual friend's house Friday for a bond fire. I would like to take another female friend of mine who I have good feelings for but there is a problem. You see her mother used to be my boss at a previous job but she always was the cause of a hostile working environment for not just myself but also many others. I quit that job about 9 months ago and kinda told her off on the phone. Now since then we have been respectful to each other ever since then if we ever see each other, as in if I see her I will say hey and she will say hey back and sometimes we will have a little bit of small talk but that is it. My past attempts at getting to see her daughter have been thwarted and while I am not 100% sure it is because of her feelings against me I am pretty sure that is the case. Now I don't expect to become buddy-buddy with this woman but how could I go along with getting her to agree to let me take her daughter to a bond fire which is only about 10 minutes away? \\n Allow me to point out that I am not really the stereotypical \\\"bad boy\\\" I don't do drugs, I have only gotten drunk once in my life, and I really more of the nerd type then anything else.\",\n \"Summary: Use spaces and don't try to get away with tabs.\\n\\nPost: So I have been working out of a python book and I finish writing out the source code and then hit execute and get a syntax error on a line I knew to be correct so I go through this program line for line trying to decipher what else it could be, after fixing some minor typos, it still wouldn't execute. After googling it I discovered the issue, I was using tabs in substitute of 4 spaces. I always assumed as long as it was indented correctly, it would be fine. I was never taught that tabs and spaces are not equivalent.\",\n \"Summary: I am looking to see if it is possible to create a program that will take user input and put it into a simple web based reporting system for fire reports.\\n\\nPost: Hey guys, I have been learning a little bit of programming for about a month so far. I can't say I have learned much yet because I have kinda been dipping my toes in multiple languages rather then sit down and focus on one. However one thing that I would love to be able to do is create a program that goes through our fire reporting system and fills everything out for me. While technically the system is pretty easy to begin with and there aren't really any problems with it, it is web based and we always have slow internet at our stations and I think it would be great if I could just quickly input all the information needed into a program and then press a button and let it fill everything out while I move on to other things. I think this could also be beneficial to eventually move to phones and tablets so that we could do reports on scene and just upload them when we get back to the station. In theory, the system we have now is web based for us to do that already. However, it is not mobile optimized and between poor reception in some areas and some of the guys' low patience with technology, we can't really do that. \\n I know that some people may call this laziness or whatever but isn't that sorta why programming is a huge interest to some? I just would love to do a lot of work up-front and get an easier solution for later. In case anybody was wondering, I am not really looking for any advanced methods of doing it, I really would just like to understand IF it is possible to program. \\n [here]( is the demo page to see what the UI looks like. The entire site is plain html from what I can tell with no SSL encryption. The login page is also pretty plain with just a username and password prompt, along with the submit button.\",\n \"Summary: Poor credit, unreliable vehicle, and odd work schedule. How can I still get a good education to get myself out of this rut?\\n\\nPost: Ok guys, let me lay down some background here. I am a 20, nearly 21 year old male who currently works as a truck unloader at walmart. This job means I work Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 4p-1a. I have an unreliable vehicle right now and when I left High school my gpa was less then 3.0. I know at the beginning of my senior year it was a 2.0 I'm not sure what it is right now to be honest. \\n I'd like to go to college to pursue a career in programming. When I am working on a project I get a lot of joy out of it. I also feel like I'm ready to move out of my mother's house and get some independence. My problems lie in the fact that I don't work a typical job so I don't see how I could schedule school around my work. I also have the problem of financing school. My credit isn't that fantastic and neither is my mother's, there is no dad in the picture. I know their may be some grants but I'm not sure what is available or if it will be enough. I'm worried because at any point I could end up with a large vehicle repair or I could lose my current job and be stuck with college debt and have to drop out of college.\",\n \"Summary: Power bill overdue, need $100 to cover until Thursday can pay back up to $150. Will provide ID and Paystub.\\n\\nPost: Alright guys so I live with my mother and we have this arrangement, I pay some bills and she pays some of the bills. Fair arrangement right? Well unfortunately she has once again gone late on the power bill and the power has been cut off. In the past when this has happened I have taken out personal loans with some of those small loan places that charge high interest, you know the type where I would take out $405 and have to pay back $600. Well I decided last time I would never do that again cause it was stupid to only need anywhere from $100-$200 and have to owe $600. Anyways I was going to just say whatever, I will just wait it out until Thursday when I get paid, but it isn't just me who lives in the house, there are two kids and my mother of course, they all need clothes to be washed, food to be cooked, and quite frankly I REALLY do not want to deal with the drama about why we don't have power. So I was hoping that I could borrow about $100 from one of you and get it turned back on and as soon as I get paid Thursday, I will be happy to pay you back as soon as I wake up. To whoever wishes to loan me the money I'm can pay any amount of interest up to $50 and I will be more then happy to provide a copy of my licence, and my paystub to show proof that I am able to pay. I'm about to have to go into work at 11:00am here, so if you send me a message after that I will be slow to reply but I will get back to you as soon as my next break comes up.\",\n \"Summary: New Manager saying I'm not running CAP right and Grocery being a mess is my fault despite multiple issues stacked against me. She wants a game plan by Monday on how I will fix it, I don't know where to start.\\n\\nPost: So we recently got a new Store Manager who was previously a Co-Manager at a larger volume store and also served as our Market CAP Leader. When she was our CAP Leader, I looked forward to her visits for advice on how to improve. Now she is accusing me and several other associates and managers that we aren't doing our jobs correctly. \\n In one of our conversations she pretty much told me that she didn't believe that I was suited for the job and I should consider moving to another position so she wouldn't have to go through coaching me. I was a bit upset and after lunch I pretty much decided on just dropping down to save face and hold on to my job but as I asked one of the ASM's for the location of the SM she gave me the advice that I need to sit down and try to get notes for improvement. So I went up to her office, sat down, and talked with her for about ten minutes. She explained that she is disappointed that we spend all the time in Grocery but yet it is still out of control. She is placing that fault in my lap but I have had numerous issues that I have had to try to overcome: \\n \\n Out of the 4 associates that I have, one of them is pregnant and is unable to do too much, one of them tries to give me an argument or just refuses to obey my requests. I believe it is partially because he wanted the position and it was not given to him, I also have another associate who tries to do what she feels is best. I asked her to go and do a set of bins and I had to repeat that request twice before she went and did it. \\n \\n The DM over Drinks and Candy completely leaves drinks alone. Nobody ever sees her touch drinks and she barely handles candy. We have 4 pallets of drinks on the floor and 1 in the steel. When we have the time to work these pallets about half of what we take out comes right back. \\n \\n We were told to leave exceptions alone so I believe that has contributed to Grocery counts getting messed up, especially considering that lately we have been getting a lot of freight that we already have. \\n As of lately, the store manager has told O/N to stop working freight after lunch and start zoning. Numerous times we have had to come in and either work freight or try to figure out what was freight and which was overstock. \\n \\n Hour cuts: 2nd shift is already understaffed with only 6 people including supervisor and most days our shift has only had three people including myself. The store manager is saying that she wants us to start splitting up and quit spending all our time in Grocery but we are struggling to stay under control with everybody in grocery, there is no way we can keep it right by pulling somebody out of grocery. \\n \\n \\n She has told me that she wants me to come up with Game plan on how I will fix Cap 1. She says at my paygrade, she basically wants me to act like the ASM over CAP. I feel like I am over my head with problems and really just don't have the man power to correct these issues. What I WANT to do is run through and do reverse picks on all the aisles, every day but we are never able to do that. Most days we can either work overstock into bins or do picks but it is a struggle to do both, that is just grocery and doesn't include other departments. I also need to figure out how to best discipline associates to ensure that they don't just run over me. When I worked as an unloader my supervisor was able to just tell everybody what to do and if anybody acted up, he was able to coach them. Multiple times I have brought issues up to management about one of my associates and even had paperwork documenting his lack of work (OSA First) and yet nothing was done. \\n I feel like I am being setup to fail and really don't know what to do best, maybe somebody can offer some advice?\",\n \"Summary: I defriended my old ex after she got annoying, she readded me and started talking about how happy her new-bf makes her. \\n EDIT: some people feel this is a point-less post. Sure it is, but hell look at /r/teenagers, it is not a place to post very thoughtful content.\\n\\nPost: I few months ago I started dating my ex-boss's daughter and she seemed really cool at first, highly attractive and had a sexual side that she would show at times. Later we broke up basically because we never saw each other much. Well we chose to remain friends until I kinda got annoyed with her and some of the random shit she posted on facebook. I removed her and just stopped talking to her until today when she added me again, I figured whatever, I don't gotta talk to her but I will be nice and add her back. Well now she is messaging me back and all I keep hearing about is her current boyfriend. I couldn't tell if she was trying to make me jealous or just really wanted to talk about him so I figured that I would continue to be nice but gosh how I just want to fucking tell her I don't give a shit about her boyfriend that goes to her school that she will get to see everyday. I de-friended her because of how annoying she was.'\",\n \"Summary: 66 credit hours total. How many in a term?/Total Cost?\\n\\nPost: Ok so I have been a high school graduate for about two years so far. I didn't do so well in High School and graduated with about a 2.0 GPA (yeah I know) because of that my education opportunities are a bit limited. I am thinking of going to a local Tech school in order to learn programming. But to understand what it will take to pay for college I need to know many credits are in a term. \\n The program I am looking at is [here]( and the financial info is [here](\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":18,"string":"18"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":98,"string":"98"}}},{"rowIdx":99,"cells":{"question_id":{"kind":"string","value":"Falterfire"},"question":{"kind":"string","value":"Generate the content for a reddit post Russian copies. Russian copies everywhere."},"answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Unlikely. As you probably know, Australia pays more per game than America. You may not be aware that Russian users pay much less per game. There's a lesser known market where users from other countries pay Russians to buy games on the cheap and then gift them. Although it works, it's not very popular since it technically violates Steam's ToS and you have to trust the guy on the other end. \n If the Steam Marketplace let you sell games, suddenly Russian users could buy lots of copies of cheap games, sell them on the market for a bit more than they paid, and get repeat. A few dollars of investment and you can quickly end up with lots of money. \n Obviously Valve and other publishers aren't interested in a worldwide equal price, or we'd have one by now. The reasons for this aren't purely malicious, but I'm too lazy to go into them here. \n The point is that with Steam Marketplace you're suddenly selling a lot more copies for the cheapest international price."},"correct_answer":{"kind":"string","value":"Unlikely. As you probably know, Australia pays more per game than America. You may not be aware that Russian users pay much less per game. There's a lesser known market where users from other countries pay Russians to buy games on the cheap and then gift them. Although it works, it's not very popular since it technically violates Steam's ToS and you have to trust the guy on the other end. \n If the Steam Marketplace let you sell games, suddenly Russian users could buy lots of copies of cheap games, sell them on the market for a bit more than they paid, and get repeat. A few dollars of investment and you can quickly end up with lots of money. \n Obviously Valve and other publishers aren't interested in a worldwide equal price, or we'd have one by now. The reasons for this aren't purely malicious, but I'm too lazy to go into them here. \n The point is that with Steam Marketplace you're suddenly selling a lot more copies for the cheapest international price."},"documents":{"kind":"list like","value":["Summary: Who tests the test writers?\n\nPost: No, you're missing my point. I'm asking how you design the test in such a way that it can't be abused. \n I agree that voters should be informed. The trick is finding a way to test the voters that can't be rigged by one party or the other to give their party a boost. \n Again: Imagine I'm a hardcore supporter of one party and I'm writing the test for my area because I work in my local office. I choose to make the questions for my party things like \"Where does Candidate X stand on abortion?\" and the answers are \"Pro-Life or Pro-Choice\" Should be simple. For the other party I use the question \"What is the maximum percentage Candidate Y thinks is acceptable for a city sales tax?\" and the answers are 2% and 3%. \n Obviously we can't just let the same guy write both tests or there will be abuse. So who writes them? Who approves them? How do you determine difficulty? Remember: Each party has an incredibly strong incentive to ensure their test is easy and their opponent's is difficult.","Summary: It got grandfathered in back before micropayments for digital goods became a thing. \n But I'm bad at language. You can read a (Now 6 year old) interview with Worth about it [here](\n\nPost: It helps if you remember that Wizards has a history of decisions that sounded good at the time that later turned out to be mistakes. \n Basically when MtGO was getting started back in 2002, it was one of the first games to feature an online micropayment system. As one of the first such games out of the gate, most players looking at it would have thought \"Why would I pay real money for virtual cards?\" so Wizards needed an answer. \n The answer they decided on was set redemption - Such a mechanic makes it feel like the virtual cards are 'backed' by something, or so was the thinking. \n It's a mechanic that sounds great in theory, but unnecessarily shackles digital cards to physical ones. In solving the problem of seemingly valueless digital cards (Remember that digital products as a thing worth money wasn't a big thing back in 2002. There were MMOs, but no official micropayment systems as far as I know) they accidentally created a totally new problem.","Summary: Find a local Commander group and talk to them.\n\nPost: Start by finding people to play with. This is absolutely number one. Building a Commander deck can be expensive and you will feel very silly if you spend $100+ on an awesome Commander deck only to find out none of the people you play Magic with play Commander. \n After that, try to get a feel for the level they're playing Commander at. Some Commander groups run decks that can go infinite or totally ruin everybody else's gameplay if left unchecked. Other groups tend to derp around for fifteen turns before anything actually happens. Know your group before you get started. \n Next, if you don't have a preference, I'd find out what Commanders are in use in that group. You'll want to avoid having an overlapping Commander with somebody else. You may want to avoid having overlapping colors, depending on how general the group is. (How many Grixis Goodstuff Commander decks does one group really need?) \n Alright, now that you've done all that, it's time to build your deck. If you've been following along so far, you have now gotten to know your local Commander group. Talk to them. Discuss with them. Ask them about their favorite cards, ideas they've wanted to try, and all of that. They should be able to get you on track to building a good Commander deck that works for you. \n Ultimately, Commander is a very social format and if you can build your deck with the help of your local social group you'll get far more out of it then you will by trying to grab suggestions from Reddit.","Summary: You can buy the car, but if you aren't prepared for today's weather you're still going to lose the race.\n\nPost: Competitive Magic is more about skill and less about deckbuilding. \n I wouldn't say it's not about deckbuilding, but rather it's about the fine adjustments that allow you to better hit a certain meta than it is complete choices. If you're running Esper, you're running Elspeth and Jace, but the rest of the calls are what show your skill: \n Do you run one AEtherling? Do you run none? What is your card draw? Have your worst matchups changed since last week? \n A skilled pilot can take the top Standard deck from a month ago and win without any modifications at FNM, but at higher levels even decks that look identical at first glance can change quite a bit from week to week just on the ancillary cards and those can make the difference in who wins.","Summary: Lost Cosmonauts are cosmonauts unable to return from space and then written out of history.\n\nPost: In case you don't feel like visiting the internet from 1995, here's a summation of the theory as I understand it: Yuri Gagarin was not the first man in space, he was simply the first man to return. In the chaos that was the Russian space program far more concern was placed on beating the Americans to space than was placed on safety. \n One of the consequences of this (allegedly, I'm not certain this is true) is that not everybody they sent up made it back. Rather than acknowledge these failures they simply made these \"Lost Cosmonauts\" un-persons, erasing them, their sacrifice, and the record of the Great Soviet Machine failing from history. \n Allegedly there exist various radio messages from these cosmonauts which were intercepted. All of these messages are rather disturbing, but you're welcome to google them if you enjoy a good scary story.","Summary: Your opponent played it correctly.\n\nPost: Okay, so the important concept you don't appear to have knowledge of is the Stack. \n The way the stack works is simple: Instants and Abilities are added to the stack as they are cast or triggered or activated, and then resolve one at a time in reverse order (The last instant cast or ability activated is the first to resolve). In order for the next item on the stack to resolve, all players must pass priority without doing anything else. \n Here's how this works in your case: \n Step 1: You declare your attackers \nStep 2: You and your opponent both pass priority in the Declare Attackers step without casting anything. \nStep 3: Your opponent declares blockers. \nStep 4: You cast Ajani's Presence targeting Hero of Iroas, which puts it on the stack. \nStep 5: Hero of Iroas's Heroic ability triggers immediately and goes on the stack on top of Ajani's Presence. \nStep 6: You pass priority to your opponent with Ajani's Presence and the Heroic trigger on the stack. \nStep 7: Your opponent casts, I dunno, let's say [[Lightning Blast]] targeting Hero of Iroas. The stack is now Presence->Heroic->Blast \nStep 8: Your opponent passes priority. \nStep 9: You pass priority. \nStep 10: Lightning Blast resolves and deals 4 damage to Hero of Iroas. The Hero dies. \nStep 11: You pass priority. \nStep 12: Your opponent passes priority. \nStep 13: The heroic trigger resolves and does nothing since the Hero is no longer on the Battlefield. \nStep 14: You pass priority. \nStep 15: Your opponent passes priority. \nStep 16: The Ajani's Presence is countered due to lack of target (Since the Hero of Iroas is no longer on the Battlefield) \n After that the game continues as normal. You'll notice there's a lot of priority passing in there - Mostly that gets shortcutted through by players, which is why you don't normally think about it.","Summary: Women aren't the only people capable of false accusations.\n\nPost: Counterpoint hypothetical here: \n Let's start with saying this law is enacted. Girls who falsely accuse of rape receive jail time/a fine/time in the corner wearing a dunce cap. So let's say an underage girl has (actually) been raped. She accuses her rapist, but doesn't have any tangible evidence it happened. It is now her word vs his. \n So what happens? It goes to court of course. But while he's on trial, he starts a counter-case against her . She tried to protect other women from further rapes, but now she is stuck trying to defend herself. Already physically violated, she is now at risk of losing her reputation and her freedom as well. \n She may very well win this case. After all, she's innocent. But this is the same court system that already makes mistakes. Those mistakes are why we're proposing this law in the first place. \n So that's kind of where we end up: This law only works if it is never brought up fraudulently. Our justice system is not made of magic. It makes mistakes. You can't fix a problem created by some of those mistakes with a solution that relies upon exactly the same system.","Summary: An M rated game is still seen as a child's toy, where an R rated movie is adult entertainment.\n\nPost: After reflecting on it a bit, here's my guess: (WARNING: What follows is baseless speculation based on what 'feels right') \n First off, remember that video games are considered to be juvenile and immature in western society. Being a 'gamer' is a term usually used to indicate obvious childishness or, at best, social immaturity. Media stereotypes tend to do a pretty good job of showing the societal impression of different things (partly because media causes many of those underlying stereotypes) and in Western Media gamers are either children or childishly innocent about society. \n So if gamers are immature, then games are for children. Children are allowed to play at violence and always have been. Consider that GI Joe, Nerf, and Laser Tag are all Children's activities. Why? Because pretend violence is 'boys being boys' and not expected to transition into real life violence. Everybody remembers playing with, at bare minimum, a gun shaped stick or having sword fights with sticks. So for many people, violent video games are seen as an extension of this play-fighting. \n Sexual content, on the other hand, has always been verboten in Western culture. Remember that American culture is heavily influenced by Christian ideals, which generally include virginity until marriage and the idea of innocent teenage love which (in the media depiction) doesn't go beyond kisses. Sex is a major sign of leaving the stage of childish innocence, so idealistically society tries to avoid connecting children and even teenagers to anything sexual in order to preserve childish innocence. \n Which brings us full circle to sexual content in games: If violent video games are an extension of children playing at war, sex games are an infringement of adult themes on childish innocence, to be fought against at all costs. \n At the heart of the problem then is the association of video games with childishness. Until video games are rid of the stigma of being nothing more than amusement for children, sexual content will never appear in video games (even M rated ones) the same way it appears in R Rated movies.","Summary: There's a reason Physicists don't call dark matter God.\n\nPost: No. Your problem (Aside from the one /u/TheOceaneer covered) is that you've watered God down below any meaningful level. This tends to happen a lot: People say \"but God could exist if...\" and then give a definition of a being that doesn't fit any of the standard God traits. \n If there was some energy we couldn't perceive and couldn't affect us, it would make as much sense to call it Sasquatch as it would to call it God. The name 'God' carries a lot of baggage, so you should only use it if you're absolutely certain it's the best word.","Summary: So that domains are used for their intended purpose - getting people where they need to go - instead of just speculative squatting.\n\nPost: Presumably limitations put in place by registrars to prevent what happened with a number of domains in the late 90s and early 00s: Basically a bunch of companies would buy up domains they thought would be valuable later and just sit on them. Then they ended up not being worth much which means there's a lot of domains (including some that are potentially worth having) that just kind of sit out there doing nothing. \n It's kinda like patent trolling, but with names. See: Nintendo having to fight for WiiU.com, a domain purchased just because it was four letters long back in like 2002 by some random guy who then demanded ludicrous sums of money for it. Nintendo decided they didn't want to pay millions of dollars for it, and so [WiiU.com]( remains a fascinatingly useless example of what happens if domain names don't expire. \n Of course, you can just squat on domains continuously as-is, but to do so you at least have to put in more effort than submitting a \"I want this domain\" request a single time.","Summary: Your goal is not to prove atheism, but to generate doubt in Christianity.\n\nPost: First: Start by asking a couple quick questions: \n \n \"Do you believe God has any limits?\" \n \"Do you believe God personally interacts with humans?\" \n \"Do you think God still actively effects the world?\" \n \n Getting a yes to those three makes for much easier argument because the problem of evil is rather a bit insurmountable. Here's the trick to it: \n First, immediately defer to their 'true' sense of morality they got from God if they bring it up. \n Second, ask if they consider causing the suffering of human beings to be morally wrong. As a followup, ask if a Doctor is morally wrong for refusing to give medicine they know would cure a man. \n Now, here's the important bit: Do not focus on human caused suffering. Ask about diseases. If God created everything, he must have created yellow fever, polio, etc. If causing human suffering is immoral, then God is immoral. \n You won't win. There is no winning. That's not the goal. The goal is to insert that moment of doubt. After you've done that, leave. Trying to force the issue gives you more opportunities to make logical mistakes which allow the other person to walk away thinking they've 'won'. \n \n Let's say you don't like the Problem of Evil though. The easiest way to defend the creation of the universe as natural is simple: Listen to their complaint (\"The Universe needs a creator\") and ask why it doesn't apply to God (\"... then why doesn't God?\"). Next listen to their answer about God and ask why it can't apply to the universe. \n Stay simple. Stay on target. Concede any point not relevant to the argument at hand. It's important that you not get sidetracked by irrelevant things. Once you start getting sidetracked you'll get tangled up in wordplay knots. \n Also remember to stay short: The fewer words you use, the less room there will be for creative misunderstanding. It's way too easy to accidentally use a few too many words and then get caught up in explaining a point that should be a given.","Summary: You started by preferring women, and then the reasons came later.\n\nPost: The most basic answer is that the need is on a deeper biological level beyond choice. You, as a straight man, are attracted to women. You did not make this choice. It was not because of anything any one woman did. You simply are attracted to women. \n This is true of most men, and this is partly due to biological necessity: A species in which the men mostly prefer men and women mostly prefer women is unlikely to survive for very long, or at least will need many many more kids per straight couple to maintain itself. \n Of course, if we need a good percentage of men to have an interest in women, it is helpful if there is a large percentage of women interested in men as well. It is significantly easier for a species to propagate if a large percentage of its members enjoy the activity which produces more of the species.","Summary: Pick a plan, run four of each card that helps with that plan.\n\nPost: Deckbuilding Rule #1: Good decks have good plans that they can execute consistently. \n What that means for you is two things: \n First, you need to figure out what your plan is. How do you win? How do you stop your opponent from winning? Generally the answers to this question fit into one of three categories (I'm going to ignore Combo for now since it's not part of Standard): \n \n Aggro: You win with a bunch of cheap, efficient creatures. You try to get as much damage through as quickly as possible. You stop your opponent from winning by killing them before they can win. \n Midrange: You win with creatures that are more expensive but also more powerful. You spend the first few turns building up and then beat the opponent down with raw power. You stop your opponent from winning by outmatching them on the ground and running out more creatures than they can handle. \n Control: You win with a few win conditions after taking control of the board. You spend the early game building up advantage by drawing cards while eliminating your opponent's threats. You stop your opponent from winning with an assortment of removal spells that neutralize their various threats. \n \n You should figure out which one of these plans your deck is executing because it should inform every card you choose. For example, you might look at a card like Gnarled Scarhide and evaluate it differently based on whether you're an aggressive deck or a control deck. \n Second, you need to figure out which cards are the best for executing the plan you have chosen and get four of each so that you can consistently find them. If you're a midrange deck that wins with cards Polukranos and Stormbreath Dragon, you'll want four each of Polukranos and Stormbreath Dragon. If you're an aggro deck that wins with cards like Soldier of the Pantheon and Fleecemane Lion, you'll want four each of Fleecemane Lion and Soldier of the Pantheon. \n You almost always will want at least two copies of every card, and most cards you'll run four.","Summary: I wept when my grandfather died, you never knew he existed.\n\nPost: Important relevant concept: [The]( [Monkeysphere]( \n To give the simplest possible summary: The Monkeysphere is the list of people we care about. You, as a human being with a human brain, are incapable of feeling sympathy for every person in the world. It's just not possible. If you wept for everybody who died we would be constantly in tears. \n You prioritize caring about those who are close to you. Beyond that you feel a vague need to care about those who you consider in your same 'tribe'. In this case, the tribe is \"Americans\" or, for others, \"Marathon Runnners\", \"Athletes\", or whatever other group. \n The people who die in Pakistan, and the people who die in car accidents on the other side of the country and the people dying from AIDs and the people dying in childbirth are all individually tragic, but they don't feel connected to you , so you don't care. \n This is not a failing of sympathy, this is simple necessity. 1.8 people [die each second]( so you couldn't take even a full second to mourn each lost life, even if that's all you did with your life.","Summary: A justice system would need dynamically scaling punishments to avoid any deterrent potentially becoming a cost.\n\nPost: just the cost of doing business. \n Well yeah, because as with anything, the difference between a deterrent and a cost is just your willingness to pay it. \n You could say the same thing about a guy who murders somebody for revenge or whatever - He knew there would be a punishment for the crime, but he was willing to accept the punishment if it meant he got his revenge. \n The fine is still a deterrent. $13,000,000,000 is still a big number. JP Morgan was willing to pay it this time, but that doesn't mean they did it lightly or without thinking about it. I guarantee you they spent more time deciding whether or not to make the acquisition than they would have if there was no cost associated with it. \n Where do you draw the line? What is an appropriate cost? Should the fine scale based on how much money you have? How much money do you need to start scaling? How do you determine how much money it is? Is there a limit? Who gets the money? If you rob $50 from me but you have $1,000,000,000 so the fine scales to $5,000 do I deserve to make money from being robbed?","Summary: Our Justice System is a rough approximation because absolute precision requires philosophers.\n\nPost: The problem here is that as much as it may feel right in cases like this one to do that, the law should be universal, and dynamically scaling punishments are a mess. \n How do you decide how much is 'enough'? How do you count 'lives damaged'? Once you start trying to assess the damage the punishment should be based on size of the person being punished, you have to get into the question of 'how much damage emotionally was caused?' \n $13,000,000,000 may very well have been the total amount of financial damage done. But as you point out, $13,000,000,000 means less to JP Morgan than even $10,000 means to me, and that may still be less than $1,000 means to you. \n So how do we calculate a more appropriate number if the financial damage doesn't work? What number do you use to figure out 'lives damaged'? How do we figure out a fair amount to repay for each life damaged? Because in order to implement such a system you would have to figure out exactly how to scale it and exactly how to measure it and exactly what fair means.","Summary: The meta doesn't remove skill, it just gives weaker players access to some of the skill the best players have.\n\nPost: As long as there are meaningful choices to be made, there will be a metagame. If the game has a single goal and choices that do different things, one of those choices will be better for accomplishing that goal. \n Why? Because the alternative is having choices be completely meaningless, which removes all strategy. If every single unit in an RTS is completely viable in every situation, then you may as well close your eyes and pick one at random. \n The meta cannot be eliminated without either removing the ability for players to communicate with each other or making the game change so completely between rounds that all information gained from the previous round is meaningless. A more complex game just results in a meta taking longer to form. \n How is there still strategy? Simple: The game has variance, in the form of the opponent (and sometimes random elements in the game itself). Yes, you can concoct a rush strat that will be the best possible method of beating a deterministic AI, but a real intelligent opponent they'll be able to react and do something to counter that rush. If you literally only know how to do that one exact sequence of plays, a skilled opponent who knows how to counter that play will beat you every time. \n (Obviously if there is no counter and not a single opponent can beat you when you execute your rush strategy, the rush strategy is overpowered and should be nerfed) \n The most skilled players will make the most skilled plays. The most skilled plays define the meta. For a weaker player, following the meta makes you stronger - After all, you're borrowing knowledge from the best. The strongest players, the ones who make the meta, are still in the best position - Having a total understanding of the meta and why it is as it is allows you to best be able to adapt on the fly.","Summary: Don't think public school is important? Consider where your knowledge of things 'everybody knows' came from.\n\nPost: You'd be surprised just how much you learned without realizing you learned it. Sure you think you ejected all that knowledge, but consider how often you see somebody say something that is absolutely fucking retarded. The knowledge that reality doesn't work that way had to come from somewhere, and you'd be surprised how much of what you know was absorbed from the classes you thought you learned nothing from. \n I mean, we couldn't point and laugh at those morons who don't know various basic facts about the world if we didn't ever learn them ourselves. \n And that's ignoring all the other stuff you learned. The stuff not in the curriculum. Not conspiracy \"mindless obedience\" shit, basics like how to interact with other members of human society without making yourself look like a scumbag. \n For all the grief we give high school relationships and the really peculiar behaviors exhibited by Middle/High school students on Facebook, the truth is a lot of us did really stupid stuff we now regret while interacting with our fellow students, and that stupid stuff helped us become better people.","Summary: 60/year for a game you get 100+ hours/year out of is a good deal.\n\nPost: The other thing you're not seeing is that you're trying to think of sports games in the same way you think of other games: As complete, timeless experiences meant to be enjoyed as much next year as they were today. \n That is not the model sports games follow. They are intentionally designed (and purchased) with the intention of being semi-disposable. Sure, you can play NBA2K11 this year, but if you're a real fan you'll buy this year's version. \n If it's the main game you play and you play it a lot, $60/year is nothing. It's a small price to pay for getting to continue playing with the latest set roster of players and the minor gameplay tweaks and fixes. \n I will admit: I don't buy a new sports game every year, but I do buy Duels of the Planeswalkers every year and it's basically the same game over and over again and I know it. But that's not the point: The point is that I'll get a large number of hours more of playtime out of it.","Summary: I don't want to sacrifice certain genres for the sake of story.\n\nPost: The issue is that some kinds of gameplay need NCEs to function. You can't build a Bioshock Infinite type shooter without enemies to shoot. Players shouldn't have to choose between getting a good story and playing a certain genre, and that's kind of where we're at right now. \n I think the Mario example in some ways kind of highlights what I'm talking about: In Mario you don't care about goombas and turtles because you have no reason to care about them and no reason to expect Mario to care about them since they're nonhuman and only barely sentient. \n Such enemies don't fit in every setting though. The insane number of police causes less ludonarrative dissonance (to use a phrase others have been using in this thread) than an army of robots or goombas or similar because we have a reason to expect a police force, we just don't have a reason to expect them to keep attacking Booker and for Booker to keep murdering them without Elizabeth doing more than a token amount of complaining. \n There are ways to work around the issue. Spec Ops: The Line does a wonderful job of deconstructing the idea of NCEs that we just kind of take for granted, but you can't do that more than two or three times before it just becomes stale.","Summary: Want deeper games? That'll cost you in graphics.\n\nPost: As individual assets become more expensive, the number of assets will go down in most games to account for it. The higher level the art is, the more time it takes to get it looking just right in every situation. If you want games with more options, you have to be willing to give up a decent bit of art quality. However mainstream purchases are often made with the expectation of a certain minimum art quality. \n The only exception I can think of to the above is actually the Lego games, which are a good example of the sort of game you're describing. Lego Star Wars, for instance, has a lot of characters, a lot of levels, a hub with secrets, a few game modes, lots of unlockable, etc. It is also has a lower quality of graphics, but that's okay because the graphics it has are perfect for the game it is. \n Remember that games are built on a finite budget with a finite development time by any company not named Valve. (Valve can afford a functionally infinite budget/development time because they could survive forever on Steam profits) Right now a considerable portion of that time and money is spent on getting the graphics to look right.","Summary: No, there is no way for you to submit you card idea and there are even rules in place against WotC members reading unsolicited card design ideas.\n\nPost: No, Wizards does not accept casual card submissions for players pretty much ever. Very very rarely (Four times so far) they do through a process known as You Make The Card in which they invite the entire Magic community to submit designs which are voted on to decide a single winner. (For reference: Aside from Waste Not, a card coming in M15, the other YMTC cards were Forgotten Ancient, Crucible of Worlds, and Vanish into Memory) \n The only other cards not designed by Magic R&D to see print are the old invitational cards. There were quite a few of those, but although one of them (Snapcaster Mage) didn't see print until last year, the actual tournament that awarded it as the top prize has been dead for many years.","Summary: Harvard can't handle all the students that are interested despite costing an absurd amount of money per semester.\n\nPost: The problem with that is that starting a college/university is not easy. Aside from anything else, you need good professors who are competent at teaching, and a budget to pay them. You need multiple buildings to hold classes in, located in an area that's close to affordable housing from students that commute. You need to be officially recognized so that your degree carries weight, and then you have to convince potential students that your degree is worth having. \n Despite all these hurdles, Community Colleges do exist. They are basically what you are describing, with prices generally much lower than other colleges. \n It's not an intentional oligopoly though. Consider how many people are trying to get into Stanford/Harvard/MIT or whatever other major college. They're already turning away a massive number of applicants despite being expensive. Lowering their prices wouldn't get them more students since they already have way more than they can service.","Summary: My guess is they need more developers so they can run two simultaneous development teams, one of which is working on a new version of MtGO.\n\nPost: Here's my guess based on what we know about MtGO: \n MtGO cannot go down more regularly than the scheduled downtime, and it cannot miss releasing the major update that is a new set every three months. These are almost certainly the biggest things the team works on, and I'm willing to bet the team they have spends most of their time on those things and bugfixing. \n At the same time though, everybody is begging for a newer, better client. But you can't have the same team simultaneously developing two versions of MtGO simultaneously, that's pretty much undoable. Even if they just replaced everybody currently on the team with better developers, I find it unlikely they'd get a big enough increase in quality to have the same number of people doing (more than) twice as much work. \n Which means that if they want to push out a new version of Magic Online (Which doesn't seem unlikely), they need a new team of developers to do it.","Summary: Because you don't want kids learning what safe sex is from porn.\n\nPost: Perhaps because not everybody has been here for as long as you have. Preteens and teens today have the same lack of experience and knowledge teens have always had, and without proper education, misinformation will spread. \n Sure, there's the internet, but the problem is that the internet has groups dedicated to every point of view, from 'STDs will spontaneously generate if you kiss without being married' to 'STDs come from big corporations and if you have sex naturally and just don't want to be pregnant you'll be fine.' \n So Sex Ed - real Sex Ed, not abstinence-only 'education' - is critical for helping teenagers acquire knowledge without having to make costly mistakes first. Sure 'use a condom' seems blatantly obvious to you , but there was a point in your life when you didn't know what a condom was or why you would use one.","Summary: IVs are given to a Pokemon at birth and don't change, EVs are accumulated through fighting.\n\nPost: The simplest answer is: If you're not playing competitive, it really doesn't matter. There is no part of the game (Aside from perhaps the Battle Maison) where you'll need the advantages gained by using perfect EVs and IVs. \n That said, if you're still interested: IVs stands for 'internal values' and as the name suggests, they're part of the Pokemon from birth. Every Pokemon is born with an IV value for each stat that affects how powerful they are at that stat. These numbers are random from 0-31, but there are ways to pass down values from parent to child. It is the process of passing down 'perfect' (31) IVs that breeding is based around. \n EVs are effort values. They are gained as a Pokemon fights in battles. For each Pokemon defeated your pokemon will gain EVs, with the exact EVs being determined by the pokemon being fought. There is a maximum number of EVs (252) that can be put in any one stat and a maximum total (510 I believe) that can be assigned total between all stats. \n It's worth noting that these only affect so much - Even with an IV of 31 in speed and 252 EVs of Speed Shuckle isn't outracing anybody. \n Anyways, I know the 'what' but not much of the how , so I'll let somebody else explain the best method for getting perfect IVs and how best to train to get the optimal EV distribution.","Summary: Lots of tables get flipped.\n\nPost: The decks themselves would likely not change too much, at least at the Pro Tour level - As far as I know there aren't many incredibly invested pros who are being held back from specific decks by cost. \n In the short term quite a lot of inventory would lose quite a bit of value - ChannelFireball, for example, would find that just their BNG cards would be worth several hundred dollars less than they had previously. \n Of course, the counterpoint is always that a store is taking a risk by opting to stock a good as volatile as TCG cards, but unlike the theoretical reprint of Fetch lands, this would make an insane difference to total value of store's inventory since it would affect all their value cards. \n Once burned, twice shy, and I think a lot of major stores would reconsider stocking Magic singles at all. Depending on how many and whether they pull other support for the game as well, this could result in fewer stores that actively promote Magic and FNM, which could result in a long-term decrease in the popularity of the game. \n Obviously the players would be happy though, so that's definitely a positive. Magic would still be profitable, all of that is certain. The question is whether players would buy less new product total if a pack no longer has the potential of that super $20-$30 payday as a possibility. \n Which leads to another point - Cracking packs is suddenly completely unprofitable if the best possible outcome is a card worth $5 unless the price of other cards is raised to compensate. If somehow this situation is one where cards were never able to go above $5 (Possibly through direct sale by Wizards), you'll see the price of commons, uncommons, and weaker rares go up since stores can no longer make money off of chase rares alone.","Summary: Every veteran gamer was once a new gamer.\n\nPost: Easy, 'bite-sized' content exists in every medium and genre, and it's critical to the health of the medium/genre. Shooters have Call of Duty, Science Fiction literature has Ender's Game, Comic Books have Batman, and so on. They may not be the best content available, but they're an easy point to jump in if you're just getting started. \n Not everybody stays at Call Of Duty forever. Many start with Call of Duty, but then they move to other things. Without an easy, low learning curve introductory point that provides adequate if not amazing gameplay we'd have a lot fewer gamers. \n Other games may be 'better' (although even that is of course subjective) but they require some amount of experience to make the most out of. \n Before you can create games for different sections of the market, there first must be a market. Games like Call of Duty actively expand the market to people who did not game before by offering them a way to start playing without any skill or beforehand knowledge. \n Your 'handholding' games? Those are important too. Yes, most gamers will never invest more than a trace amount of effort into gaming, and you know what? That's fine. Not everybody has to be a Serious Gamer. \n But some will. There will be people like yourself who want a more challenging game. And there will be people who will create those experiences for such people as long as that market exists. \n What does it matter that 90% of CoD players will never migrate to 'serious' games if there are millions of CoD players and more every year? 10% of millions is better than 100% of a few thousand.","Summary: Just because a community group isn't labelled 'atheist' doesn't mean it's religious.\n\nPost: There are plenty of atheist groups, just no central group, because there's no reason for us to have a central group. \n There's nothing stopping you from creating an 'atheist' casual bowling league or LAN party group or book club or whatever. You don't even have to call it atheist, because ultimately that won't be the most important part of the group. \n We have communities without religion all the time. Heck, I'd say we have communities that are mostly religion free most of the time. I know my casual Magic: the Gathering group is a mix of faiths, but we don't pray before starting or finishing and nobody mentions religion, so we may as well be an atheist group. \n I'm all for having support groups for depression and the like, but claiming that churches are the only social groups available is simply ignorant. If you no longer define yourself by your faith, find some other hobby to define yourself by and find a social group for that hobby.","Summary: It's not enough to discount science. You must also be willing to have faith with the expectation that your faith will never be validated.\n\nPost: Let's take science off the table then. No using evolution as disproof, no using the inability to find miracles as disproof, just the word of the Bible and what we can determine from that. \n Alright, point one: [Jesus says we can pray]( and our prayers will be answered. I was a Christian. I had faith. As I was struggling, I tried the simplest of prayers: \"Dear God, would you please speak to me directly and tell me you exist.\" \n That sounded simple enough to me, and even if it wasn't scientifically rigorous and couldn't have been proved later, it would have been enough to satisfy my faith. \n Now this might come as a shock to you, but God didn't answer. How very odd. I have faith, and I prayed, and absolutely nothing happened. \n Moreover, no other prayer I have ever made has come true unless I prayed for something utterly mundane. It's possible that I am a unique snowflake shunned by God, but if others are receiving miracles regularly, they are not shouting about it.","Summary: Non-combat based games will advance as soon as game designers start putting more points into Craft Non-Combat Mechanics.\n\nPost: This is pretty much the biggest issue: Very few game mechanics are as perfected as combat mechanics, especially for games that tell a story. With the exception of platformers (And even then you have Goombas) almost every major genre that includes a story has combat of some variety. \n Let's look at the list of bestselling PC games (according to Wikipedia. May not be 100% accurate, but should help prove the point): \n \n The Sims - Not focused on combat, but also doesn't have a real storyline \n Diablo - Combat \n Half-Life 2 - Combat \n Minecraft - No real story, but still has combat. \n Starcraft - Combat \n Battlefield - Combat \n Guild Wars - Combat \n Myst - Puzzles, has story(?) (I haven't played it) Yay! \n Simcity - No real story, but no combat either \n \n So of all of those, we have one game - Myst - that both has a story and doesn't focus on combat. The important thing here is that with so few games focused on non-combat storytelling, non-combat mechanics haven't advanced very far since home gaming became a thing - We're still selecting from a list of dialogue options with minor changes based on which one you chose.","Summary: Turn probably does not remove Monstrous, assuming Monstrous/NonMonstrous works similar to Kamigawa flip cards.\n\nPost: For the record, we have confirmation that Monstrosity falls into the fourth category - The +1/+1 counters are a reminder that you have activated Monstrous, but they are independent from the state of being monstrous. \n It is resolving the ability which flips the switch on the creature from \"friendly cuddly woodland creature\" to \"rampaging death machine\", the counters are just a helpful reminder, so removing them doesn't flip the switch back. \n That said, it doesn't answer the actual question. If I had to guess though, Monstrousness is a state change and turning a creature doesn't un-monstrous it in the same way Turning a flip card doesn't un-flip it. \n This is relevant, by the way: If Turning does un-monstrify the creature you could activate the Monstrous ability a second time and then Turn in response to get a second set of counters.","Summary: No, the Legendary Rule doesn't use the stack but I'm tired so I rambled for 4 paragraphs, each more nonsensical than the last.\n\nPost: There are some things that don't use the stack. These are called State Based Effects and they happen whenever a player would gain priority and can't be responded to. These are generally 'cleanup' type things like putting a creature with lethal damage or zero toughness on it into the graveyard. \n Legendary Creatures die due to a State Based Effect, and thus can't be responded to. So if you have two Brothers in play and the opponent casts a third, immediately after it resolves you'll have to choose a Brother to sacrifice because 3 Brothers on the table negates the second rule. \n On the other hand, if you have one and your opponent has one and you cast a second one, you can Mortify your opponent's brother (NOTE: I do not recommend traumatizing siblings of your opponents in any manner) before your guy resolves. \n To use a slightly less confusing example: Having two copies of Varolz, The Scar-Striped in play is a 'broken' board state in the same way having a 0 toughness creature is a 'broken' board state. The game will try to fix it by moving creatures around appropriately before giving anybody the ability to do anything.","Summary: God did not divinely inspire the American legal system.\n\nPost: Yeah, but there's a difference here. A rather large one: I don't claim my group receives it's word from the lord creator of the universe himself. Sure, I don't agree with my candidates on everything, but they aren't supposed to be perfect. \n If God, the all-powerful and ineffable, creator of mankind and doer of all deeds, is incapable of so much as ensuring his church, sworn to follow him and all his wishes throughout life, can't avoid fracturing into thousands of different pieces, what's the point? \n Yes, there are Christians that believe all sorts of different things. That's part of the reason I became an atheist. If men who have studied God their whole lives can't agree on what God is trying to tell us in a book that has been dissected by many of history's brightest minds for almost two thousand years, then what's the point? \n Yes, Christians are starting to support gays, in the same way they flipped from Slavery = Okay to Slavery = Bad back in the 1800s. Odd, isn't it, how Christian morals seem to advance at about the same rate as everybody else?","Summary: If God didn't have enough influence to convince the original compilers of the Bible to include only the correct material, why should I trust he's capable of anything ?\n\nPost: It is not, on its own, reason to make up your mind. It is, however, hard to believe in a God when his 'believers' can't decide what exactly it is he believes. \n For a while I had faith questions. When I asked them, I would get many different, contradictory answers. After a while it becomes different to take even the betters ones seriously when everybody is citing their answers from the same book. \n The thing I don't get is why is the Bible not infallible? If God is real and in control, why would he allow his book to be twisted and his original meaning to become lost? That's kind of my point. I know there are translation errors and the Bible wasn't compiled until after the fact. If God was involved, that shouldn't matter. If there is one thing I would expect God to do, it's ensure his Holy Book is correct. \n I read the article, and while it was interesting I don't think it supports Christianity very well. Why would God allow his holy book to include writings by impostors? If Timothy was not the word of God, why is it in the Bible? The Bible was compiled by humans, but they were allegedly guided by God.","Summary: Bad game, bad devs, lots of bitter purchasers trying to warn others against making the same mistake.\n\nPost: The bit of the story I know: \n Part 1: \n Back last year at some point around December the game The War Z released for the first time on Steam. It billed itself as an improved standalone version of the insanely popular Day Z zombie survival mod for the game Arma II. \n To put it simply: It wasn't improved. It was barely functional. The official product description by the developers included a number of outright lies about current functionality which the devs shrugged off as being \"future additions\" despite the page claiming they existed at launch. \n Needless to say, people weren't happy. When they took to the official War Z forums to express their anger, they were banned and the posts removed. After a week or two Valve pulled War Z from the Steam store and offered refunds to anybody who had purchased the game. \n \n Part 2: \n Eventually War Z was fixed up (a bit), the description modified, and it was put back on Steam. By all accounts it was (and is) still a bad game, but the most egregious lies were removed. The War Z was sued by the company making the movie World War Z because of trademark issues (The book World War Z is far older than War Z) so the devs took the opportunity to change the name to [Infestation: Survivor Stories]( and removed all references to the old name aside from a short mention in the copyright disclaimer at the bottom of the page.","Summary: Violence is what makes it fiction, beauty is just a trait all the people share.\n\nPost: Here's the simplest answer I can come up with: \n You have two different things here: \n Violence is what makes it a fiction and a fantasy. In a movie like Taken or Die Hard or InsertMovieHere the point is that you are dealing with a violent situation. The violence is a highlight. It is obviously fictional. You watch it actively knowing that the violence is something that doesn't happen in real life, only in action movies. Violence in an Action Movie is like dragons in Harry Potter: You know it's fake. \n The beautiful people on the other hand, are just a thing which happens. It doesn't matter what show or movie you're watching, the people just look awesome. It's never mentioned, it's never commented on, it's not a special part of the movie that they look good, they just do . The only people that are actually ugly are usually hideous parodies. If a normal character looks 'ugly' they're usually still pretty good looking. \n Even if you become desensitized to violence, you still know there's something off with it, but even if you consciously know people don't look that good, there's nothing in the movies suggesting that looking that good is odd.","Summary: Outside of movies, violence is a Bad Thing^TM, being beautiful is a Good Thing^TM.\n\nPost: Yes, violence is sometimes glorified in a fictional setting, but it's important to take the rest of society into account. \n Consider this: Real life violence is heavily condemned. One of the most popular TV genres with violence is the crime drama, where people who commit violence in a realistic setting are Bad People doing Bad Things and being punished for it. For all the attention we drape on real life serial killers, they are still treated as Bad People who have done a Bad Thing. \n Contrast with beautiful people: We honor beauty as a Good Thing inside of movies and TV and outside of it. Nobody is ever criticized for being too pretty. People try to be beautiful, and we hold contests to see who is the most beautiful. Being beautiful, society says, is a Good Thing which Good People aspire to be.","Summary: The other factors matter because you must overcome them before the problem starts.\n\nPost: It does when the bias against is so strong. 'Don't kill people' is so deeply ingrained in society that unless a person is already unbalanced nothing short of a systematic propaganda campaign is going to change that view. Most people aren't worried about violent media causing violence for the same reason they aren't worried about Harry Potter creating witches and wizards. \n If you took a hypothetical child raised in isolation with nothing but action movies and violent video games for entertainment, the end result might be a child with no concept of violence being wrong, but children aren't raised in isolation.","Summary: Roughly half of all DTK packs will contain zero dragons.\n\nPost: Alright, so point 1: I'm assuming [this article]( list is comprehensive. That gives us: \n \n 11 uncommon dragons (1 that was common, five gold, five monocolored) \n 10 rare dragons (5 gold, five monocolored) \n 5 Mythic dragons \n \n Point 2: I'm ignoring foils because I'm super lazy \n Let's start with the rares, 'cause that math is easy. A full rare sheet includes two of each rare and one of each mythic, which for a full large set like DTK means 121 total cards. There is a 25/121 chance that the rare slot contains a Dragon, or a 96/121 chance of not having a dragon (Approximately 79.3%) \n Uncommons are also pretty easy. There are 80 uncommons, three per pack, and packs don't contain two copies of the same uncommon unless one is foil (Or there's a misprint). The odds of no dragons is 69/80 68/79 67/78 = 314364/4924960 (or ~63.8%) \n Multiplying the two numbers together (Since they're independent events) gives us a 50.6% chance of a pack not having any dragons.","Summary: Probably not.\n\nPost: I know that the time and effort would be massive, but would it be viable? \n That's a difficult question to ask. Could it maybe be possible? Maybe. It's hard to know without an extremely complete knowledge of the code and target hardware in question. \n If I had to guess though, I'd say no. One of the defining factors of better computers is the ability to run more computations faster. The obvious outcome here is that you can draw prettier pictures, but the speed becomes noticeable even with something as simple as a loop that counts from 1 to the biggest number you can store in a variable. \n The newer games simply run too many computations too quickly, especially with regards to the graphics involved, to be able to run on older machines. \n In addition to that, even though Machine Language can be more efficient, it can also be much less efficient. Compiler technology (The stuff that turns high level code into machine language) has gotten much better over the years, to the point where it would take quite a bit of study in order to write machine language more efficient than what is being generated by the compiler.","Summary: Prerelease hype aside, JOU and BNG seem about even on God quality.\n\nPost: Okay? \n Let's look at the Gods from BNG: (NOTE: All deck indications are Standard unless otherwise noted) \n \n Ephara - Seeing play in [some]( [Tier 1]( [decks]( So that's good. \n Phenax - Yeah, not that good. \n Mogis - Very minor appearances in BWR control. \n Xenagos - [Frequent]( [appearances]( as a 1 or 2 of in a Tier 1 deck \n Karametra - Popular in EDH, no Standard play. \n \n So that's 2 that have made showings at a high level and one that has seen some very fringe play. \nLet's look at JOU: \n \n Athreos - Probably going to see Tier 1 play \n Keranos - Almost certainly too slow to see serious play. Maybe a one-of in America Control \n Pharika - Probably not going to see much play, maybe some fringe BG control-ish strategies? \n Iroas - Probably going to see at least some play in WR Aggro \n Kruphix - Good in EDH, probably no play in Standard. \n \n Predicting the playability of future cards is always a risky business, but that seems to be about the same score to me: Two that are pretty definitely playable in Tier 1 (Athreos, Iroas) and the rest are either fringe or only EDH playable.","Summary: Why does it matter?\n\nPost: I'm not sure this is a question that can be reasonably answered by anybody since it requires you to make a number of huge assumptions: \n \n What qualifies as 'good'? \n What qualifies as 'harm'? \n How do you determine if it was done by a religion? Does it count if Religion is being used as an excuse to accomplish goals which aren't necessarily religious? \n How do you balance harm against religion? \n \n It would be exceedingly difficult to figure out so much as a list of what was done by religion. Sorting it into harm and good and then comparing the two are equally difficult tasks which would also need to be undertaken. \n The better question is: Does it matter ? Most Christians aren't Christian because they think a Christian community produces 3.6% more charitable donations than a secular one, they're Christian because they hold as true some variation on the statement \"There is a God who had a son named Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself for the sake of humanity.\" \n The total amount of good done by any person or group is totally irrelevant to whether that key statement is true. If good is done, but God and Jesus aren't real, you may as well strip away those unnecessary bits and just reduce Christianity to a Charity-and-Social-Wellbeing organization and stop wasting money on buying Bibles and maintaining fancy crosses and the like.","Summary: No kithkin, goblins, or elves? Lorwyn isn't next.\n\nPost: There is just about a 0% chance we return to Lorwyn. It would be like Odyssey/Onslaught all over again. \n For those not playing at the time who haven't heard the story, one of the things with Odyssey was that it was all about these new odd creature types - Blue had Cephalids, Green had Insects, Red had Dwarves, White had Nomads, and Black had Minions/Horrors. \n And then Onslaught happened. A tribal block, built around tribes that were all conspicuously absent in the previous block. This was part of why R&D intentionally seeds more cards in blocks based on not just their theme but also adjacent themes. \n Lorwyn's tribes were Kithkin, Merfolk, Treefolk, Goblins, and Elves. Although Merfolk and a few Treefolk are in Theros, Goblins, Elves, and Kithkin are all missing. There's no way we're about to see Return to Lorwyn right after a block made out of unconventional creature types.","Summary: Level ups without dings are meaningless.\n\nPost: I can't think of any games that implement such a feature, but it seems like it would be poor game design. Levels are great for making the player feel like they're accomplishing something, but ultimately the stats increasing doesn't matter because usually the enemies increase to match. \n If your stats just slowly go up and the enemy stats also go up, the end result is that from the player's perspective nothing has happened . If the enemy stats don't go up, from the player's perspective the game just gets easier over time without any real reason. \n If you aren't going to clearly delineate levels, consider that you may not actually want a leveling system in your game at all.","Summary: There is no way to get to God from a naturalistic worldview without arbitrarily picking a religion from among the hundreds, none of which can prove their claims. \n Note: Please don't read this as me being condescending. I just have a tendency to break things down to the lowest possible level when explaining so it leaves the smallest amount of room for me to trip over myself. (It also makes it easier to clear up any confusion if my explanation doesn't make sense)\n\nPost: This comic annoys me. The comic is just a smarmy way to fail to make a point: \n To wit: \n First, \"The only true statements are those that are empirically verifiable\" is a strawman. The more correct statement would be \"The only provable statements are those that are empirically verifiable.\" Second: That's not itself a statement, but a definition. \n It no more requires 'faith' than using 'round table' to mean a table with no corners requires faith. You can imagine the naturalistic worldview (Atheism is represented in a single sentence: \"I don't believe in God.\" No more, no less) as follows: \n To begin with, nothing exists. The next step is to say \"My brain is receiving input which seems to correspond to things.\" At this point, you have two choices: \n \n Solipsism: Only I am real. All else is illusions created by my brain. It can all be safely ignored since none of it is real \n Accept the hypothesis that these things you perceive are real enough that they consistently correspond to certain stimuli and probably indicate the existence of an external world. \n \n So on to the next step: We've established 'things exist'. Yay us! So what next? Well what else can we do? Let's see what happens when we pick something up and drop it: \n It falls! For now it doesn't matter why , it just matters that it does. Let's see what happens if we pick something else up and drop it: \n It also falls! We can repeat this a few times and pretty quickly we'll work out that if you pick things up and drop them they fall. We'll go ahead and write this down in our big Notebook of Science: Stuff falls when dropped. \n Through careful trial and error, we can discover exactly how fast things fall. Fortunately, somebody already did that and wrote it down in the Notebook of Science. In fact, by this point a lot of people have written a lot of stuff in the Notebook of Science. \n Fortunately, we don't need to have faith in any of it. We can pull out the Notebook of Science and try to do the tests ourselves to see if they work! Don't have 'enough faith' to believe that stuff falls when dropped? Try it yourself! \n Science of course decided to name this 'stuff-falls-when-dropped' effect 'Gravity'. \n Now we get to evolution. We (naturalists) don't accept evolution because we have 'faith' it's true, we accept it because all of the scientists involved took great notes and put them in the Notebook of Science for us to read. Evolution isn't some magical theory from nowhere: It's the work of scientists piecing together what evidence we have gathered to work out how the Earth formed. \n Which brings us, full circle, to God and faith: To get this far, we've made all of one assumption: The one way back up at the top that there is a real world. In order to believe in God you have to make another: That the claims made by a certain religion are true despite the myriad other religions also claiming to be true. \n And here we have a problem: How do we determine which is correct? Is Christianity correct? Let's try praying to God, as Jesus said we can do. \"Dear God, please fill my cup with water.\" Simple enough, easier than the test Gideon requested, certainly smaller than the mountain-moving Jesus promised. \n ... And now my cup is still empty. Odd. That claim doesn't seem correct. Let's do the same with other religions and their claims: Nothing. All have believer who claim religious experiences, but the claims contradict, so obviously not all can be true. \n And so we're left with the problem, the reason we're atheists:","Summary: What lore you need to track down depends on whether you are more interested in the worlds or the Planeswalkers.\n\nPost: That depends on whether you're interested in history or recent events. If you want to know the whole thing, tracking down the old books is worth it. \n It is important to acknowledge that two major shifts have occurred in Magic lore. The first happened when Mirrodin introduced the idea of a set on a new plane with (effectively) all new characters with only trace ties to older sets. \n Prior to Mirrodin, blocks for the most part followed up on the same general plot as the block before it, although with sometimes a different character focus. In Mirrodin, Kamigawa, and (original) Ravnica we suddenly were completely ignoring older characters. \n Then after Time Spiral block we have our second shift. The events of Time Spiral block are very complex, but the important thing is that Planeswalkers (The entities that players ostensibly represent) went from almost Gods to being more like very high level D&D wizards - Far more powerful than most, but incredibly vincible. \n Ultimately though, the key point is that each block is now effectively two story components: One is the story of the world and what happens to it, and the other is the ongoing story of the key Planeswalkers like Jace, Elspeth, and Liliana.","Summary: It was greed, not the public being done with the series.\n\nPost: Really? You think it was the South Park episode that killed the genre? Not the fact that between the two series there were seven games released in a single year? \n The following games were all released during 2009: \n \n Guitar Hero: Smash Hits \n Guitar Hero: Van Halen \n Guitar Hero: Metallica \n Guitar Hero 5 \n Band Hero \n Beatles Rock Band \n Lego Rock Band \n \n I'm about 98% certain it was market saturation combined with the various lawsuits (For those that don't know: Among others Courtney Love and Gibson Guitars sued over the games) that killed the genre more than even the general 'done with this' feeling in the public. \n Heck, even with it obviously being a fad, if they hadn't oversaturated the market they could have kept doing yearly releases from now 'til judgment day. Heck, Rock Band Network was profitable enough that they kept releasing songs for it until 10 days ago.","Summary: No, sacrificing creatures at instant speed is not inherently broken.\n\nPost: With the exception of perhaps Dredge, mechanics aren't broken. Cards with mechanics on them are broken. \n There are good cards that involve sacrificing. Birthing Pod is the most notable. There are a lot of very bad cards that involve sacrificing other things you have. Let's go through some of the ones in Standard: \n \n Barrage of Expendables \n Blood Bairn \n Bubbling Cauldron \n Cartel Aristocrat \n Champion of Stray Souls \n Corpse Blockade \n Eater of Hope \n Gnawing Zombie \n Gobbling Ooze \n Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord \n Korozda Guildmage \n Maw of the Obzedat \n \n That's the first half of the alphabet. There are more, but this list serves to prove my point. Look at that list. Of the 12 cards I listed, one (Cartel Aristocrat) sees anything resembling heavy play. Most of them are draft fodder at best. None of them are dominating the format. \n Let's look at this the other way around: If your premise is correct, then we'd expect to see a bunch of the top decks having ways to sacrifice their own creatures at instant speed. Let's look at [this top 8]( from a recent event. \n Boros Aggro: No way to sacrifice creatures \nNaya Aggro: No way to sacrifice creatures \nJund Aggro: No way to sacrifice creatures \nGolgari Devotion: No way to sacrifice creatures \nEsper Control: No way to sacrifice creatures. \n Well, that wasn't promising. Let's look a [Modern top 8]( for comparison: \n \n Scapeshift: Scapeshift sacrifices lands but not creatures, isn't instant speed. \n Jund: No way to sacrifice creatures at instant speed. Could theoretically point LotV at self \n WU Control; No way to sacrifice creatures \n WUr Kiki: No way to sacrifice creatures \n Birthing Pod: Pod, the Viscera Seer for the combo \n Twin Exarch: No way to sacrifice creatures \n UWr Midrange: No way to sacrifice creatures. \n \n So of all the decks we looked at, only Pod relied on sacrificing creatures, and it really relied on only one card with the mechanic. No other deck, even ones that had multiple creatures, had ways to sacrifice creatures at instant speed. \n In conclusion/","Summary: Because Capitalism.\n\nPost: This may not be true at Starbucks, but at somewhere like McDonalds the most expensive part of the beverage for the company is the cup they put it in. So if the price difference for the company is minor enough between different cups, they can easily increase the size of the drink. \n A larger drink looks like more value, so if you're trying to fight in a market like fast food that's all about \"How much product can we deliver for how cheap?\" being able to score easy points on something like an increased drink size is a no brainer.","Summary: One and one and one is four.\n\nPost: So I had a fun one being the Judge-type person (Technically a Rules Advisor) at my local FNM: \n There were two people involved: Player A, who was around 15 years old, and Player B, a rather large middle aged man. The argument arose when Player B played Wayfaring Temple with two other creatures in play. \n The man was then absolutely insistent that it should be a 4/4. Player A points out that he only has 3 creatures. The man says that it counts itself. Player A points out that he has three creatures . Player B refuses to acknowledge this. \n At this point Player B is getting a bit loud, so players are looking over. The store has a very casual atmosphere and there tends to be a lot of chatter between players, so it wasn't that unusual when another guy looks over and backs up Player A. Meanwhile, I'm still busy with my round. \n Eventually somebody decides to call me as Player B is still refusing to acknowledge the obvious miscount he's doing. I end up having to start by doing the baby-step through: \"So if you have only this, how big is it?\" \"Okay, now if you play a second creature, how big is it?\" \"Okay, so how big is it when you put the third creature into play.\" \n Player B was suddenly a whole lot less belligerent. He also never came back after that night. I can't help but think I was a bit condescending, but when he's counting \"1-2-3 plus it counts itself so 4\" and ignores his opponent pointing out the doublecount I didn't know how else to do it.","Summary: Ask my pastor, I'm not an expert.\"\n\nPost: This is where I'd proudly declare that the first bit of Genesis was a metaphor and only crazy Christians took the first few chapters of Genesis literally. Of course, what exactly it was a metaphor for and why they'd bother tracing exact genealogies for Jesus if Adam and Eve never existed would've caused me problems. \n There are a ton of flaws. The trick is simply adding enough fuzzing to make the most important bits seem almost workable while ignoring enough details to avoid too much cognitive dissonance. Remember that most Christians don't spend too much time thinking too deeply about their faith, in the same way most atheists don't. \n The existence of Biblical scholars is a huge comfort to Christians, because it means that they can think somebody has the answers. To use an analogy: You probably are not an expert on cellular biology. If I were to ask you a specific question about some apparent contradiction I'd found in cellular biology, you'd tell me you weren't an expert, but you trusted the experts who claimed the science worked. \n In the same way, many Christians will tell you they don't have all the answers, and to ask the Pastor or a Biblical scholar, trusting that even if they don't have the answers, somebody else does.","Summary: Turn based combat is hard to find because it's hard to do right.\n\nPost: NOTE: The following is specifically discussing RPG turn-based systems, not TBS games like XCOM and the like. \n Part of the reason Turn-Based combat is vanishing is because it's very very easy to do wrong and very difficult to do right. Real-time combat is fairly popular partly because even if every fight plays out in basically the same way the mechanics tend to make that repetitive action more fun. \n With a Turn-Based combat system frequently large chunks of the game boils down to \"use this sequence of attacks\" against almost every enemy. When the combat method is menu based and you just select the same options from the menu every time the game gets boring fast. \n In order for a turn-based RPG to really work is if you give the player enough different options that they can make meaningful non-obvious choices and you have enough enemy times that vary in enough ways that the same strategies don't work every time. \n The issue with that is hiding enough of the complexity so the player isn't overwhelmed by a crazy number of menus and numbers and stats. \n My favorite example of it done fairly well is Pokémon: The 17 types and massive number of party members and different attacks lead to having to change strategy to find different enemies. It also has a very simple addition that totally changes the game: \"The attack was super effective!\" \n That one simple line is key to the game working with newer gamers because it gives you an instant tip-off that the attack you are using is better against the type of enemy you're facing. By learning which attacks give that message, a new player can figure out the type relations without referencing a manual and without being flooded with info.","Summary: Quick! Keep making new boxes to put things in until we run out of cardboard.\n\nPost: Speaking specifically about your article, I think the 2000-2008 era is too broad. Maybe it's just because I started playing in Kamigawa, but I think having Invasion in the same category as Lorwyn is pushing it. The game changed a lot in those eight years, and if I had to mark a midway point it would probably be about the time of the Mirrodin bannings. \n On a tangential note to your article: \n As somebody interested in the creative and who is a fan of large messes and competing standards, I think we need at least one more set of eras to describe Magic Creative. People ask \"where do I start reading Magic?\" all the time, but the answers that are given usually ignore Creative eras. \n Telling somebody to go read The Brother's War after they got interested in Magic because of the Theros stuff is like telling somebody to start with Fantastic Four #1 because they're curious about Guardians of the Galaxy: Yeah, it's in the same universe and it'll eventually loop around to there, but the characters and events from that era are many layers removed from the current ongoing plotlines. \n At bare minimum there are two big eras (Pre-Mending and Post-Mending) but I'm pretty sure there are divisions to be drawn beyond that. There has been a lot of Magic continuity over the years and somebody who has been with the game through it all could probably point to clear points where the universe shifted.","Summary: You will not care because you will no longer be yourself. \n EDIT: Hrm. On rereading I realize I have still presented a 'perfect' heaven, it just doesn't match the standard definition. I'll try again later if I remember.\n\nPost: Unfortunately, I'm not absolutely certain I can. I myself am atheist, but I seem to recall an argument going along these basic lines: \n Borrowing a bit from the Hindu concept of Nirvana, upon reaching Heaven you become more than just you . You become one with God, part of the great perfection forever. In the process, you shed your base humanity (and the inherent sinning nature that goes with it) in order to become part of something more than yourself. As part of this perfection you will be privy to all of God's secrets and know why it is that things are as they are. \n If you start from the assumption that God and all his choices are perfect, this would leave you in a state whereupon you would fully acknowledge why an atheist would deserve hell, and it would not burden you that someone you once loved now suffered. \n Of course, this requires you to first demonstrate that God exists and makes nothing but infallible choices. Fortunately, I can at this point duck out by saying I personally don't believe in such things.","Summary: They both get killed to death.\n\nPost: Here's how this works assuming no instants are cast or abilities are activated: \n First Strike damage happens first. The Fabled Hero has Double Strike so it does damage equal to its power (2) in this step. The Nightveil Specter doesn't have First or Double Strike, so it doesn't do any damage. You now have a Nightveil Specter with 2 damage marked on it and a Fabled Hero with no damage Marked on it. \n Normal damage happens next. Fabled Hero already did damage once this turn, but it has Double Strike so it gets to deal (2) damage now. The Nightveil Specter hasn't tried to do damage at all yet, so as normal it does (2) damage now. The end result is the Fabled Hero going to the graveyard due to damage equal to or greater than its toughness marked on it and the Nightveil Specter also goes to the graveyard due to damage for the same reason.","Summary: I'd still Reddit if I was immortal.\n\nPost: This doesn't answer the question though. Death is not really the opposite of life, it's the opposite of alive . \n Life would only lose any meaning it had when death was removed if the only two events which occurred were \"person is born\" and \"person died\" with dates for each. \n However, Life is more than just being born and dying. In between is where all the fun stuff happens. There are certainly things we do to avoid the whole 'death' thing happening at an inconvenient time, but ultimately most of what we do is for reasons completely unrelated to our eventual demise. \n I, for one, do not argue with people on Reddit because I know I'm going to die. I argue with people on Reddit because it amuses me to do so and because sometimes I learn something from it.","Summary: In my opinion) You swap new readers for old ones, the problem is mostly due to incorrect understanding of comics.\n\nPost: Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a unique selling point. Sure you might dislike that selling point, but it still sets them apart from many other mediums. \n You can remove continuity from comics, and different people would read it, but at the same time you'd remove one of the reasons existing people read it. You end up alienating existing readers to court potential new ones, which may end up being a financially sound decision (If the new readers outnumber the old ones) but isn't automatically a good choice. \n And honestly I think this complaint is misdirected anyways: There are plenty of excellent comics that are put out that are self-contained and don't require you to know or care about the wider universe that you can read if you don't like the complex web of character drama. \n You can read Batman: Year One or All-Star Superman or Gotham Central or any of a large number of other arcs or runs and have a complete story without knowing everything else about the character. \n I think the stigma comes because people feel that because the material exists, they need to read it to get the full benefit. You don't worry about not understanding Harry Potter you don't know the history of Harry's parents. You don't get confused when watching Star Wars because you don't know why Han Solo was working for Jabba the Hutt. You don't because you know the story will provide the context you need to understand the story that is being told. \n With comics people do worry though, because there is a belief that knowing the outside material doesn't just add to the material but is crucial to understanding it at all, and I don't think that's true.","Summary: Shooting somebody with a gun is a known Bad Thing^TM for children, but sex is a mysterious unknown which doesn't have as strong of a built-in stigma.\n\nPost: Actually, there is a non-hypocritical reason behind this that makes sense if you were to actually believe that naked people is wrong. \n The reason people are fine with guns/murder/whatever and not nudity/sex/whatever is that murder is an obviously fantastical inclusion. You don't watch somebody shoot somebody else in James Bond and think 'That's how normal people behave' any more than you watch Harry Potter and think 'Magic is real!' Your brain is able to process obviously false information as obvious fiction. \n The problem shows up when you mix obvious fiction with almost-correct-but-not-quite nonfiction. You know the show you are watching is fictional, but if something isn't obviously fake you'll probably just roll with it. This is why lots of people think defibrillators and CPR are general catch-alls for the recently deceased and that you get one phone call and other things. They aren't true, but you've seen them enough times and they're obviously fake so you just kind of shrug and accept them as real unless/until you find correct information. \n I've kind of wandered a bit, but the end point is this: Portraying sexuality in any way on screen falls under that 'eh, close enough' realm of pseudononfiction for a lot of viewers, especially the younger ones. Sex isn't exactly openly talked about, so the views most of us have come from sources such as how it's discussed and portrayed on TV Shows, in books, in movies, or on the internet. \n So if you believe that all sexuality is inherently shameful then keeping discussions which include being open about sexuality out of the reach of children is critical to maintaining the idea that sexuality is inherently shameful.","Summary: The average player should have most or all of the content in your game before the game mechanics get old.\n\nPost: My frustration is when a good system is ruined by improperly gauging the amount of time required to acquire all of the content. I have two big examples of this: \n First, the Tower Defense game Fieldrunners 2. If you complete the game on normal difficulty (Roughly 25 levels) you will likely have roughly 800 coins, and maybe 1,000 if you're doing very well. The problem is that this is only enough coins to buy one or two of the cheapest buyable towers. This leaves the player having to grind through levels they've already beaten to get the thousands of coins required to buy all the towers. \n Second, the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer with its much-vaunted free DLC. The unlock system came in the form of random 'packs' which meant you could spend many many hours trying to unlock the character you wanted to play as. To give you an idea of how bad this system is: I got bored and decided to cheat. Well over 20,000,000 credits (Roughly 200 packs or $600 if you use micropayments) later I still haven't maxed out all the weapons. It took me close to half of that to even unlock all the characters.","Summary: Violence is easier to build and can more easily get away with being fake than human conversation, so there will always be more games about violence than human conversation.\n\nPost: Not only is violence easy to systematize, players are unlikely to have enough familiarity with actual violence to be put off by the lack of reality in video game violence. \n Basically nothing about the standard \"Run around the map firing bullets at the enemy until they fall over because they're out of health and then they'll respawn and you do it again\" matches up with a real life gunfight. It plays well though, and almost all of your players won't have experience with real life gunfights, so it's fine. \n You don't have to encode the complexities of fatigue, specific injuries, and similar things into your game and although a niche audience (See: Arma) would enjoy it, probably most of your players are happier with the simple model anyways. \n Contrast that with a conversation. How do you model a conversation? You could do a mad-libs style choose-your-own dialog tree and score the player based on specific word combinations, and the end result would likely be about as close to real conversation as the simulated gunfight is to a real gunfight. \n But that obviously doesn't work because the player will have had many conversations and will know it doesn't match real conversations. They'll want to say things they would really say or do things they'd really do and have the other characters react to that, but implementing that would be really hard. Even if you could model a single conversation that had every possible outcome, how do you build a story when the player can have any outcome in a conversation? \n How do you detect failstates? How do you effectively convey that the player is failing, and what they can do to improve? In a gunfight, the player knows they have made a mistake when they take damage and they know if they hit zero health they will die. Conveying that in a conversation style of gameplay is hard . \n I could keep going, but I think I've gotten my general idea across and this is already kinda a wall of text.","Summary: So that it's so easy a caveman could do it.\n\nPost: Because when you understand all of the math behind it, Pokemon is really fairly complex. \n You see plenty of players on this sub who feel overwhelmed reading about EVs and IVs and such and think the games may be too complex. \n Now consider that Pokémon is a game built to be accessible to children. Part of how they're able to keep it accessible to children while keeping it complex enough for more mature players is by hiding most of the complexity. \n Right now there are six stats which are all fairly obvious in what they do and the entire battle system gives you a very small number of messages: \n \n X is super effective \n X is not very effective \n X has no effect \n STAT went up (sharply) \n STAT went down (sharply) \n \n Those are all very self-explanatory and the only numbers visible in an actual battle are how much health you have, the level of each Pokémon, and how much health you have. \n Imagine if instead you saw everything . Instead of one number for attack you saw four: Base/IVs/EVs/Total. On battle win you didn't just get XP but also EVs. On hits you saw the precise amount of damage and on boost you saw the precise percentage and numerical increase. \n Sure it would be a lot more helpful to pros but to new players it would be basically incomprehensible. Pokemon has done as well as it has for as long as it has because the designers have gotten increasingly better at figuring out just how much information they can show players to walk the line between accessibility for new players and giving experienced players the tools to see the hidden complexity.","Summary: Romantic love is difficult to get the player to embrace in the same way they do friendship.\n\nPost: I think a lot of people are missing an important human reason why actual romantic feelings are rarely attached to your character: It's incredibly difficult to manage in a way that works without feeling weird. \n (In my opinion) Romantic relationships are difficult to get a player emotionally on board with in the same way you can get them on board with a friendship. You can make the player like the NPCs that the PC is supposed to be friends with. You can make the player dislike, distrust, and outright hate the NPCs the PC is supposed to be at war with. \n What you cannot do effectively is make a large portion of the player base fall in love (romantically) with an NPC in the same way the PC does. No matter how well written the dialog is, it's unlikely for the player to form that sort of connection with a character. \n Note that this is different if the player is orchestrating the actions of existing characters rather than really role-playing their own character. I think this is why Fire Emblem: Awakening did marriages so well: You as the player technically control which character marries which character, but you have zero control over the actual conversations so the writers were able to write things that worked for each character. \n But in Mass Effect (To use the obvious example) I never actually fell in love with the character I had Shepard marry. I liked the character, and of the options presented it was my favorite character, but I didn't love the character. It's a bit of a subtle distinction, but it creates a disconnect either between how the player and the PC feel about the character or between how the PC and the character interact and how you'd expect married characters to act. \n Even though I enjoyed the dialog in ME3 between Tali and a married Shepard, those were the pieces I most felt like I listening to two characters talk rather than being part of the world myself. If the game was built on that, I don't think I'd be able to unconsciously start thinking about the main character as being 'me' in the same way I did.","Summary: I am not a comedian.\n\nPost: Joking about religion is all well and good but it becomes a problem when every joke starts from the premise \"These religious people sure are stupid, aren't they?\" All that really does is perpetuate the Us vs Them mentality that leads you to think of Christians as fundamentally different from Atheists. \n You see this carry over into arguments: \"You can tell a Christian that, but they don't think rationally\" is a phrase that gets repeated a lot both there and here. The problem is that by reducing Christians to purely illogical individuals you remove the ability to empathize with them, and that makes it much much harder to actually figure out how to change their opinions. \n Uh... Sorry, that sort of got away from me a bit. Not actually ranting at you in particular, I just sort of started with jokes about religion and ended with a rant.","Summary: It's a mess and I like writing baseless speculation on the internet so I don't have to go do my Artificial Intelligence homework.\n\nPost: Do you really think that money spent on the poor just disappears? \n That's a tricky question, isn't it? For the most part, money never really disappears. Currencies used in almost every country have no intrinsic value or use - I can pay somebody else to do something for me or make something for me, but I can't directly convert money into another product so any use of money is really just changing who is holding it. \n So in that sense, money doesn't ever disappear. The real question is whether money spent on the poor produces wealth. And that depends on how it's handled. The goal ultimately is to create a situation where the poor are able to begin producing something. \n That sounds kinda callous when written out like that, but ultimately it's better for everybody if somebody who previously struggled to just survive is able to spend their time on something besides meeting bare survival necessities. The trick is figuring out how to spend the minimum per person (So as to reach the maximum number of people) while getting the greatest benefit (And in theory politicians, being agents of the state, should benefit whenever the people of the state benefit). \n The ultimate problem is that people can't be treated as identical cubes and the incentive system for those making decisions on how to spend the money doesn't really reward actively attempting to affect real change.","Summary: If God is the only meaning, do you eat Ice Cream for God?\n\nPost: The simplest counterpoint is to ask them about their day: \n \"Do you do everything for God? Did you watch Iron Man 3 for God? Did you play Minecraft for God? Did you go to Dairy Queen for a late night snack for God?\" \n If God is the only reason for living, then anything you do must be for God. If you can do anything without needing it to be about God, then you can do everything without needing it to be about God. \n If the trivial examples don't work, use the bigger ones: \n \"Would you still love your parents/siblings/children/SO without God? Would you stop helping people without God?\" \n Some will say 'I couldn't without God!' but you are unlikely to get much productive conversation out of such people anyways.","Summary: TBS and FPS usually have totally different demographics.\n\nPost: If I had to guess, I'd say it has to do with the specific genres. Turn-Based Strategy is fairly under-represented genre compared to shooters. Turn-Based Strategy is basically the genre that is totally opposite from shooters. \n I'm going to guess you're not new to the internet, so you're probably aware of the large group that always claims shooters are the dumbest genre in gaming and that the simpler a game is, the worse it is. Any time any change gets made to a strategy franchise (For example removing Unit Stacks in Civ V) the franchise is accused of being 'dumbed down'. \n So for the famously complex and difficult XCOM series to be turned into what the vocal segment saw as the worst plague in gaming today was seen as the gravest insult imaginable. I'm not saying they were justified in being that vocal, but that's why you got so large of a response for this particular incident.","Summary: If you have $2,000,000,000 and the greatest orator alive handy, I'll be more than happy to get started on this 'third party' thing.\n\nPost: It may not be set in stone, but it's close enough as makes no difference. In a country of 300 million, it would take a hell of a movement to fight past the inertia Duverger's Law generates. A hell of a movement with a hell of a lot of money. The current two parties spent [nearly a billion dollars each]( last election, and they started with about half the votes each. \n So you have the following obstacles to overcome in order to make a new party (In no particular order): \n \n Find a qualified enough and likable enough person to run \n Figure out a platform that is different enough from the big two while still meeting as many of the demands of 'the public' as possible. \n Acquire enough money to run nonstop ad campaigns against the big two in every state, not just the swing states. \n Overcome the massive preexisting bias against third party votes being useless. \n On election day, get majority votes in a good number of important states without accidentally tipping things too far against either existing party. \n \n Let's use an example of this not happening properly: In 1992, [Ross Perot]( ran for president. He managed to get 19% of the popular vote, more than any other third party candidate in fifty years. All this did was help secure Bill Clinton's win because he split the Republican party.","Summary: He's not wrong, but I don't think he's saying things in the way they need to be said to be best understood by his target audience. \n (Sorry, got into a bit of a rant there. Don't know why this annoys me as much as it does)\n\nPost: No, I know it's for an inexperienced audience, I just don't think it does a good job of covering things in an effective manner. \n Consider this article or addressing things that are very important to new players. \n The worst to me is lines like: \n > Although Telling Time is legal in the Modern format, at two mana, it is too expensive to flip Delver of Secrets in many deck; the slightly less flexible (but less expensive) Serum Visions is the Insectile Aberration-flipper of choice. \n which are absolutely worthless to any player not already familiar with what Delver is or why being able to flip it is important to a Modern format. If you didn't already know you were building a Delver deck, his comparison doesn't mean anything. \n And then, later on, he mentions Volcanic Hammer as being playable because the effect is powerful, suddenly switching from 'this is the best' to 'this is useful' without acknowledging that a number of other cards he previously discarded (like Telling Time) fit into a similar niche. \n Also: He mentions Tarmogoyf, shows a picture, and just assumes the audience is not only familiar with the card but also aware of the reasons it's so good - 'goyf is one of those cards that can sometimes be tricky to understand the power of if you don't see it in action. \n The articles are very much written in such a way that they only really make sense if you're a player who is experienced enough for them to not be terribly helpful, so I don't think I'd recommend them to a new player.","Summary: It's another lesson in why faceless movements on the internet are doomed to fail without a clear leadership group setting obvious goals and publicly announcing what they do and don't stand for. \n \n The upshot of all of this is pretty simple: If you flip through the [GamerGate Hashtage on Twitter]( you'll quickly notice a lot more about members of GamerGate defending it or people attacking it or people trying to explain what it's supposed to be about than you will any actual forward movement, which is why pretty much everybody who can get out of the whole mess has by now.\n\nPost: It started with a blog post by an ex-boyfriend of Zoe Quinn (An indie game developer) claiming that Zoe Quinn slept with people for better reviews on her game. Whether these claims were accurate or not became a whole fireball argument which snowballed (... Those metaphors sorta cancel out, don't they?) into a shitstorm called GamerGate. \n Ostensibly it's about ethics in game journalism but a lack of centralized leadership combined with a tendency for some people in the movement to resort to ugly slurs and a whole bunch of terrible things led to the whole thing going downhill fast. \n At this point it's become this weird self-sustaining blob where the primary activity of GamerGate participants is trying to explain why the ugly elements don't actually represent GamerGate. Meanwhile, due to the negative buzz surrounding the whole thing, nobody notable has been interested in stepping up and trying to push forward what the supposed actual agenda is (Promoting ethics in game journalism). \n One of the more notable things that happened to drag the whole thing completely into the mud was that enough people decided their arch-rival was Anita Sarkeesian, a woman who produces feminist opinion pieces on video games but who is not really a member of games journalism in the first place. Why does the whole group hate her? I don't even know.","Summary: Just because I don't believe in Jesus doesn't mean I don't still like a free meal.\n\nPost: Alright, so first off, my family doesn't know I'm atheist. My mother would absolutely flip out if she knew, so for the sake of my own sanity I haven't told her. That said, once I started going to college (It's only 20 minutes away from home, but my scholarship covers housing, so I live on campus) I stopped going home over the weekends and thus stopped going to church. \n The problem was that the food on campus was really really bad on Sundays and my freshman year I had the mandatory meal plan for food, which meant there was one day every week where I knew I was going to have terrible food. \n So I decided to start going home over the weekend, which with my family meant I was going to church every Sunday. The biggest benefit was that it meant lunch with my family at a local restaurant that I didn't have to pay for. \n Of course, if I'm going to be at church, I may as well join a Sunday school group. So I ended up in the relatively small College sunday school group with a bunch of people I had known since approximately forever, none of whom know I'm an atheist. \n At this point I still go every week just because I enjoy talking to the other people in the class and because it amuses me to push a little bit on their faith and mainly because there are sometimes tasty delicious bagels with cream cheese and I always get free lunch with my family afterwards.","Summary: There will always be bugs. It's not reasonable to expect all of them to be fixed, nor is it reasonable to expect a studio to be forever chained to fixing minor issues in a previous release.\n\nPost: Yet another angle: How infallible of a game is the customer entitled to? Games are an incredibly weird commodity in that the value is almost entirely unmeasurable. If the company has already spent $X on building the game and the bug is a minor graphics glitch, are they obligated to fix it? \n You don't complain to a movie studio because a boom mic was visible for two seconds midway through a film and demand they modify it, nor do you complain because of a typo in a book you buy. \n I know video games are different because they can be fixed, but the ability to be fixed causes people to demand that everything must be fixed. \n I'd say that a perfect game is impossible and that although the customer is of course welcome to complain about whatever they wish, the company is under no obligations to provide any fixes for bugs that don't break the game. \n Of course, the problem with anything about video games is that every discussion is a fractal containing a million sub-discussions: How many bugs is too many? How big of a bug is too big? Does game income affect the responsibility to fix it? What about making more content? and so on until the end of days. \n Anyways, the point is:","Summary: I beat Bioshock Infinite in a couple days and haven't touched it since, I'm still playing the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer every now and then.\n\nPost: If I was a betting man, I'd take your bet. I would wager it is replayability , and not simply quality, that determines resales. A game like CoD can be played for a long time if you enjoy the multiplayer (And most people do buy CoD for Multi from what I understand), whereas a game like Bioshock Infinite is pretty much done once you finish the campaign once or twice. \n As far as I'm aware (I don't actually have a PS3), Last of Us is a quality single player game. Sure, it may be amazing, but when Gamestop sends out a mailer promising a good return on trading in Last of Us, I'm going to be a lot more willing to trade it in knowing I've already beaten it. \n Unfortunately for you if you like relatively short (Meaning Bioshock Infinite as opposed to Skyrim) single player experiences, the current system places heavy incentives for publishers to focus on both DLC and multiplayer since both 'beat' the used problem. \n Remember that most sales happen within a relatively short timeframe. It's not about a game that lasts forever, it's about a game that takes more than a month to wring maximum enjoyment out of. It's okay if the store shelves are flooded with used a month from release, as long as they aren't flooded within a week. \n I'm not making any claims as to ethics or morals, I'm just pointing out that from a purely financial standpoint, all else equal a publisher has a smaller problem with used multiplayer titles than they do used single player titles, and that's before we start talking about how multiplayer titles can't be loaned to a friend if you want to play with that friend.","Summary: The police officers in Bioshock Infinite aren't real, and that's okay.\n\nPost: I've started to notice a trend in AAA game reviews recently. Games like Tomb Raider, Bioshock: Infinite, Skyrim, Far Cry 3, and even Call of Duty have suffered the same complaint: You kill too many people for too little reason. \n Obviously I'm far from alone in noticing this trend in both reviews and games. This is part of the basis for the complaint that gaming is too violent. There's been a lot of talk from a lot of different people about how gaming's stories are held back by the sheer amount of deaths involved in completing most major games. Even Mario kills an untold number of Goombas on his way to saving the princess. \n Most people seem to focus on a need to change how we build games, but I don't really think that's necessary. What we need is to promote discussion of how to better represent a concept that most of us 'true gamers' have internalized: That of the non-character entity (NCE, because what gaming needs is more TLAs). \n NCEs are any game objects which you defeat which don't effectively exist in the story. They are the hundreds of police officers in Bioshock Infinite or the legions of bandits in Borderlands. As a group they have a justification for existing, but on an individual scale they don't actually exist in the story. If you were to focus in on any specific Bioshock Infinite police officer you would find that (s)he has no name, no backstory, and no place in the story. Similar NCEs exist in pretty much every game. \n The idea I'm slowly working my way around to is that perhaps the solution is to find ways to highlight which objects (I hesitate to call them 'people' even if a specific NCE appears human) are purely there to provide challenge in the game without breaking immersion. And that's the key bit: Not breaking immersion. Many of us are able to unconsciously ignore mass bloodshed of NCEs because we've gotten used to it. New gamers are put off by it because they haven't. \n So ultimately that's the problem that (in my opinion) needs solving: A way to make it obvious that a given 'person' is actually a NCE without breaking immersion. \n I think I've rambled for long enough. What are your thoughts on the matter? Is this even a problem? Should we even have NCEs in the first place? (How) Should we represent them in game?","Summary: Given enough forma, every weapon can become a devastating monstrosity. If you're not running end-game, pick your favorite weapon and slam forma on it until it hits like a truck. Even the humble Mk-1 Braton can hit an expected 756 damage per shot with six forma on it.\n\nPost: So a few days ago I made a post about achieving maximum damage with a completely unpolarized weapon without a potato. This time I've done the complete opposite and figured out the maximum damage you can build with access to a potato and as many forma as you'd like. \n The biggest complaints I had last time were that I wasn't considering utility mods and that I wasn't considering criticals. To counteract this, I've gone ahead and run the math on only 6 or 7 full slots so you can fit in the utility mod of your choice in the last couple slots to reach the best weapon you like. \n First up, Rifles: \n \n Serration \n Heavy Caliber \n Split Chamber \n All 4 Uncommon Elemental Mods \n One Rare Elemental Mod \n \n The total damage multiplier here is 42x base damage. For comparison, the maximum multiplier on the unformad, unpotatod rifle was about 6x. The total drain here is 96, but you can cut it down to 59 for the low low cost of six polarized slots. \n If you're going to remove mods to make room for utility, start with the rare elemental mod (Reduces multiplier to 37x), then an uncommon elemental (Reduces to 30x) then another uncommon elemental (Reduces to 23x). If you want to replace just the Heavy Caliber but still max out damage, using another Rare Elemental Mod will reduce the total multiplier to 29x. \n As far as criticals for rifles go, there is a point where it becomes worth it. For the Soma's 30% crit chance and 3x multiplier, the following loadout is optimal for damage: \n \n Serration \n Heavy Caliber \n Point Strike \n Vital Sense \n Split Chamber \n 3x Uncommon Elemental Mod \n \n As above, the drain is higher than 60 (96 to be exact) but can be dropped given enough forma. The expected damage per shot here is a whopping 157x base damage. \n With all that said, let's move on to Pistols. Optimum for damage is: \n \n Hornet Strike \n Magnum Force \n Barrel Diffusion \n Lethal Torrent \n 4x Uncommon Elemental \n \n Total multiplier here is 44x. If you're going to remove one, it should be Magnum Force (drops total to 37x multiplier) then an elemental mod (30x), then Lethal Torrent (23x). Like with rifles, you DO benefit for building for crit damage with something like the Aksomati, which get to 79x base damage/shot if you replace Magnum Force and an elemental mod with Pistol Gambit and Target Cracker. \n Moving on to melee weapons: \n \n Pressure Point \n Spoiled Strike \n 4x Uncommon Elemental \n 2x Rare Elemental \n \n The lack of multishot leads to the total Melee multiplier being a fairly tame 19x base damage. Interestingly, the total drain here is only 74, which means a potato and a single polarized slot gets you there. Your mods-to-remove are a rare element mod (17x) and then the other rare element mod (15x). \n Building for crits helps, but even with the Dual Zoren's .25 base crit chance and 3x multiplier, swapping the rare mods for Organ Shatter and True Steel only pushes you to a 42x base damage, which is what we see on rifles and pistols with any weapon. \n Anyways, since a lot of people mentioned it last time, I figure I'll save ya'll the trouble and list the assumptions used in these calculations in the post: \n \n I'm assuming none of the mods affect accuracy \n I'm ignoring fire rate and reload speed \n I'm ignoring elemental procs \n I'm ignoring the possibility of hitting multiple targets \n \n As always, modeling is a tool, but not the ultimate solution to everything. Hopefully I've given you enough information here that you can make decisions based on your favorite playstyle. The biggest reason for giving numbers with a few mods missing is so you can weigh just how much something like Shred is worth to you."],"string":"[\n \"Summary: Who tests the test writers?\\n\\nPost: No, you're missing my point. I'm asking how you design the test in such a way that it can't be abused. \\n I agree that voters should be informed. The trick is finding a way to test the voters that can't be rigged by one party or the other to give their party a boost. \\n Again: Imagine I'm a hardcore supporter of one party and I'm writing the test for my area because I work in my local office. I choose to make the questions for my party things like \\\"Where does Candidate X stand on abortion?\\\" and the answers are \\\"Pro-Life or Pro-Choice\\\" Should be simple. For the other party I use the question \\\"What is the maximum percentage Candidate Y thinks is acceptable for a city sales tax?\\\" and the answers are 2% and 3%. \\n Obviously we can't just let the same guy write both tests or there will be abuse. So who writes them? Who approves them? How do you determine difficulty? Remember: Each party has an incredibly strong incentive to ensure their test is easy and their opponent's is difficult.\",\n \"Summary: It got grandfathered in back before micropayments for digital goods became a thing. \\n But I'm bad at language. You can read a (Now 6 year old) interview with Worth about it [here](\\n\\nPost: It helps if you remember that Wizards has a history of decisions that sounded good at the time that later turned out to be mistakes. \\n Basically when MtGO was getting started back in 2002, it was one of the first games to feature an online micropayment system. As one of the first such games out of the gate, most players looking at it would have thought \\\"Why would I pay real money for virtual cards?\\\" so Wizards needed an answer. \\n The answer they decided on was set redemption - Such a mechanic makes it feel like the virtual cards are 'backed' by something, or so was the thinking. \\n It's a mechanic that sounds great in theory, but unnecessarily shackles digital cards to physical ones. In solving the problem of seemingly valueless digital cards (Remember that digital products as a thing worth money wasn't a big thing back in 2002. There were MMOs, but no official micropayment systems as far as I know) they accidentally created a totally new problem.\",\n \"Summary: Find a local Commander group and talk to them.\\n\\nPost: Start by finding people to play with. This is absolutely number one. Building a Commander deck can be expensive and you will feel very silly if you spend $100+ on an awesome Commander deck only to find out none of the people you play Magic with play Commander. \\n After that, try to get a feel for the level they're playing Commander at. Some Commander groups run decks that can go infinite or totally ruin everybody else's gameplay if left unchecked. Other groups tend to derp around for fifteen turns before anything actually happens. Know your group before you get started. \\n Next, if you don't have a preference, I'd find out what Commanders are in use in that group. You'll want to avoid having an overlapping Commander with somebody else. You may want to avoid having overlapping colors, depending on how general the group is. (How many Grixis Goodstuff Commander decks does one group really need?) \\n Alright, now that you've done all that, it's time to build your deck. If you've been following along so far, you have now gotten to know your local Commander group. Talk to them. Discuss with them. Ask them about their favorite cards, ideas they've wanted to try, and all of that. They should be able to get you on track to building a good Commander deck that works for you. \\n Ultimately, Commander is a very social format and if you can build your deck with the help of your local social group you'll get far more out of it then you will by trying to grab suggestions from Reddit.\",\n \"Summary: You can buy the car, but if you aren't prepared for today's weather you're still going to lose the race.\\n\\nPost: Competitive Magic is more about skill and less about deckbuilding. \\n I wouldn't say it's not about deckbuilding, but rather it's about the fine adjustments that allow you to better hit a certain meta than it is complete choices. If you're running Esper, you're running Elspeth and Jace, but the rest of the calls are what show your skill: \\n Do you run one AEtherling? Do you run none? What is your card draw? Have your worst matchups changed since last week? \\n A skilled pilot can take the top Standard deck from a month ago and win without any modifications at FNM, but at higher levels even decks that look identical at first glance can change quite a bit from week to week just on the ancillary cards and those can make the difference in who wins.\",\n \"Summary: Lost Cosmonauts are cosmonauts unable to return from space and then written out of history.\\n\\nPost: In case you don't feel like visiting the internet from 1995, here's a summation of the theory as I understand it: Yuri Gagarin was not the first man in space, he was simply the first man to return. In the chaos that was the Russian space program far more concern was placed on beating the Americans to space than was placed on safety. \\n One of the consequences of this (allegedly, I'm not certain this is true) is that not everybody they sent up made it back. Rather than acknowledge these failures they simply made these \\\"Lost Cosmonauts\\\" un-persons, erasing them, their sacrifice, and the record of the Great Soviet Machine failing from history. \\n Allegedly there exist various radio messages from these cosmonauts which were intercepted. All of these messages are rather disturbing, but you're welcome to google them if you enjoy a good scary story.\",\n \"Summary: Your opponent played it correctly.\\n\\nPost: Okay, so the important concept you don't appear to have knowledge of is the Stack. \\n The way the stack works is simple: Instants and Abilities are added to the stack as they are cast or triggered or activated, and then resolve one at a time in reverse order (The last instant cast or ability activated is the first to resolve). In order for the next item on the stack to resolve, all players must pass priority without doing anything else. \\n Here's how this works in your case: \\n Step 1: You declare your attackers \\nStep 2: You and your opponent both pass priority in the Declare Attackers step without casting anything. \\nStep 3: Your opponent declares blockers. \\nStep 4: You cast Ajani's Presence targeting Hero of Iroas, which puts it on the stack. \\nStep 5: Hero of Iroas's Heroic ability triggers immediately and goes on the stack on top of Ajani's Presence. \\nStep 6: You pass priority to your opponent with Ajani's Presence and the Heroic trigger on the stack. \\nStep 7: Your opponent casts, I dunno, let's say [[Lightning Blast]] targeting Hero of Iroas. The stack is now Presence->Heroic->Blast \\nStep 8: Your opponent passes priority. \\nStep 9: You pass priority. \\nStep 10: Lightning Blast resolves and deals 4 damage to Hero of Iroas. The Hero dies. \\nStep 11: You pass priority. \\nStep 12: Your opponent passes priority. \\nStep 13: The heroic trigger resolves and does nothing since the Hero is no longer on the Battlefield. \\nStep 14: You pass priority. \\nStep 15: Your opponent passes priority. \\nStep 16: The Ajani's Presence is countered due to lack of target (Since the Hero of Iroas is no longer on the Battlefield) \\n After that the game continues as normal. You'll notice there's a lot of priority passing in there - Mostly that gets shortcutted through by players, which is why you don't normally think about it.\",\n \"Summary: Women aren't the only people capable of false accusations.\\n\\nPost: Counterpoint hypothetical here: \\n Let's start with saying this law is enacted. Girls who falsely accuse of rape receive jail time/a fine/time in the corner wearing a dunce cap. So let's say an underage girl has (actually) been raped. She accuses her rapist, but doesn't have any tangible evidence it happened. It is now her word vs his. \\n So what happens? It goes to court of course. But while he's on trial, he starts a counter-case against her . She tried to protect other women from further rapes, but now she is stuck trying to defend herself. Already physically violated, she is now at risk of losing her reputation and her freedom as well. \\n She may very well win this case. After all, she's innocent. But this is the same court system that already makes mistakes. Those mistakes are why we're proposing this law in the first place. \\n So that's kind of where we end up: This law only works if it is never brought up fraudulently. Our justice system is not made of magic. It makes mistakes. You can't fix a problem created by some of those mistakes with a solution that relies upon exactly the same system.\",\n \"Summary: An M rated game is still seen as a child's toy, where an R rated movie is adult entertainment.\\n\\nPost: After reflecting on it a bit, here's my guess: (WARNING: What follows is baseless speculation based on what 'feels right') \\n First off, remember that video games are considered to be juvenile and immature in western society. Being a 'gamer' is a term usually used to indicate obvious childishness or, at best, social immaturity. Media stereotypes tend to do a pretty good job of showing the societal impression of different things (partly because media causes many of those underlying stereotypes) and in Western Media gamers are either children or childishly innocent about society. \\n So if gamers are immature, then games are for children. Children are allowed to play at violence and always have been. Consider that GI Joe, Nerf, and Laser Tag are all Children's activities. Why? Because pretend violence is 'boys being boys' and not expected to transition into real life violence. Everybody remembers playing with, at bare minimum, a gun shaped stick or having sword fights with sticks. So for many people, violent video games are seen as an extension of this play-fighting. \\n Sexual content, on the other hand, has always been verboten in Western culture. Remember that American culture is heavily influenced by Christian ideals, which generally include virginity until marriage and the idea of innocent teenage love which (in the media depiction) doesn't go beyond kisses. Sex is a major sign of leaving the stage of childish innocence, so idealistically society tries to avoid connecting children and even teenagers to anything sexual in order to preserve childish innocence. \\n Which brings us full circle to sexual content in games: If violent video games are an extension of children playing at war, sex games are an infringement of adult themes on childish innocence, to be fought against at all costs. \\n At the heart of the problem then is the association of video games with childishness. Until video games are rid of the stigma of being nothing more than amusement for children, sexual content will never appear in video games (even M rated ones) the same way it appears in R Rated movies.\",\n \"Summary: There's a reason Physicists don't call dark matter God.\\n\\nPost: No. Your problem (Aside from the one /u/TheOceaneer covered) is that you've watered God down below any meaningful level. This tends to happen a lot: People say \\\"but God could exist if...\\\" and then give a definition of a being that doesn't fit any of the standard God traits. \\n If there was some energy we couldn't perceive and couldn't affect us, it would make as much sense to call it Sasquatch as it would to call it God. The name 'God' carries a lot of baggage, so you should only use it if you're absolutely certain it's the best word.\",\n \"Summary: So that domains are used for their intended purpose - getting people where they need to go - instead of just speculative squatting.\\n\\nPost: Presumably limitations put in place by registrars to prevent what happened with a number of domains in the late 90s and early 00s: Basically a bunch of companies would buy up domains they thought would be valuable later and just sit on them. Then they ended up not being worth much which means there's a lot of domains (including some that are potentially worth having) that just kind of sit out there doing nothing. \\n It's kinda like patent trolling, but with names. See: Nintendo having to fight for WiiU.com, a domain purchased just because it was four letters long back in like 2002 by some random guy who then demanded ludicrous sums of money for it. Nintendo decided they didn't want to pay millions of dollars for it, and so [WiiU.com]( remains a fascinatingly useless example of what happens if domain names don't expire. \\n Of course, you can just squat on domains continuously as-is, but to do so you at least have to put in more effort than submitting a \\\"I want this domain\\\" request a single time.\",\n \"Summary: Your goal is not to prove atheism, but to generate doubt in Christianity.\\n\\nPost: First: Start by asking a couple quick questions: \\n \\n \\\"Do you believe God has any limits?\\\" \\n \\\"Do you believe God personally interacts with humans?\\\" \\n \\\"Do you think God still actively effects the world?\\\" \\n \\n Getting a yes to those three makes for much easier argument because the problem of evil is rather a bit insurmountable. Here's the trick to it: \\n First, immediately defer to their 'true' sense of morality they got from God if they bring it up. \\n Second, ask if they consider causing the suffering of human beings to be morally wrong. As a followup, ask if a Doctor is morally wrong for refusing to give medicine they know would cure a man. \\n Now, here's the important bit: Do not focus on human caused suffering. Ask about diseases. If God created everything, he must have created yellow fever, polio, etc. If causing human suffering is immoral, then God is immoral. \\n You won't win. There is no winning. That's not the goal. The goal is to insert that moment of doubt. After you've done that, leave. Trying to force the issue gives you more opportunities to make logical mistakes which allow the other person to walk away thinking they've 'won'. \\n \\n Let's say you don't like the Problem of Evil though. The easiest way to defend the creation of the universe as natural is simple: Listen to their complaint (\\\"The Universe needs a creator\\\") and ask why it doesn't apply to God (\\\"... then why doesn't God?\\\"). Next listen to their answer about God and ask why it can't apply to the universe. \\n Stay simple. Stay on target. Concede any point not relevant to the argument at hand. It's important that you not get sidetracked by irrelevant things. Once you start getting sidetracked you'll get tangled up in wordplay knots. \\n Also remember to stay short: The fewer words you use, the less room there will be for creative misunderstanding. It's way too easy to accidentally use a few too many words and then get caught up in explaining a point that should be a given.\",\n \"Summary: You started by preferring women, and then the reasons came later.\\n\\nPost: The most basic answer is that the need is on a deeper biological level beyond choice. You, as a straight man, are attracted to women. You did not make this choice. It was not because of anything any one woman did. You simply are attracted to women. \\n This is true of most men, and this is partly due to biological necessity: A species in which the men mostly prefer men and women mostly prefer women is unlikely to survive for very long, or at least will need many many more kids per straight couple to maintain itself. \\n Of course, if we need a good percentage of men to have an interest in women, it is helpful if there is a large percentage of women interested in men as well. It is significantly easier for a species to propagate if a large percentage of its members enjoy the activity which produces more of the species.\",\n \"Summary: Pick a plan, run four of each card that helps with that plan.\\n\\nPost: Deckbuilding Rule #1: Good decks have good plans that they can execute consistently. \\n What that means for you is two things: \\n First, you need to figure out what your plan is. How do you win? How do you stop your opponent from winning? Generally the answers to this question fit into one of three categories (I'm going to ignore Combo for now since it's not part of Standard): \\n \\n Aggro: You win with a bunch of cheap, efficient creatures. You try to get as much damage through as quickly as possible. You stop your opponent from winning by killing them before they can win. \\n Midrange: You win with creatures that are more expensive but also more powerful. You spend the first few turns building up and then beat the opponent down with raw power. You stop your opponent from winning by outmatching them on the ground and running out more creatures than they can handle. \\n Control: You win with a few win conditions after taking control of the board. You spend the early game building up advantage by drawing cards while eliminating your opponent's threats. You stop your opponent from winning with an assortment of removal spells that neutralize their various threats. \\n \\n You should figure out which one of these plans your deck is executing because it should inform every card you choose. For example, you might look at a card like Gnarled Scarhide and evaluate it differently based on whether you're an aggressive deck or a control deck. \\n Second, you need to figure out which cards are the best for executing the plan you have chosen and get four of each so that you can consistently find them. If you're a midrange deck that wins with cards Polukranos and Stormbreath Dragon, you'll want four each of Polukranos and Stormbreath Dragon. If you're an aggro deck that wins with cards like Soldier of the Pantheon and Fleecemane Lion, you'll want four each of Fleecemane Lion and Soldier of the Pantheon. \\n You almost always will want at least two copies of every card, and most cards you'll run four.\",\n \"Summary: I wept when my grandfather died, you never knew he existed.\\n\\nPost: Important relevant concept: [The]( [Monkeysphere]( \\n To give the simplest possible summary: The Monkeysphere is the list of people we care about. You, as a human being with a human brain, are incapable of feeling sympathy for every person in the world. It's just not possible. If you wept for everybody who died we would be constantly in tears. \\n You prioritize caring about those who are close to you. Beyond that you feel a vague need to care about those who you consider in your same 'tribe'. In this case, the tribe is \\\"Americans\\\" or, for others, \\\"Marathon Runnners\\\", \\\"Athletes\\\", or whatever other group. \\n The people who die in Pakistan, and the people who die in car accidents on the other side of the country and the people dying from AIDs and the people dying in childbirth are all individually tragic, but they don't feel connected to you , so you don't care. \\n This is not a failing of sympathy, this is simple necessity. 1.8 people [die each second]( so you couldn't take even a full second to mourn each lost life, even if that's all you did with your life.\",\n \"Summary: A justice system would need dynamically scaling punishments to avoid any deterrent potentially becoming a cost.\\n\\nPost: just the cost of doing business. \\n Well yeah, because as with anything, the difference between a deterrent and a cost is just your willingness to pay it. \\n You could say the same thing about a guy who murders somebody for revenge or whatever - He knew there would be a punishment for the crime, but he was willing to accept the punishment if it meant he got his revenge. \\n The fine is still a deterrent. $13,000,000,000 is still a big number. JP Morgan was willing to pay it this time, but that doesn't mean they did it lightly or without thinking about it. I guarantee you they spent more time deciding whether or not to make the acquisition than they would have if there was no cost associated with it. \\n Where do you draw the line? What is an appropriate cost? Should the fine scale based on how much money you have? How much money do you need to start scaling? How do you determine how much money it is? Is there a limit? Who gets the money? If you rob $50 from me but you have $1,000,000,000 so the fine scales to $5,000 do I deserve to make money from being robbed?\",\n \"Summary: Our Justice System is a rough approximation because absolute precision requires philosophers.\\n\\nPost: The problem here is that as much as it may feel right in cases like this one to do that, the law should be universal, and dynamically scaling punishments are a mess. \\n How do you decide how much is 'enough'? How do you count 'lives damaged'? Once you start trying to assess the damage the punishment should be based on size of the person being punished, you have to get into the question of 'how much damage emotionally was caused?' \\n $13,000,000,000 may very well have been the total amount of financial damage done. But as you point out, $13,000,000,000 means less to JP Morgan than even $10,000 means to me, and that may still be less than $1,000 means to you. \\n So how do we calculate a more appropriate number if the financial damage doesn't work? What number do you use to figure out 'lives damaged'? How do we figure out a fair amount to repay for each life damaged? Because in order to implement such a system you would have to figure out exactly how to scale it and exactly how to measure it and exactly what fair means.\",\n \"Summary: The meta doesn't remove skill, it just gives weaker players access to some of the skill the best players have.\\n\\nPost: As long as there are meaningful choices to be made, there will be a metagame. If the game has a single goal and choices that do different things, one of those choices will be better for accomplishing that goal. \\n Why? Because the alternative is having choices be completely meaningless, which removes all strategy. If every single unit in an RTS is completely viable in every situation, then you may as well close your eyes and pick one at random. \\n The meta cannot be eliminated without either removing the ability for players to communicate with each other or making the game change so completely between rounds that all information gained from the previous round is meaningless. A more complex game just results in a meta taking longer to form. \\n How is there still strategy? Simple: The game has variance, in the form of the opponent (and sometimes random elements in the game itself). Yes, you can concoct a rush strat that will be the best possible method of beating a deterministic AI, but a real intelligent opponent they'll be able to react and do something to counter that rush. If you literally only know how to do that one exact sequence of plays, a skilled opponent who knows how to counter that play will beat you every time. \\n (Obviously if there is no counter and not a single opponent can beat you when you execute your rush strategy, the rush strategy is overpowered and should be nerfed) \\n The most skilled players will make the most skilled plays. The most skilled plays define the meta. For a weaker player, following the meta makes you stronger - After all, you're borrowing knowledge from the best. The strongest players, the ones who make the meta, are still in the best position - Having a total understanding of the meta and why it is as it is allows you to best be able to adapt on the fly.\",\n \"Summary: Don't think public school is important? Consider where your knowledge of things 'everybody knows' came from.\\n\\nPost: You'd be surprised just how much you learned without realizing you learned it. Sure you think you ejected all that knowledge, but consider how often you see somebody say something that is absolutely fucking retarded. The knowledge that reality doesn't work that way had to come from somewhere, and you'd be surprised how much of what you know was absorbed from the classes you thought you learned nothing from. \\n I mean, we couldn't point and laugh at those morons who don't know various basic facts about the world if we didn't ever learn them ourselves. \\n And that's ignoring all the other stuff you learned. The stuff not in the curriculum. Not conspiracy \\\"mindless obedience\\\" shit, basics like how to interact with other members of human society without making yourself look like a scumbag. \\n For all the grief we give high school relationships and the really peculiar behaviors exhibited by Middle/High school students on Facebook, the truth is a lot of us did really stupid stuff we now regret while interacting with our fellow students, and that stupid stuff helped us become better people.\",\n \"Summary: 60/year for a game you get 100+ hours/year out of is a good deal.\\n\\nPost: The other thing you're not seeing is that you're trying to think of sports games in the same way you think of other games: As complete, timeless experiences meant to be enjoyed as much next year as they were today. \\n That is not the model sports games follow. They are intentionally designed (and purchased) with the intention of being semi-disposable. Sure, you can play NBA2K11 this year, but if you're a real fan you'll buy this year's version. \\n If it's the main game you play and you play it a lot, $60/year is nothing. It's a small price to pay for getting to continue playing with the latest set roster of players and the minor gameplay tweaks and fixes. \\n I will admit: I don't buy a new sports game every year, but I do buy Duels of the Planeswalkers every year and it's basically the same game over and over again and I know it. But that's not the point: The point is that I'll get a large number of hours more of playtime out of it.\",\n \"Summary: I don't want to sacrifice certain genres for the sake of story.\\n\\nPost: The issue is that some kinds of gameplay need NCEs to function. You can't build a Bioshock Infinite type shooter without enemies to shoot. Players shouldn't have to choose between getting a good story and playing a certain genre, and that's kind of where we're at right now. \\n I think the Mario example in some ways kind of highlights what I'm talking about: In Mario you don't care about goombas and turtles because you have no reason to care about them and no reason to expect Mario to care about them since they're nonhuman and only barely sentient. \\n Such enemies don't fit in every setting though. The insane number of police causes less ludonarrative dissonance (to use a phrase others have been using in this thread) than an army of robots or goombas or similar because we have a reason to expect a police force, we just don't have a reason to expect them to keep attacking Booker and for Booker to keep murdering them without Elizabeth doing more than a token amount of complaining. \\n There are ways to work around the issue. Spec Ops: The Line does a wonderful job of deconstructing the idea of NCEs that we just kind of take for granted, but you can't do that more than two or three times before it just becomes stale.\",\n \"Summary: Want deeper games? That'll cost you in graphics.\\n\\nPost: As individual assets become more expensive, the number of assets will go down in most games to account for it. The higher level the art is, the more time it takes to get it looking just right in every situation. If you want games with more options, you have to be willing to give up a decent bit of art quality. However mainstream purchases are often made with the expectation of a certain minimum art quality. \\n The only exception I can think of to the above is actually the Lego games, which are a good example of the sort of game you're describing. Lego Star Wars, for instance, has a lot of characters, a lot of levels, a hub with secrets, a few game modes, lots of unlockable, etc. It is also has a lower quality of graphics, but that's okay because the graphics it has are perfect for the game it is. \\n Remember that games are built on a finite budget with a finite development time by any company not named Valve. (Valve can afford a functionally infinite budget/development time because they could survive forever on Steam profits) Right now a considerable portion of that time and money is spent on getting the graphics to look right.\",\n \"Summary: No, there is no way for you to submit you card idea and there are even rules in place against WotC members reading unsolicited card design ideas.\\n\\nPost: No, Wizards does not accept casual card submissions for players pretty much ever. Very very rarely (Four times so far) they do through a process known as You Make The Card in which they invite the entire Magic community to submit designs which are voted on to decide a single winner. (For reference: Aside from Waste Not, a card coming in M15, the other YMTC cards were Forgotten Ancient, Crucible of Worlds, and Vanish into Memory) \\n The only other cards not designed by Magic R&D to see print are the old invitational cards. There were quite a few of those, but although one of them (Snapcaster Mage) didn't see print until last year, the actual tournament that awarded it as the top prize has been dead for many years.\",\n \"Summary: Harvard can't handle all the students that are interested despite costing an absurd amount of money per semester.\\n\\nPost: The problem with that is that starting a college/university is not easy. Aside from anything else, you need good professors who are competent at teaching, and a budget to pay them. You need multiple buildings to hold classes in, located in an area that's close to affordable housing from students that commute. You need to be officially recognized so that your degree carries weight, and then you have to convince potential students that your degree is worth having. \\n Despite all these hurdles, Community Colleges do exist. They are basically what you are describing, with prices generally much lower than other colleges. \\n It's not an intentional oligopoly though. Consider how many people are trying to get into Stanford/Harvard/MIT or whatever other major college. They're already turning away a massive number of applicants despite being expensive. Lowering their prices wouldn't get them more students since they already have way more than they can service.\",\n \"Summary: My guess is they need more developers so they can run two simultaneous development teams, one of which is working on a new version of MtGO.\\n\\nPost: Here's my guess based on what we know about MtGO: \\n MtGO cannot go down more regularly than the scheduled downtime, and it cannot miss releasing the major update that is a new set every three months. These are almost certainly the biggest things the team works on, and I'm willing to bet the team they have spends most of their time on those things and bugfixing. \\n At the same time though, everybody is begging for a newer, better client. But you can't have the same team simultaneously developing two versions of MtGO simultaneously, that's pretty much undoable. Even if they just replaced everybody currently on the team with better developers, I find it unlikely they'd get a big enough increase in quality to have the same number of people doing (more than) twice as much work. \\n Which means that if they want to push out a new version of Magic Online (Which doesn't seem unlikely), they need a new team of developers to do it.\",\n \"Summary: Because you don't want kids learning what safe sex is from porn.\\n\\nPost: Perhaps because not everybody has been here for as long as you have. Preteens and teens today have the same lack of experience and knowledge teens have always had, and without proper education, misinformation will spread. \\n Sure, there's the internet, but the problem is that the internet has groups dedicated to every point of view, from 'STDs will spontaneously generate if you kiss without being married' to 'STDs come from big corporations and if you have sex naturally and just don't want to be pregnant you'll be fine.' \\n So Sex Ed - real Sex Ed, not abstinence-only 'education' - is critical for helping teenagers acquire knowledge without having to make costly mistakes first. Sure 'use a condom' seems blatantly obvious to you , but there was a point in your life when you didn't know what a condom was or why you would use one.\",\n \"Summary: IVs are given to a Pokemon at birth and don't change, EVs are accumulated through fighting.\\n\\nPost: The simplest answer is: If you're not playing competitive, it really doesn't matter. There is no part of the game (Aside from perhaps the Battle Maison) where you'll need the advantages gained by using perfect EVs and IVs. \\n That said, if you're still interested: IVs stands for 'internal values' and as the name suggests, they're part of the Pokemon from birth. Every Pokemon is born with an IV value for each stat that affects how powerful they are at that stat. These numbers are random from 0-31, but there are ways to pass down values from parent to child. It is the process of passing down 'perfect' (31) IVs that breeding is based around. \\n EVs are effort values. They are gained as a Pokemon fights in battles. For each Pokemon defeated your pokemon will gain EVs, with the exact EVs being determined by the pokemon being fought. There is a maximum number of EVs (252) that can be put in any one stat and a maximum total (510 I believe) that can be assigned total between all stats. \\n It's worth noting that these only affect so much - Even with an IV of 31 in speed and 252 EVs of Speed Shuckle isn't outracing anybody. \\n Anyways, I know the 'what' but not much of the how , so I'll let somebody else explain the best method for getting perfect IVs and how best to train to get the optimal EV distribution.\",\n \"Summary: Lots of tables get flipped.\\n\\nPost: The decks themselves would likely not change too much, at least at the Pro Tour level - As far as I know there aren't many incredibly invested pros who are being held back from specific decks by cost. \\n In the short term quite a lot of inventory would lose quite a bit of value - ChannelFireball, for example, would find that just their BNG cards would be worth several hundred dollars less than they had previously. \\n Of course, the counterpoint is always that a store is taking a risk by opting to stock a good as volatile as TCG cards, but unlike the theoretical reprint of Fetch lands, this would make an insane difference to total value of store's inventory since it would affect all their value cards. \\n Once burned, twice shy, and I think a lot of major stores would reconsider stocking Magic singles at all. Depending on how many and whether they pull other support for the game as well, this could result in fewer stores that actively promote Magic and FNM, which could result in a long-term decrease in the popularity of the game. \\n Obviously the players would be happy though, so that's definitely a positive. Magic would still be profitable, all of that is certain. The question is whether players would buy less new product total if a pack no longer has the potential of that super $20-$30 payday as a possibility. \\n Which leads to another point - Cracking packs is suddenly completely unprofitable if the best possible outcome is a card worth $5 unless the price of other cards is raised to compensate. If somehow this situation is one where cards were never able to go above $5 (Possibly through direct sale by Wizards), you'll see the price of commons, uncommons, and weaker rares go up since stores can no longer make money off of chase rares alone.\",\n \"Summary: Every veteran gamer was once a new gamer.\\n\\nPost: Easy, 'bite-sized' content exists in every medium and genre, and it's critical to the health of the medium/genre. Shooters have Call of Duty, Science Fiction literature has Ender's Game, Comic Books have Batman, and so on. They may not be the best content available, but they're an easy point to jump in if you're just getting started. \\n Not everybody stays at Call Of Duty forever. Many start with Call of Duty, but then they move to other things. Without an easy, low learning curve introductory point that provides adequate if not amazing gameplay we'd have a lot fewer gamers. \\n Other games may be 'better' (although even that is of course subjective) but they require some amount of experience to make the most out of. \\n Before you can create games for different sections of the market, there first must be a market. Games like Call of Duty actively expand the market to people who did not game before by offering them a way to start playing without any skill or beforehand knowledge. \\n Your 'handholding' games? Those are important too. Yes, most gamers will never invest more than a trace amount of effort into gaming, and you know what? That's fine. Not everybody has to be a Serious Gamer. \\n But some will. There will be people like yourself who want a more challenging game. And there will be people who will create those experiences for such people as long as that market exists. \\n What does it matter that 90% of CoD players will never migrate to 'serious' games if there are millions of CoD players and more every year? 10% of millions is better than 100% of a few thousand.\",\n \"Summary: Just because a community group isn't labelled 'atheist' doesn't mean it's religious.\\n\\nPost: There are plenty of atheist groups, just no central group, because there's no reason for us to have a central group. \\n There's nothing stopping you from creating an 'atheist' casual bowling league or LAN party group or book club or whatever. You don't even have to call it atheist, because ultimately that won't be the most important part of the group. \\n We have communities without religion all the time. Heck, I'd say we have communities that are mostly religion free most of the time. I know my casual Magic: the Gathering group is a mix of faiths, but we don't pray before starting or finishing and nobody mentions religion, so we may as well be an atheist group. \\n I'm all for having support groups for depression and the like, but claiming that churches are the only social groups available is simply ignorant. If you no longer define yourself by your faith, find some other hobby to define yourself by and find a social group for that hobby.\",\n \"Summary: It's not enough to discount science. You must also be willing to have faith with the expectation that your faith will never be validated.\\n\\nPost: Let's take science off the table then. No using evolution as disproof, no using the inability to find miracles as disproof, just the word of the Bible and what we can determine from that. \\n Alright, point one: [Jesus says we can pray]( and our prayers will be answered. I was a Christian. I had faith. As I was struggling, I tried the simplest of prayers: \\\"Dear God, would you please speak to me directly and tell me you exist.\\\" \\n That sounded simple enough to me, and even if it wasn't scientifically rigorous and couldn't have been proved later, it would have been enough to satisfy my faith. \\n Now this might come as a shock to you, but God didn't answer. How very odd. I have faith, and I prayed, and absolutely nothing happened. \\n Moreover, no other prayer I have ever made has come true unless I prayed for something utterly mundane. It's possible that I am a unique snowflake shunned by God, but if others are receiving miracles regularly, they are not shouting about it.\",\n \"Summary: Non-combat based games will advance as soon as game designers start putting more points into Craft Non-Combat Mechanics.\\n\\nPost: This is pretty much the biggest issue: Very few game mechanics are as perfected as combat mechanics, especially for games that tell a story. With the exception of platformers (And even then you have Goombas) almost every major genre that includes a story has combat of some variety. \\n Let's look at the list of bestselling PC games (according to Wikipedia. May not be 100% accurate, but should help prove the point): \\n \\n The Sims - Not focused on combat, but also doesn't have a real storyline \\n Diablo - Combat \\n Half-Life 2 - Combat \\n Minecraft - No real story, but still has combat. \\n Starcraft - Combat \\n Battlefield - Combat \\n Guild Wars - Combat \\n Myst - Puzzles, has story(?) (I haven't played it) Yay! \\n Simcity - No real story, but no combat either \\n \\n So of all of those, we have one game - Myst - that both has a story and doesn't focus on combat. The important thing here is that with so few games focused on non-combat storytelling, non-combat mechanics haven't advanced very far since home gaming became a thing - We're still selecting from a list of dialogue options with minor changes based on which one you chose.\",\n \"Summary: Turn probably does not remove Monstrous, assuming Monstrous/NonMonstrous works similar to Kamigawa flip cards.\\n\\nPost: For the record, we have confirmation that Monstrosity falls into the fourth category - The +1/+1 counters are a reminder that you have activated Monstrous, but they are independent from the state of being monstrous. \\n It is resolving the ability which flips the switch on the creature from \\\"friendly cuddly woodland creature\\\" to \\\"rampaging death machine\\\", the counters are just a helpful reminder, so removing them doesn't flip the switch back. \\n That said, it doesn't answer the actual question. If I had to guess though, Monstrousness is a state change and turning a creature doesn't un-monstrous it in the same way Turning a flip card doesn't un-flip it. \\n This is relevant, by the way: If Turning does un-monstrify the creature you could activate the Monstrous ability a second time and then Turn in response to get a second set of counters.\",\n \"Summary: No, the Legendary Rule doesn't use the stack but I'm tired so I rambled for 4 paragraphs, each more nonsensical than the last.\\n\\nPost: There are some things that don't use the stack. These are called State Based Effects and they happen whenever a player would gain priority and can't be responded to. These are generally 'cleanup' type things like putting a creature with lethal damage or zero toughness on it into the graveyard. \\n Legendary Creatures die due to a State Based Effect, and thus can't be responded to. So if you have two Brothers in play and the opponent casts a third, immediately after it resolves you'll have to choose a Brother to sacrifice because 3 Brothers on the table negates the second rule. \\n On the other hand, if you have one and your opponent has one and you cast a second one, you can Mortify your opponent's brother (NOTE: I do not recommend traumatizing siblings of your opponents in any manner) before your guy resolves. \\n To use a slightly less confusing example: Having two copies of Varolz, The Scar-Striped in play is a 'broken' board state in the same way having a 0 toughness creature is a 'broken' board state. The game will try to fix it by moving creatures around appropriately before giving anybody the ability to do anything.\",\n \"Summary: God did not divinely inspire the American legal system.\\n\\nPost: Yeah, but there's a difference here. A rather large one: I don't claim my group receives it's word from the lord creator of the universe himself. Sure, I don't agree with my candidates on everything, but they aren't supposed to be perfect. \\n If God, the all-powerful and ineffable, creator of mankind and doer of all deeds, is incapable of so much as ensuring his church, sworn to follow him and all his wishes throughout life, can't avoid fracturing into thousands of different pieces, what's the point? \\n Yes, there are Christians that believe all sorts of different things. That's part of the reason I became an atheist. If men who have studied God their whole lives can't agree on what God is trying to tell us in a book that has been dissected by many of history's brightest minds for almost two thousand years, then what's the point? \\n Yes, Christians are starting to support gays, in the same way they flipped from Slavery = Okay to Slavery = Bad back in the 1800s. Odd, isn't it, how Christian morals seem to advance at about the same rate as everybody else?\",\n \"Summary: If God didn't have enough influence to convince the original compilers of the Bible to include only the correct material, why should I trust he's capable of anything ?\\n\\nPost: It is not, on its own, reason to make up your mind. It is, however, hard to believe in a God when his 'believers' can't decide what exactly it is he believes. \\n For a while I had faith questions. When I asked them, I would get many different, contradictory answers. After a while it becomes different to take even the betters ones seriously when everybody is citing their answers from the same book. \\n The thing I don't get is why is the Bible not infallible? If God is real and in control, why would he allow his book to be twisted and his original meaning to become lost? That's kind of my point. I know there are translation errors and the Bible wasn't compiled until after the fact. If God was involved, that shouldn't matter. If there is one thing I would expect God to do, it's ensure his Holy Book is correct. \\n I read the article, and while it was interesting I don't think it supports Christianity very well. Why would God allow his holy book to include writings by impostors? If Timothy was not the word of God, why is it in the Bible? The Bible was compiled by humans, but they were allegedly guided by God.\",\n \"Summary: Bad game, bad devs, lots of bitter purchasers trying to warn others against making the same mistake.\\n\\nPost: The bit of the story I know: \\n Part 1: \\n Back last year at some point around December the game The War Z released for the first time on Steam. It billed itself as an improved standalone version of the insanely popular Day Z zombie survival mod for the game Arma II. \\n To put it simply: It wasn't improved. It was barely functional. The official product description by the developers included a number of outright lies about current functionality which the devs shrugged off as being \\\"future additions\\\" despite the page claiming they existed at launch. \\n Needless to say, people weren't happy. When they took to the official War Z forums to express their anger, they were banned and the posts removed. After a week or two Valve pulled War Z from the Steam store and offered refunds to anybody who had purchased the game. \\n \\n Part 2: \\n Eventually War Z was fixed up (a bit), the description modified, and it was put back on Steam. By all accounts it was (and is) still a bad game, but the most egregious lies were removed. The War Z was sued by the company making the movie World War Z because of trademark issues (The book World War Z is far older than War Z) so the devs took the opportunity to change the name to [Infestation: Survivor Stories]( and removed all references to the old name aside from a short mention in the copyright disclaimer at the bottom of the page.\",\n \"Summary: Violence is what makes it fiction, beauty is just a trait all the people share.\\n\\nPost: Here's the simplest answer I can come up with: \\n You have two different things here: \\n Violence is what makes it a fiction and a fantasy. In a movie like Taken or Die Hard or InsertMovieHere the point is that you are dealing with a violent situation. The violence is a highlight. It is obviously fictional. You watch it actively knowing that the violence is something that doesn't happen in real life, only in action movies. Violence in an Action Movie is like dragons in Harry Potter: You know it's fake. \\n The beautiful people on the other hand, are just a thing which happens. It doesn't matter what show or movie you're watching, the people just look awesome. It's never mentioned, it's never commented on, it's not a special part of the movie that they look good, they just do . The only people that are actually ugly are usually hideous parodies. If a normal character looks 'ugly' they're usually still pretty good looking. \\n Even if you become desensitized to violence, you still know there's something off with it, but even if you consciously know people don't look that good, there's nothing in the movies suggesting that looking that good is odd.\",\n \"Summary: Outside of movies, violence is a Bad Thing^TM, being beautiful is a Good Thing^TM.\\n\\nPost: Yes, violence is sometimes glorified in a fictional setting, but it's important to take the rest of society into account. \\n Consider this: Real life violence is heavily condemned. One of the most popular TV genres with violence is the crime drama, where people who commit violence in a realistic setting are Bad People doing Bad Things and being punished for it. For all the attention we drape on real life serial killers, they are still treated as Bad People who have done a Bad Thing. \\n Contrast with beautiful people: We honor beauty as a Good Thing inside of movies and TV and outside of it. Nobody is ever criticized for being too pretty. People try to be beautiful, and we hold contests to see who is the most beautiful. Being beautiful, society says, is a Good Thing which Good People aspire to be.\",\n \"Summary: The other factors matter because you must overcome them before the problem starts.\\n\\nPost: It does when the bias against is so strong. 'Don't kill people' is so deeply ingrained in society that unless a person is already unbalanced nothing short of a systematic propaganda campaign is going to change that view. Most people aren't worried about violent media causing violence for the same reason they aren't worried about Harry Potter creating witches and wizards. \\n If you took a hypothetical child raised in isolation with nothing but action movies and violent video games for entertainment, the end result might be a child with no concept of violence being wrong, but children aren't raised in isolation.\",\n \"Summary: Roughly half of all DTK packs will contain zero dragons.\\n\\nPost: Alright, so point 1: I'm assuming [this article]( list is comprehensive. That gives us: \\n \\n 11 uncommon dragons (1 that was common, five gold, five monocolored) \\n 10 rare dragons (5 gold, five monocolored) \\n 5 Mythic dragons \\n \\n Point 2: I'm ignoring foils because I'm super lazy \\n Let's start with the rares, 'cause that math is easy. A full rare sheet includes two of each rare and one of each mythic, which for a full large set like DTK means 121 total cards. There is a 25/121 chance that the rare slot contains a Dragon, or a 96/121 chance of not having a dragon (Approximately 79.3%) \\n Uncommons are also pretty easy. There are 80 uncommons, three per pack, and packs don't contain two copies of the same uncommon unless one is foil (Or there's a misprint). The odds of no dragons is 69/80 68/79 67/78 = 314364/4924960 (or ~63.8%) \\n Multiplying the two numbers together (Since they're independent events) gives us a 50.6% chance of a pack not having any dragons.\",\n \"Summary: Probably not.\\n\\nPost: I know that the time and effort would be massive, but would it be viable? \\n That's a difficult question to ask. Could it maybe be possible? Maybe. It's hard to know without an extremely complete knowledge of the code and target hardware in question. \\n If I had to guess though, I'd say no. One of the defining factors of better computers is the ability to run more computations faster. The obvious outcome here is that you can draw prettier pictures, but the speed becomes noticeable even with something as simple as a loop that counts from 1 to the biggest number you can store in a variable. \\n The newer games simply run too many computations too quickly, especially with regards to the graphics involved, to be able to run on older machines. \\n In addition to that, even though Machine Language can be more efficient, it can also be much less efficient. Compiler technology (The stuff that turns high level code into machine language) has gotten much better over the years, to the point where it would take quite a bit of study in order to write machine language more efficient than what is being generated by the compiler.\",\n \"Summary: Prerelease hype aside, JOU and BNG seem about even on God quality.\\n\\nPost: Okay? \\n Let's look at the Gods from BNG: (NOTE: All deck indications are Standard unless otherwise noted) \\n \\n Ephara - Seeing play in [some]( [Tier 1]( [decks]( So that's good. \\n Phenax - Yeah, not that good. \\n Mogis - Very minor appearances in BWR control. \\n Xenagos - [Frequent]( [appearances]( as a 1 or 2 of in a Tier 1 deck \\n Karametra - Popular in EDH, no Standard play. \\n \\n So that's 2 that have made showings at a high level and one that has seen some very fringe play. \\nLet's look at JOU: \\n \\n Athreos - Probably going to see Tier 1 play \\n Keranos - Almost certainly too slow to see serious play. Maybe a one-of in America Control \\n Pharika - Probably not going to see much play, maybe some fringe BG control-ish strategies? \\n Iroas - Probably going to see at least some play in WR Aggro \\n Kruphix - Good in EDH, probably no play in Standard. \\n \\n Predicting the playability of future cards is always a risky business, but that seems to be about the same score to me: Two that are pretty definitely playable in Tier 1 (Athreos, Iroas) and the rest are either fringe or only EDH playable.\",\n \"Summary: Why does it matter?\\n\\nPost: I'm not sure this is a question that can be reasonably answered by anybody since it requires you to make a number of huge assumptions: \\n \\n What qualifies as 'good'? \\n What qualifies as 'harm'? \\n How do you determine if it was done by a religion? Does it count if Religion is being used as an excuse to accomplish goals which aren't necessarily religious? \\n How do you balance harm against religion? \\n \\n It would be exceedingly difficult to figure out so much as a list of what was done by religion. Sorting it into harm and good and then comparing the two are equally difficult tasks which would also need to be undertaken. \\n The better question is: Does it matter ? Most Christians aren't Christian because they think a Christian community produces 3.6% more charitable donations than a secular one, they're Christian because they hold as true some variation on the statement \\\"There is a God who had a son named Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself for the sake of humanity.\\\" \\n The total amount of good done by any person or group is totally irrelevant to whether that key statement is true. If good is done, but God and Jesus aren't real, you may as well strip away those unnecessary bits and just reduce Christianity to a Charity-and-Social-Wellbeing organization and stop wasting money on buying Bibles and maintaining fancy crosses and the like.\",\n \"Summary: No kithkin, goblins, or elves? Lorwyn isn't next.\\n\\nPost: There is just about a 0% chance we return to Lorwyn. It would be like Odyssey/Onslaught all over again. \\n For those not playing at the time who haven't heard the story, one of the things with Odyssey was that it was all about these new odd creature types - Blue had Cephalids, Green had Insects, Red had Dwarves, White had Nomads, and Black had Minions/Horrors. \\n And then Onslaught happened. A tribal block, built around tribes that were all conspicuously absent in the previous block. This was part of why R&D intentionally seeds more cards in blocks based on not just their theme but also adjacent themes. \\n Lorwyn's tribes were Kithkin, Merfolk, Treefolk, Goblins, and Elves. Although Merfolk and a few Treefolk are in Theros, Goblins, Elves, and Kithkin are all missing. There's no way we're about to see Return to Lorwyn right after a block made out of unconventional creature types.\",\n \"Summary: Level ups without dings are meaningless.\\n\\nPost: I can't think of any games that implement such a feature, but it seems like it would be poor game design. Levels are great for making the player feel like they're accomplishing something, but ultimately the stats increasing doesn't matter because usually the enemies increase to match. \\n If your stats just slowly go up and the enemy stats also go up, the end result is that from the player's perspective nothing has happened . If the enemy stats don't go up, from the player's perspective the game just gets easier over time without any real reason. \\n If you aren't going to clearly delineate levels, consider that you may not actually want a leveling system in your game at all.\",\n \"Summary: There is no way to get to God from a naturalistic worldview without arbitrarily picking a religion from among the hundreds, none of which can prove their claims. \\n Note: Please don't read this as me being condescending. I just have a tendency to break things down to the lowest possible level when explaining so it leaves the smallest amount of room for me to trip over myself. (It also makes it easier to clear up any confusion if my explanation doesn't make sense)\\n\\nPost: This comic annoys me. The comic is just a smarmy way to fail to make a point: \\n To wit: \\n First, \\\"The only true statements are those that are empirically verifiable\\\" is a strawman. The more correct statement would be \\\"The only provable statements are those that are empirically verifiable.\\\" Second: That's not itself a statement, but a definition. \\n It no more requires 'faith' than using 'round table' to mean a table with no corners requires faith. You can imagine the naturalistic worldview (Atheism is represented in a single sentence: \\\"I don't believe in God.\\\" No more, no less) as follows: \\n To begin with, nothing exists. The next step is to say \\\"My brain is receiving input which seems to correspond to things.\\\" At this point, you have two choices: \\n \\n Solipsism: Only I am real. All else is illusions created by my brain. It can all be safely ignored since none of it is real \\n Accept the hypothesis that these things you perceive are real enough that they consistently correspond to certain stimuli and probably indicate the existence of an external world. \\n \\n So on to the next step: We've established 'things exist'. Yay us! So what next? Well what else can we do? Let's see what happens when we pick something up and drop it: \\n It falls! For now it doesn't matter why , it just matters that it does. Let's see what happens if we pick something else up and drop it: \\n It also falls! We can repeat this a few times and pretty quickly we'll work out that if you pick things up and drop them they fall. We'll go ahead and write this down in our big Notebook of Science: Stuff falls when dropped. \\n Through careful trial and error, we can discover exactly how fast things fall. Fortunately, somebody already did that and wrote it down in the Notebook of Science. In fact, by this point a lot of people have written a lot of stuff in the Notebook of Science. \\n Fortunately, we don't need to have faith in any of it. We can pull out the Notebook of Science and try to do the tests ourselves to see if they work! Don't have 'enough faith' to believe that stuff falls when dropped? Try it yourself! \\n Science of course decided to name this 'stuff-falls-when-dropped' effect 'Gravity'. \\n Now we get to evolution. We (naturalists) don't accept evolution because we have 'faith' it's true, we accept it because all of the scientists involved took great notes and put them in the Notebook of Science for us to read. Evolution isn't some magical theory from nowhere: It's the work of scientists piecing together what evidence we have gathered to work out how the Earth formed. \\n Which brings us, full circle, to God and faith: To get this far, we've made all of one assumption: The one way back up at the top that there is a real world. In order to believe in God you have to make another: That the claims made by a certain religion are true despite the myriad other religions also claiming to be true. \\n And here we have a problem: How do we determine which is correct? Is Christianity correct? Let's try praying to God, as Jesus said we can do. \\\"Dear God, please fill my cup with water.\\\" Simple enough, easier than the test Gideon requested, certainly smaller than the mountain-moving Jesus promised. \\n ... And now my cup is still empty. Odd. That claim doesn't seem correct. Let's do the same with other religions and their claims: Nothing. All have believer who claim religious experiences, but the claims contradict, so obviously not all can be true. \\n And so we're left with the problem, the reason we're atheists:\",\n \"Summary: What lore you need to track down depends on whether you are more interested in the worlds or the Planeswalkers.\\n\\nPost: That depends on whether you're interested in history or recent events. If you want to know the whole thing, tracking down the old books is worth it. \\n It is important to acknowledge that two major shifts have occurred in Magic lore. The first happened when Mirrodin introduced the idea of a set on a new plane with (effectively) all new characters with only trace ties to older sets. \\n Prior to Mirrodin, blocks for the most part followed up on the same general plot as the block before it, although with sometimes a different character focus. In Mirrodin, Kamigawa, and (original) Ravnica we suddenly were completely ignoring older characters. \\n Then after Time Spiral block we have our second shift. The events of Time Spiral block are very complex, but the important thing is that Planeswalkers (The entities that players ostensibly represent) went from almost Gods to being more like very high level D&D wizards - Far more powerful than most, but incredibly vincible. \\n Ultimately though, the key point is that each block is now effectively two story components: One is the story of the world and what happens to it, and the other is the ongoing story of the key Planeswalkers like Jace, Elspeth, and Liliana.\",\n \"Summary: It was greed, not the public being done with the series.\\n\\nPost: Really? You think it was the South Park episode that killed the genre? Not the fact that between the two series there were seven games released in a single year? \\n The following games were all released during 2009: \\n \\n Guitar Hero: Smash Hits \\n Guitar Hero: Van Halen \\n Guitar Hero: Metallica \\n Guitar Hero 5 \\n Band Hero \\n Beatles Rock Band \\n Lego Rock Band \\n \\n I'm about 98% certain it was market saturation combined with the various lawsuits (For those that don't know: Among others Courtney Love and Gibson Guitars sued over the games) that killed the genre more than even the general 'done with this' feeling in the public. \\n Heck, even with it obviously being a fad, if they hadn't oversaturated the market they could have kept doing yearly releases from now 'til judgment day. Heck, Rock Band Network was profitable enough that they kept releasing songs for it until 10 days ago.\",\n \"Summary: No, sacrificing creatures at instant speed is not inherently broken.\\n\\nPost: With the exception of perhaps Dredge, mechanics aren't broken. Cards with mechanics on them are broken. \\n There are good cards that involve sacrificing. Birthing Pod is the most notable. There are a lot of very bad cards that involve sacrificing other things you have. Let's go through some of the ones in Standard: \\n \\n Barrage of Expendables \\n Blood Bairn \\n Bubbling Cauldron \\n Cartel Aristocrat \\n Champion of Stray Souls \\n Corpse Blockade \\n Eater of Hope \\n Gnawing Zombie \\n Gobbling Ooze \\n Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord \\n Korozda Guildmage \\n Maw of the Obzedat \\n \\n That's the first half of the alphabet. There are more, but this list serves to prove my point. Look at that list. Of the 12 cards I listed, one (Cartel Aristocrat) sees anything resembling heavy play. Most of them are draft fodder at best. None of them are dominating the format. \\n Let's look at this the other way around: If your premise is correct, then we'd expect to see a bunch of the top decks having ways to sacrifice their own creatures at instant speed. Let's look at [this top 8]( from a recent event. \\n Boros Aggro: No way to sacrifice creatures \\nNaya Aggro: No way to sacrifice creatures \\nJund Aggro: No way to sacrifice creatures \\nGolgari Devotion: No way to sacrifice creatures \\nEsper Control: No way to sacrifice creatures. \\n Well, that wasn't promising. Let's look a [Modern top 8]( for comparison: \\n \\n Scapeshift: Scapeshift sacrifices lands but not creatures, isn't instant speed. \\n Jund: No way to sacrifice creatures at instant speed. Could theoretically point LotV at self \\n WU Control; No way to sacrifice creatures \\n WUr Kiki: No way to sacrifice creatures \\n Birthing Pod: Pod, the Viscera Seer for the combo \\n Twin Exarch: No way to sacrifice creatures \\n UWr Midrange: No way to sacrifice creatures. \\n \\n So of all the decks we looked at, only Pod relied on sacrificing creatures, and it really relied on only one card with the mechanic. No other deck, even ones that had multiple creatures, had ways to sacrifice creatures at instant speed. \\n In conclusion/\",\n \"Summary: Because Capitalism.\\n\\nPost: This may not be true at Starbucks, but at somewhere like McDonalds the most expensive part of the beverage for the company is the cup they put it in. So if the price difference for the company is minor enough between different cups, they can easily increase the size of the drink. \\n A larger drink looks like more value, so if you're trying to fight in a market like fast food that's all about \\\"How much product can we deliver for how cheap?\\\" being able to score easy points on something like an increased drink size is a no brainer.\",\n \"Summary: One and one and one is four.\\n\\nPost: So I had a fun one being the Judge-type person (Technically a Rules Advisor) at my local FNM: \\n There were two people involved: Player A, who was around 15 years old, and Player B, a rather large middle aged man. The argument arose when Player B played Wayfaring Temple with two other creatures in play. \\n The man was then absolutely insistent that it should be a 4/4. Player A points out that he only has 3 creatures. The man says that it counts itself. Player A points out that he has three creatures . Player B refuses to acknowledge this. \\n At this point Player B is getting a bit loud, so players are looking over. The store has a very casual atmosphere and there tends to be a lot of chatter between players, so it wasn't that unusual when another guy looks over and backs up Player A. Meanwhile, I'm still busy with my round. \\n Eventually somebody decides to call me as Player B is still refusing to acknowledge the obvious miscount he's doing. I end up having to start by doing the baby-step through: \\\"So if you have only this, how big is it?\\\" \\\"Okay, now if you play a second creature, how big is it?\\\" \\\"Okay, so how big is it when you put the third creature into play.\\\" \\n Player B was suddenly a whole lot less belligerent. He also never came back after that night. I can't help but think I was a bit condescending, but when he's counting \\\"1-2-3 plus it counts itself so 4\\\" and ignores his opponent pointing out the doublecount I didn't know how else to do it.\",\n \"Summary: Ask my pastor, I'm not an expert.\\\"\\n\\nPost: This is where I'd proudly declare that the first bit of Genesis was a metaphor and only crazy Christians took the first few chapters of Genesis literally. Of course, what exactly it was a metaphor for and why they'd bother tracing exact genealogies for Jesus if Adam and Eve never existed would've caused me problems. \\n There are a ton of flaws. The trick is simply adding enough fuzzing to make the most important bits seem almost workable while ignoring enough details to avoid too much cognitive dissonance. Remember that most Christians don't spend too much time thinking too deeply about their faith, in the same way most atheists don't. \\n The existence of Biblical scholars is a huge comfort to Christians, because it means that they can think somebody has the answers. To use an analogy: You probably are not an expert on cellular biology. If I were to ask you a specific question about some apparent contradiction I'd found in cellular biology, you'd tell me you weren't an expert, but you trusted the experts who claimed the science worked. \\n In the same way, many Christians will tell you they don't have all the answers, and to ask the Pastor or a Biblical scholar, trusting that even if they don't have the answers, somebody else does.\",\n \"Summary: Turn based combat is hard to find because it's hard to do right.\\n\\nPost: NOTE: The following is specifically discussing RPG turn-based systems, not TBS games like XCOM and the like. \\n Part of the reason Turn-Based combat is vanishing is because it's very very easy to do wrong and very difficult to do right. Real-time combat is fairly popular partly because even if every fight plays out in basically the same way the mechanics tend to make that repetitive action more fun. \\n With a Turn-Based combat system frequently large chunks of the game boils down to \\\"use this sequence of attacks\\\" against almost every enemy. When the combat method is menu based and you just select the same options from the menu every time the game gets boring fast. \\n In order for a turn-based RPG to really work is if you give the player enough different options that they can make meaningful non-obvious choices and you have enough enemy times that vary in enough ways that the same strategies don't work every time. \\n The issue with that is hiding enough of the complexity so the player isn't overwhelmed by a crazy number of menus and numbers and stats. \\n My favorite example of it done fairly well is Pokémon: The 17 types and massive number of party members and different attacks lead to having to change strategy to find different enemies. It also has a very simple addition that totally changes the game: \\\"The attack was super effective!\\\" \\n That one simple line is key to the game working with newer gamers because it gives you an instant tip-off that the attack you are using is better against the type of enemy you're facing. By learning which attacks give that message, a new player can figure out the type relations without referencing a manual and without being flooded with info.\",\n \"Summary: Quick! Keep making new boxes to put things in until we run out of cardboard.\\n\\nPost: Speaking specifically about your article, I think the 2000-2008 era is too broad. Maybe it's just because I started playing in Kamigawa, but I think having Invasion in the same category as Lorwyn is pushing it. The game changed a lot in those eight years, and if I had to mark a midway point it would probably be about the time of the Mirrodin bannings. \\n On a tangential note to your article: \\n As somebody interested in the creative and who is a fan of large messes and competing standards, I think we need at least one more set of eras to describe Magic Creative. People ask \\\"where do I start reading Magic?\\\" all the time, but the answers that are given usually ignore Creative eras. \\n Telling somebody to go read The Brother's War after they got interested in Magic because of the Theros stuff is like telling somebody to start with Fantastic Four #1 because they're curious about Guardians of the Galaxy: Yeah, it's in the same universe and it'll eventually loop around to there, but the characters and events from that era are many layers removed from the current ongoing plotlines. \\n At bare minimum there are two big eras (Pre-Mending and Post-Mending) but I'm pretty sure there are divisions to be drawn beyond that. There has been a lot of Magic continuity over the years and somebody who has been with the game through it all could probably point to clear points where the universe shifted.\",\n \"Summary: You will not care because you will no longer be yourself. \\n EDIT: Hrm. On rereading I realize I have still presented a 'perfect' heaven, it just doesn't match the standard definition. I'll try again later if I remember.\\n\\nPost: Unfortunately, I'm not absolutely certain I can. I myself am atheist, but I seem to recall an argument going along these basic lines: \\n Borrowing a bit from the Hindu concept of Nirvana, upon reaching Heaven you become more than just you . You become one with God, part of the great perfection forever. In the process, you shed your base humanity (and the inherent sinning nature that goes with it) in order to become part of something more than yourself. As part of this perfection you will be privy to all of God's secrets and know why it is that things are as they are. \\n If you start from the assumption that God and all his choices are perfect, this would leave you in a state whereupon you would fully acknowledge why an atheist would deserve hell, and it would not burden you that someone you once loved now suffered. \\n Of course, this requires you to first demonstrate that God exists and makes nothing but infallible choices. Fortunately, I can at this point duck out by saying I personally don't believe in such things.\",\n \"Summary: They both get killed to death.\\n\\nPost: Here's how this works assuming no instants are cast or abilities are activated: \\n First Strike damage happens first. The Fabled Hero has Double Strike so it does damage equal to its power (2) in this step. The Nightveil Specter doesn't have First or Double Strike, so it doesn't do any damage. You now have a Nightveil Specter with 2 damage marked on it and a Fabled Hero with no damage Marked on it. \\n Normal damage happens next. Fabled Hero already did damage once this turn, but it has Double Strike so it gets to deal (2) damage now. The Nightveil Specter hasn't tried to do damage at all yet, so as normal it does (2) damage now. The end result is the Fabled Hero going to the graveyard due to damage equal to or greater than its toughness marked on it and the Nightveil Specter also goes to the graveyard due to damage for the same reason.\",\n \"Summary: I'd still Reddit if I was immortal.\\n\\nPost: This doesn't answer the question though. Death is not really the opposite of life, it's the opposite of alive . \\n Life would only lose any meaning it had when death was removed if the only two events which occurred were \\\"person is born\\\" and \\\"person died\\\" with dates for each. \\n However, Life is more than just being born and dying. In between is where all the fun stuff happens. There are certainly things we do to avoid the whole 'death' thing happening at an inconvenient time, but ultimately most of what we do is for reasons completely unrelated to our eventual demise. \\n I, for one, do not argue with people on Reddit because I know I'm going to die. I argue with people on Reddit because it amuses me to do so and because sometimes I learn something from it.\",\n \"Summary: In my opinion) You swap new readers for old ones, the problem is mostly due to incorrect understanding of comics.\\n\\nPost: Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a unique selling point. Sure you might dislike that selling point, but it still sets them apart from many other mediums. \\n You can remove continuity from comics, and different people would read it, but at the same time you'd remove one of the reasons existing people read it. You end up alienating existing readers to court potential new ones, which may end up being a financially sound decision (If the new readers outnumber the old ones) but isn't automatically a good choice. \\n And honestly I think this complaint is misdirected anyways: There are plenty of excellent comics that are put out that are self-contained and don't require you to know or care about the wider universe that you can read if you don't like the complex web of character drama. \\n You can read Batman: Year One or All-Star Superman or Gotham Central or any of a large number of other arcs or runs and have a complete story without knowing everything else about the character. \\n I think the stigma comes because people feel that because the material exists, they need to read it to get the full benefit. You don't worry about not understanding Harry Potter you don't know the history of Harry's parents. You don't get confused when watching Star Wars because you don't know why Han Solo was working for Jabba the Hutt. You don't because you know the story will provide the context you need to understand the story that is being told. \\n With comics people do worry though, because there is a belief that knowing the outside material doesn't just add to the material but is crucial to understanding it at all, and I don't think that's true.\",\n \"Summary: Shooting somebody with a gun is a known Bad Thing^TM for children, but sex is a mysterious unknown which doesn't have as strong of a built-in stigma.\\n\\nPost: Actually, there is a non-hypocritical reason behind this that makes sense if you were to actually believe that naked people is wrong. \\n The reason people are fine with guns/murder/whatever and not nudity/sex/whatever is that murder is an obviously fantastical inclusion. You don't watch somebody shoot somebody else in James Bond and think 'That's how normal people behave' any more than you watch Harry Potter and think 'Magic is real!' Your brain is able to process obviously false information as obvious fiction. \\n The problem shows up when you mix obvious fiction with almost-correct-but-not-quite nonfiction. You know the show you are watching is fictional, but if something isn't obviously fake you'll probably just roll with it. This is why lots of people think defibrillators and CPR are general catch-alls for the recently deceased and that you get one phone call and other things. They aren't true, but you've seen them enough times and they're obviously fake so you just kind of shrug and accept them as real unless/until you find correct information. \\n I've kind of wandered a bit, but the end point is this: Portraying sexuality in any way on screen falls under that 'eh, close enough' realm of pseudononfiction for a lot of viewers, especially the younger ones. Sex isn't exactly openly talked about, so the views most of us have come from sources such as how it's discussed and portrayed on TV Shows, in books, in movies, or on the internet. \\n So if you believe that all sexuality is inherently shameful then keeping discussions which include being open about sexuality out of the reach of children is critical to maintaining the idea that sexuality is inherently shameful.\",\n \"Summary: The average player should have most or all of the content in your game before the game mechanics get old.\\n\\nPost: My frustration is when a good system is ruined by improperly gauging the amount of time required to acquire all of the content. I have two big examples of this: \\n First, the Tower Defense game Fieldrunners 2. If you complete the game on normal difficulty (Roughly 25 levels) you will likely have roughly 800 coins, and maybe 1,000 if you're doing very well. The problem is that this is only enough coins to buy one or two of the cheapest buyable towers. This leaves the player having to grind through levels they've already beaten to get the thousands of coins required to buy all the towers. \\n Second, the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer with its much-vaunted free DLC. The unlock system came in the form of random 'packs' which meant you could spend many many hours trying to unlock the character you wanted to play as. To give you an idea of how bad this system is: I got bored and decided to cheat. Well over 20,000,000 credits (Roughly 200 packs or $600 if you use micropayments) later I still haven't maxed out all the weapons. It took me close to half of that to even unlock all the characters.\",\n \"Summary: Violence is easier to build and can more easily get away with being fake than human conversation, so there will always be more games about violence than human conversation.\\n\\nPost: Not only is violence easy to systematize, players are unlikely to have enough familiarity with actual violence to be put off by the lack of reality in video game violence. \\n Basically nothing about the standard \\\"Run around the map firing bullets at the enemy until they fall over because they're out of health and then they'll respawn and you do it again\\\" matches up with a real life gunfight. It plays well though, and almost all of your players won't have experience with real life gunfights, so it's fine. \\n You don't have to encode the complexities of fatigue, specific injuries, and similar things into your game and although a niche audience (See: Arma) would enjoy it, probably most of your players are happier with the simple model anyways. \\n Contrast that with a conversation. How do you model a conversation? You could do a mad-libs style choose-your-own dialog tree and score the player based on specific word combinations, and the end result would likely be about as close to real conversation as the simulated gunfight is to a real gunfight. \\n But that obviously doesn't work because the player will have had many conversations and will know it doesn't match real conversations. They'll want to say things they would really say or do things they'd really do and have the other characters react to that, but implementing that would be really hard. Even if you could model a single conversation that had every possible outcome, how do you build a story when the player can have any outcome in a conversation? \\n How do you detect failstates? How do you effectively convey that the player is failing, and what they can do to improve? In a gunfight, the player knows they have made a mistake when they take damage and they know if they hit zero health they will die. Conveying that in a conversation style of gameplay is hard . \\n I could keep going, but I think I've gotten my general idea across and this is already kinda a wall of text.\",\n \"Summary: So that it's so easy a caveman could do it.\\n\\nPost: Because when you understand all of the math behind it, Pokemon is really fairly complex. \\n You see plenty of players on this sub who feel overwhelmed reading about EVs and IVs and such and think the games may be too complex. \\n Now consider that Pokémon is a game built to be accessible to children. Part of how they're able to keep it accessible to children while keeping it complex enough for more mature players is by hiding most of the complexity. \\n Right now there are six stats which are all fairly obvious in what they do and the entire battle system gives you a very small number of messages: \\n \\n X is super effective \\n X is not very effective \\n X has no effect \\n STAT went up (sharply) \\n STAT went down (sharply) \\n \\n Those are all very self-explanatory and the only numbers visible in an actual battle are how much health you have, the level of each Pokémon, and how much health you have. \\n Imagine if instead you saw everything . Instead of one number for attack you saw four: Base/IVs/EVs/Total. On battle win you didn't just get XP but also EVs. On hits you saw the precise amount of damage and on boost you saw the precise percentage and numerical increase. \\n Sure it would be a lot more helpful to pros but to new players it would be basically incomprehensible. Pokemon has done as well as it has for as long as it has because the designers have gotten increasingly better at figuring out just how much information they can show players to walk the line between accessibility for new players and giving experienced players the tools to see the hidden complexity.\",\n \"Summary: Romantic love is difficult to get the player to embrace in the same way they do friendship.\\n\\nPost: I think a lot of people are missing an important human reason why actual romantic feelings are rarely attached to your character: It's incredibly difficult to manage in a way that works without feeling weird. \\n (In my opinion) Romantic relationships are difficult to get a player emotionally on board with in the same way you can get them on board with a friendship. You can make the player like the NPCs that the PC is supposed to be friends with. You can make the player dislike, distrust, and outright hate the NPCs the PC is supposed to be at war with. \\n What you cannot do effectively is make a large portion of the player base fall in love (romantically) with an NPC in the same way the PC does. No matter how well written the dialog is, it's unlikely for the player to form that sort of connection with a character. \\n Note that this is different if the player is orchestrating the actions of existing characters rather than really role-playing their own character. I think this is why Fire Emblem: Awakening did marriages so well: You as the player technically control which character marries which character, but you have zero control over the actual conversations so the writers were able to write things that worked for each character. \\n But in Mass Effect (To use the obvious example) I never actually fell in love with the character I had Shepard marry. I liked the character, and of the options presented it was my favorite character, but I didn't love the character. It's a bit of a subtle distinction, but it creates a disconnect either between how the player and the PC feel about the character or between how the PC and the character interact and how you'd expect married characters to act. \\n Even though I enjoyed the dialog in ME3 between Tali and a married Shepard, those were the pieces I most felt like I listening to two characters talk rather than being part of the world myself. If the game was built on that, I don't think I'd be able to unconsciously start thinking about the main character as being 'me' in the same way I did.\",\n \"Summary: I am not a comedian.\\n\\nPost: Joking about religion is all well and good but it becomes a problem when every joke starts from the premise \\\"These religious people sure are stupid, aren't they?\\\" All that really does is perpetuate the Us vs Them mentality that leads you to think of Christians as fundamentally different from Atheists. \\n You see this carry over into arguments: \\\"You can tell a Christian that, but they don't think rationally\\\" is a phrase that gets repeated a lot both there and here. The problem is that by reducing Christians to purely illogical individuals you remove the ability to empathize with them, and that makes it much much harder to actually figure out how to change their opinions. \\n Uh... Sorry, that sort of got away from me a bit. Not actually ranting at you in particular, I just sort of started with jokes about religion and ended with a rant.\",\n \"Summary: It's a mess and I like writing baseless speculation on the internet so I don't have to go do my Artificial Intelligence homework.\\n\\nPost: Do you really think that money spent on the poor just disappears? \\n That's a tricky question, isn't it? For the most part, money never really disappears. Currencies used in almost every country have no intrinsic value or use - I can pay somebody else to do something for me or make something for me, but I can't directly convert money into another product so any use of money is really just changing who is holding it. \\n So in that sense, money doesn't ever disappear. The real question is whether money spent on the poor produces wealth. And that depends on how it's handled. The goal ultimately is to create a situation where the poor are able to begin producing something. \\n That sounds kinda callous when written out like that, but ultimately it's better for everybody if somebody who previously struggled to just survive is able to spend their time on something besides meeting bare survival necessities. The trick is figuring out how to spend the minimum per person (So as to reach the maximum number of people) while getting the greatest benefit (And in theory politicians, being agents of the state, should benefit whenever the people of the state benefit). \\n The ultimate problem is that people can't be treated as identical cubes and the incentive system for those making decisions on how to spend the money doesn't really reward actively attempting to affect real change.\",\n \"Summary: If God is the only meaning, do you eat Ice Cream for God?\\n\\nPost: The simplest counterpoint is to ask them about their day: \\n \\\"Do you do everything for God? Did you watch Iron Man 3 for God? Did you play Minecraft for God? Did you go to Dairy Queen for a late night snack for God?\\\" \\n If God is the only reason for living, then anything you do must be for God. If you can do anything without needing it to be about God, then you can do everything without needing it to be about God. \\n If the trivial examples don't work, use the bigger ones: \\n \\\"Would you still love your parents/siblings/children/SO without God? Would you stop helping people without God?\\\" \\n Some will say 'I couldn't without God!' but you are unlikely to get much productive conversation out of such people anyways.\",\n \"Summary: TBS and FPS usually have totally different demographics.\\n\\nPost: If I had to guess, I'd say it has to do with the specific genres. Turn-Based Strategy is fairly under-represented genre compared to shooters. Turn-Based Strategy is basically the genre that is totally opposite from shooters. \\n I'm going to guess you're not new to the internet, so you're probably aware of the large group that always claims shooters are the dumbest genre in gaming and that the simpler a game is, the worse it is. Any time any change gets made to a strategy franchise (For example removing Unit Stacks in Civ V) the franchise is accused of being 'dumbed down'. \\n So for the famously complex and difficult XCOM series to be turned into what the vocal segment saw as the worst plague in gaming today was seen as the gravest insult imaginable. I'm not saying they were justified in being that vocal, but that's why you got so large of a response for this particular incident.\",\n \"Summary: If you have $2,000,000,000 and the greatest orator alive handy, I'll be more than happy to get started on this 'third party' thing.\\n\\nPost: It may not be set in stone, but it's close enough as makes no difference. In a country of 300 million, it would take a hell of a movement to fight past the inertia Duverger's Law generates. A hell of a movement with a hell of a lot of money. The current two parties spent [nearly a billion dollars each]( last election, and they started with about half the votes each. \\n So you have the following obstacles to overcome in order to make a new party (In no particular order): \\n \\n Find a qualified enough and likable enough person to run \\n Figure out a platform that is different enough from the big two while still meeting as many of the demands of 'the public' as possible. \\n Acquire enough money to run nonstop ad campaigns against the big two in every state, not just the swing states. \\n Overcome the massive preexisting bias against third party votes being useless. \\n On election day, get majority votes in a good number of important states without accidentally tipping things too far against either existing party. \\n \\n Let's use an example of this not happening properly: In 1992, [Ross Perot]( ran for president. He managed to get 19% of the popular vote, more than any other third party candidate in fifty years. All this did was help secure Bill Clinton's win because he split the Republican party.\",\n \"Summary: He's not wrong, but I don't think he's saying things in the way they need to be said to be best understood by his target audience. \\n (Sorry, got into a bit of a rant there. Don't know why this annoys me as much as it does)\\n\\nPost: No, I know it's for an inexperienced audience, I just don't think it does a good job of covering things in an effective manner. \\n Consider this article or addressing things that are very important to new players. \\n The worst to me is lines like: \\n > Although Telling Time is legal in the Modern format, at two mana, it is too expensive to flip Delver of Secrets in many deck; the slightly less flexible (but less expensive) Serum Visions is the Insectile Aberration-flipper of choice. \\n which are absolutely worthless to any player not already familiar with what Delver is or why being able to flip it is important to a Modern format. If you didn't already know you were building a Delver deck, his comparison doesn't mean anything. \\n And then, later on, he mentions Volcanic Hammer as being playable because the effect is powerful, suddenly switching from 'this is the best' to 'this is useful' without acknowledging that a number of other cards he previously discarded (like Telling Time) fit into a similar niche. \\n Also: He mentions Tarmogoyf, shows a picture, and just assumes the audience is not only familiar with the card but also aware of the reasons it's so good - 'goyf is one of those cards that can sometimes be tricky to understand the power of if you don't see it in action. \\n The articles are very much written in such a way that they only really make sense if you're a player who is experienced enough for them to not be terribly helpful, so I don't think I'd recommend them to a new player.\",\n \"Summary: It's another lesson in why faceless movements on the internet are doomed to fail without a clear leadership group setting obvious goals and publicly announcing what they do and don't stand for. \\n \\n The upshot of all of this is pretty simple: If you flip through the [GamerGate Hashtage on Twitter]( you'll quickly notice a lot more about members of GamerGate defending it or people attacking it or people trying to explain what it's supposed to be about than you will any actual forward movement, which is why pretty much everybody who can get out of the whole mess has by now.\\n\\nPost: It started with a blog post by an ex-boyfriend of Zoe Quinn (An indie game developer) claiming that Zoe Quinn slept with people for better reviews on her game. Whether these claims were accurate or not became a whole fireball argument which snowballed (... Those metaphors sorta cancel out, don't they?) into a shitstorm called GamerGate. \\n Ostensibly it's about ethics in game journalism but a lack of centralized leadership combined with a tendency for some people in the movement to resort to ugly slurs and a whole bunch of terrible things led to the whole thing going downhill fast. \\n At this point it's become this weird self-sustaining blob where the primary activity of GamerGate participants is trying to explain why the ugly elements don't actually represent GamerGate. Meanwhile, due to the negative buzz surrounding the whole thing, nobody notable has been interested in stepping up and trying to push forward what the supposed actual agenda is (Promoting ethics in game journalism). \\n One of the more notable things that happened to drag the whole thing completely into the mud was that enough people decided their arch-rival was Anita Sarkeesian, a woman who produces feminist opinion pieces on video games but who is not really a member of games journalism in the first place. Why does the whole group hate her? I don't even know.\",\n \"Summary: Just because I don't believe in Jesus doesn't mean I don't still like a free meal.\\n\\nPost: Alright, so first off, my family doesn't know I'm atheist. My mother would absolutely flip out if she knew, so for the sake of my own sanity I haven't told her. That said, once I started going to college (It's only 20 minutes away from home, but my scholarship covers housing, so I live on campus) I stopped going home over the weekends and thus stopped going to church. \\n The problem was that the food on campus was really really bad on Sundays and my freshman year I had the mandatory meal plan for food, which meant there was one day every week where I knew I was going to have terrible food. \\n So I decided to start going home over the weekend, which with my family meant I was going to church every Sunday. The biggest benefit was that it meant lunch with my family at a local restaurant that I didn't have to pay for. \\n Of course, if I'm going to be at church, I may as well join a Sunday school group. So I ended up in the relatively small College sunday school group with a bunch of people I had known since approximately forever, none of whom know I'm an atheist. \\n At this point I still go every week just because I enjoy talking to the other people in the class and because it amuses me to push a little bit on their faith and mainly because there are sometimes tasty delicious bagels with cream cheese and I always get free lunch with my family afterwards.\",\n \"Summary: There will always be bugs. It's not reasonable to expect all of them to be fixed, nor is it reasonable to expect a studio to be forever chained to fixing minor issues in a previous release.\\n\\nPost: Yet another angle: How infallible of a game is the customer entitled to? Games are an incredibly weird commodity in that the value is almost entirely unmeasurable. If the company has already spent $X on building the game and the bug is a minor graphics glitch, are they obligated to fix it? \\n You don't complain to a movie studio because a boom mic was visible for two seconds midway through a film and demand they modify it, nor do you complain because of a typo in a book you buy. \\n I know video games are different because they can be fixed, but the ability to be fixed causes people to demand that everything must be fixed. \\n I'd say that a perfect game is impossible and that although the customer is of course welcome to complain about whatever they wish, the company is under no obligations to provide any fixes for bugs that don't break the game. \\n Of course, the problem with anything about video games is that every discussion is a fractal containing a million sub-discussions: How many bugs is too many? How big of a bug is too big? Does game income affect the responsibility to fix it? What about making more content? and so on until the end of days. \\n Anyways, the point is:\",\n \"Summary: I beat Bioshock Infinite in a couple days and haven't touched it since, I'm still playing the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer every now and then.\\n\\nPost: If I was a betting man, I'd take your bet. I would wager it is replayability , and not simply quality, that determines resales. A game like CoD can be played for a long time if you enjoy the multiplayer (And most people do buy CoD for Multi from what I understand), whereas a game like Bioshock Infinite is pretty much done once you finish the campaign once or twice. \\n As far as I'm aware (I don't actually have a PS3), Last of Us is a quality single player game. Sure, it may be amazing, but when Gamestop sends out a mailer promising a good return on trading in Last of Us, I'm going to be a lot more willing to trade it in knowing I've already beaten it. \\n Unfortunately for you if you like relatively short (Meaning Bioshock Infinite as opposed to Skyrim) single player experiences, the current system places heavy incentives for publishers to focus on both DLC and multiplayer since both 'beat' the used problem. \\n Remember that most sales happen within a relatively short timeframe. It's not about a game that lasts forever, it's about a game that takes more than a month to wring maximum enjoyment out of. It's okay if the store shelves are flooded with used a month from release, as long as they aren't flooded within a week. \\n I'm not making any claims as to ethics or morals, I'm just pointing out that from a purely financial standpoint, all else equal a publisher has a smaller problem with used multiplayer titles than they do used single player titles, and that's before we start talking about how multiplayer titles can't be loaned to a friend if you want to play with that friend.\",\n \"Summary: The police officers in Bioshock Infinite aren't real, and that's okay.\\n\\nPost: I've started to notice a trend in AAA game reviews recently. Games like Tomb Raider, Bioshock: Infinite, Skyrim, Far Cry 3, and even Call of Duty have suffered the same complaint: You kill too many people for too little reason. \\n Obviously I'm far from alone in noticing this trend in both reviews and games. This is part of the basis for the complaint that gaming is too violent. There's been a lot of talk from a lot of different people about how gaming's stories are held back by the sheer amount of deaths involved in completing most major games. Even Mario kills an untold number of Goombas on his way to saving the princess. \\n Most people seem to focus on a need to change how we build games, but I don't really think that's necessary. What we need is to promote discussion of how to better represent a concept that most of us 'true gamers' have internalized: That of the non-character entity (NCE, because what gaming needs is more TLAs). \\n NCEs are any game objects which you defeat which don't effectively exist in the story. They are the hundreds of police officers in Bioshock Infinite or the legions of bandits in Borderlands. As a group they have a justification for existing, but on an individual scale they don't actually exist in the story. If you were to focus in on any specific Bioshock Infinite police officer you would find that (s)he has no name, no backstory, and no place in the story. Similar NCEs exist in pretty much every game. \\n The idea I'm slowly working my way around to is that perhaps the solution is to find ways to highlight which objects (I hesitate to call them 'people' even if a specific NCE appears human) are purely there to provide challenge in the game without breaking immersion. And that's the key bit: Not breaking immersion. Many of us are able to unconsciously ignore mass bloodshed of NCEs because we've gotten used to it. New gamers are put off by it because they haven't. \\n So ultimately that's the problem that (in my opinion) needs solving: A way to make it obvious that a given 'person' is actually a NCE without breaking immersion. \\n I think I've rambled for long enough. What are your thoughts on the matter? Is this even a problem? Should we even have NCEs in the first place? (How) Should we represent them in game?\",\n \"Summary: Given enough forma, every weapon can become a devastating monstrosity. If you're not running end-game, pick your favorite weapon and slam forma on it until it hits like a truck. Even the humble Mk-1 Braton can hit an expected 756 damage per shot with six forma on it.\\n\\nPost: So a few days ago I made a post about achieving maximum damage with a completely unpolarized weapon without a potato. This time I've done the complete opposite and figured out the maximum damage you can build with access to a potato and as many forma as you'd like. \\n The biggest complaints I had last time were that I wasn't considering utility mods and that I wasn't considering criticals. To counteract this, I've gone ahead and run the math on only 6 or 7 full slots so you can fit in the utility mod of your choice in the last couple slots to reach the best weapon you like. \\n First up, Rifles: \\n \\n Serration \\n Heavy Caliber \\n Split Chamber \\n All 4 Uncommon Elemental Mods \\n One Rare Elemental Mod \\n \\n The total damage multiplier here is 42x base damage. For comparison, the maximum multiplier on the unformad, unpotatod rifle was about 6x. The total drain here is 96, but you can cut it down to 59 for the low low cost of six polarized slots. \\n If you're going to remove mods to make room for utility, start with the rare elemental mod (Reduces multiplier to 37x), then an uncommon elemental (Reduces to 30x) then another uncommon elemental (Reduces to 23x). If you want to replace just the Heavy Caliber but still max out damage, using another Rare Elemental Mod will reduce the total multiplier to 29x. \\n As far as criticals for rifles go, there is a point where it becomes worth it. For the Soma's 30% crit chance and 3x multiplier, the following loadout is optimal for damage: \\n \\n Serration \\n Heavy Caliber \\n Point Strike \\n Vital Sense \\n Split Chamber \\n 3x Uncommon Elemental Mod \\n \\n As above, the drain is higher than 60 (96 to be exact) but can be dropped given enough forma. The expected damage per shot here is a whopping 157x base damage. \\n With all that said, let's move on to Pistols. Optimum for damage is: \\n \\n Hornet Strike \\n Magnum Force \\n Barrel Diffusion \\n Lethal Torrent \\n 4x Uncommon Elemental \\n \\n Total multiplier here is 44x. If you're going to remove one, it should be Magnum Force (drops total to 37x multiplier) then an elemental mod (30x), then Lethal Torrent (23x). Like with rifles, you DO benefit for building for crit damage with something like the Aksomati, which get to 79x base damage/shot if you replace Magnum Force and an elemental mod with Pistol Gambit and Target Cracker. \\n Moving on to melee weapons: \\n \\n Pressure Point \\n Spoiled Strike \\n 4x Uncommon Elemental \\n 2x Rare Elemental \\n \\n The lack of multishot leads to the total Melee multiplier being a fairly tame 19x base damage. Interestingly, the total drain here is only 74, which means a potato and a single polarized slot gets you there. Your mods-to-remove are a rare element mod (17x) and then the other rare element mod (15x). \\n Building for crits helps, but even with the Dual Zoren's .25 base crit chance and 3x multiplier, swapping the rare mods for Organ Shatter and True Steel only pushes you to a 42x base damage, which is what we see on rifles and pistols with any weapon. \\n Anyways, since a lot of people mentioned it last time, I figure I'll save ya'll the trouble and list the assumptions used in these calculations in the post: \\n \\n I'm assuming none of the mods affect accuracy \\n I'm ignoring fire rate and reload speed \\n I'm ignoring elemental procs \\n I'm ignoring the possibility of hitting multiple targets \\n \\n As always, modeling is a tool, but not the ultimate solution to everything. Hopefully I've given you enough information here that you can make decisions based on your favorite playstyle. The biggest reason for giving numbers with a few mods missing is so you can weigh just how much something like Shred is worth to you.\"\n]","isConversational":false},"profile_size":{"kind":"number","value":75,"string":"75"},"task":{"kind":"string","value":"longlamp_4"},"split_kind":{"kind":"string","value":"user_based"},"id":{"kind":"number","value":99,"string":"99"}}}],"truncated":false,"partial":false},"paginationData":{"pageIndex":0,"numItemsPerPage":100,"numTotalItems":11442,"offset":0,"length":100}},"jwt":"eyJhbGciOiJFZERTQSJ9.eyJyZWFkIjp0cnVlLCJwZXJtaXNzaW9ucyI6eyJyZXBvLmNvbnRlbnQucmVhZCI6dHJ1ZX0sImlhdCI6MTc3Nzk1NjQ0Nywic3ViIjoiL2RhdGFzZXRzL01lbW9yeUFzTW9kYWxpdHkvTG9uZ0xhTVAtNCIsImV4cCI6MTc3Nzk2MDA0NywiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9odWdnaW5nZmFjZS5jbyJ9.ervlgFQUndzau-4RmgEbX1tEBSkYc4ojiPCzsxjt3o7RYkELEQnydrJkP_UkpYN4zJKVbNH8y4kAKJIAj7fxAg","displayUrls":true,"splitSizeSummaries":[{"config":"default","split":"train","numRows":11442,"numBytesParquet":327934879},{"config":"default","split":"validation","numRows":2453,"numBytesParquet":70247290},{"config":"default","split":"test","numRows":2452,"numBytesParquet":69033351}]},"discussionsStats":{"closed":0,"open":1,"total":1},"fullWidth":true,"hasGatedAccess":true,"hasFullAccess":true,"isEmbedded":false,"savedQueries":{"community":[],"user":[]}}">
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Phiarmage | Generate the content for a reddit post overconfidence had a trivial supporting role but mainly it was fear mongering and lies propagated by the American media that played the largest role in the invasion of Iraq IMHO | American overconfidence was likely a big factor in the decision to invade Iraq.
Really? You wouldn't blame the lies by the USG and the unquestioned following of many Americans to support the war? (Weapons of Mass Destruction, suppport of Al Qaeda) What about the general atmosphere of the US after 9/11? (If you didn't... | American overconfidence was likely a big factor in the decision to invade Iraq.
Really? You wouldn't blame the lies by the USG and the unquestioned following of many Americans to support the war? (Weapons of Mass Destruction, suppport of Al Qaeda) What about the general atmosphere of the US after 9/11? (If you didn't... | [
"Summary: I'm happy when they are happy and do not gloat about it, although i'm happier when karma comes back to bite them (the bad ones, at least) in the taint.\n\nPost: I'm generally happy for my exes if they are happy, the relationship is over so why worry? \n There are times when i'm not happy for them, especia... | 36 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 0 |
yianniy | Generate the content for a reddit post belief without reason or evidence that is not acknowledged as such is unintellectual. | I actually have no problem with blind faith, IF it is acknowledge for what it is and does not lead to actions that are detrimental to others.
So, people who say, I believe in God 'cause (i.e. even though I have no proof) are not the problem. When those people start harming others because of that unfounded belief, the... | I actually have no problem with blind faith, IF it is acknowledge for what it is and does not lead to actions that are detrimental to others.
So, people who say, I believe in God 'cause (i.e. even though I have no proof) are not the problem. When those people start harming others because of that unfounded belief, the... | [
"Summary: Science = Apples. Religion = Oranges.\n\nPost: Science, a tool to help people understand how the natural world works. \n Religion, a tool to help you get closer to God and have a moral compass. (Please, before you jump on me for how I worded this, stick to my point.) \n Both are useful, and both can coexi... | 20 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 1 |
dakru | Generate the content for a reddit post The more advanced you get, the more complicated training can get. | People do a lot of crazy things at the gym. Not to say that isolation movements are crazy, but focusing your routine on them, especially as a beginner, is misguided.
As a beginner, you're weak. Just completely weak. You need these big movements to overhaul your entire body, and you need to give them most of your atte... | People do a lot of crazy things at the gym. Not to say that isolation movements are crazy, but focusing your routine on them, especially as a beginner, is misguided.
As a beginner, you're weak. Just completely weak. You need these big movements to overhaul your entire body, and you need to give them most of your atte... | [
"Summary: Is it wrong to \"give a guy some time to miss you\", ie: not be available every night that he asks...Or if you're absolutely mad for him should you just go ahead and show him exactly how you feel? \n It's fine to pace it, and definitely keep doing what you can to not seem desperate, but don't pretend you'... | 15 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 2 |
kyleg5 | Generate the content for a reddit post on Morocco: It is a beautiful, exotic, and exciting country with a wide variety of peoples, cultures, and places to see. Do not pass it up. That said, it was definitely also the most stressful country I ever visited, and I was constantly on my guard against being robbed, hustled, ... | 4) Morocco I should have brought this up sooner. I spent a week in Morocco last spring, so while I am by no means an expert, I know what it's like to be a young American traveling alone in a very different culture. There is so much to say, so I will just write this stream of conscious style. First off, it depends on ... | 4) Morocco I should have brought this up sooner. I spent a week in Morocco last spring, so while I am by no means an expert, I know what it's like to be a young American traveling alone in a very different culture. There is so much to say, so I will just write this stream of conscious style. First off, it depends on ... | [
"Summary: Stop being a curmudgeon, soccer is popular and is only gaining in popularity in the US.\n\nPost: Calm down [Pauline]( While in your social setting you may find that not a lot of people like soccer, it is absolutely one of the most popular sports in the United States and is continuing to rise in popularity... | 17 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 3 |
ShoogleHS | Generate the content for a reddit post I had the dry spell as you, but before the patch, and it's now ended. It's just variance. Though I would say that mechanics like zana who gives you guaranteed free high level content to play with are great. We could use some more consistent sources of income like this imo. | I've actually had the opposite experience. I had such an insane dry spell of maps that I couldn't even sustain level 70+ maps for several weeks. I was doing 69s, saving up a couple of 70-72 maps, rolled good mods on them since they were all I had, then immediately had to go back to 69s. It was just stupid. Managed to g... | I've actually had the opposite experience. I had such an insane dry spell of maps that I couldn't even sustain level 70+ maps for several weeks. I was doing 69s, saving up a couple of 70-72 maps, rolled good mods on them since they were all I had, then immediately had to go back to 69s. It was just stupid. Managed to g... | [
"Summary: even at top pro level, the better players still stand out.\n\nPost: This. Variance is part-and-parcel of playing a game with randomness and hidden information. If you play a card game with draws and expect chess levels of consistency, you're daft. \n But good players in poker or hearthstone or MTG or what... | 20 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 4 |
dpgaspard | Generate the content for a reddit post Little bitch called me out. | This was probably 10-15 years ago, but I had a similar conversation with my sister. There was some daytime drama on, (might be Passions), and I ask "what is this about?" She talked about midgets and witches and I just gave her a very brotherly judgmental look, and she just shamelessly put her head down and started laug... | This was probably 10-15 years ago, but I had a similar conversation with my sister. There was some daytime drama on, (might be Passions), and I ask "what is this about?" She talked about midgets and witches and I just gave her a very brotherly judgmental look, and she just shamelessly put her head down and started laug... | [
"Summary: time goes by faster than you think.\n\nPost: You have this pressure from family and society to grow up, graduate, pay taxes, and get married. Simply because that's what every else does. A lot of people get married without ever supporting themselves or living on their own. They end up pledging their li... | 16 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 5 |
internet_sage | Generate the content for a reddit post In 17 years, it is unlikely that large-scale weather patterns will be statistically linked to climate change. While we're starting to get there, that's still too short of a time frame.
It takes more than 17 years to impact climate. Thus, saying "if we don't do something these ... | Again, you are completely missing the argument.
The article says doom and gloom in 17 years if we don't address climate change. It's way too late for that. There is nothing we can do at the current time save some massive geoengineering that will impact the world within the next 17 years. What is done is done. The ent... | Again, you are completely missing the argument.
The article says doom and gloom in 17 years if we don't address climate change. It's way too late for that. There is nothing we can do at the current time save some massive geoengineering that will impact the world within the next 17 years. What is done is done. The ent... | [
"Summary: Make it simple, make it fun, say yes, murder, mayhem, and all that jazz.\n\nPost: I'm not a fan of a lot of the posters here. They mean well, but they don't know what they're talking about. \n Don't split the huge one-shot. \n For a regular campaign, sure. 10 is way too many. But for a one-shot? Fucking a... | 23 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 6 |
SoWhatComesNext | Generate the content for a reddit post A fancy car repair shop is getting into Wrangler modifications and wants to know what you want/need out of a shop.
EDIT: If y'all would, could you provide an approximate amount of how much you have spent on your Wrangler? I'd really like to put together a presentation to knock t... | Hey everyone,
I recently started working as a service advisor at a high end used car dealership. They opened an on site repair shop about 6 months ago, and I'm the only advisor here, so I more or less set the precedent on how things are handled.
The owner of the dealership has somewhat realized that there is a big ... | Hey everyone,
I recently started working as a service advisor at a high end used car dealership. They opened an on site repair shop about 6 months ago, and I'm the only advisor here, so I more or less set the precedent on how things are handled.
The owner of the dealership has somewhat realized that there is a big ... | [
"Summary: my opinion on the matter is emotionally biased due to being personally affected by the current situation in the country, along with family influence from growing up in different countries. If I am mistaken, I do have an open mind so long as there is genuine open discussion and a genuine, factual attempt m... | 46 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 7 |
zeusa1mighty | Generate the content for a reddit post Bitstamp hack scared everyone.
Edit; Also BFL | My theory;
Bitstamp hack and subsequent shutdown bottled up sell pressure that already existed, as bitcoin was in a gentle slide caused by no new buyers and mining coins increasing supply. Once Bitstamp got online, people were hesitant to sell because MtGox burned a lot of people after their "Hack". When withdrawal... | My theory;
Bitstamp hack and subsequent shutdown bottled up sell pressure that already existed, as bitcoin was in a gentle slide caused by no new buyers and mining coins increasing supply. Once Bitstamp got online, people were hesitant to sell because MtGox burned a lot of people after their "Hack". When withdrawal... | [
"Summary: Screw the pooch and blame someone else.\n\nPost: The problem as I see it is that we DO need to spend, but we already spent all of our reserves and need to borrow to do it. That wasn't Keyne's original hypothesis. Spending during recession should be financed by saving during booms. We didn't do that and... | 16 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 8 |
Romanticon | Generate the content for a reddit post I discovered the secret wormhole to infinite sandwiches. The wormhole eventually closed, but not before I'd eaten my fill.
Edit: Wow, I am glad that people enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for the submission to /r/bestof (validated as a Redditor!), ... | Time to shine!
Back in high school, my buddies and I, being the cool seniors that we were, would leave campus for lunch (yay open campus policy) and go to our town's local food court. Here there were many different lunch options, including greasy pizza, salty Chinese food, and best of all, Arbys.
I loved Arbys. B... | Time to shine!
Back in high school, my buddies and I, being the cool seniors that we were, would leave campus for lunch (yay open campus policy) and go to our town's local food court. Here there were many different lunch options, including greasy pizza, salty Chinese food, and best of all, Arbys.
I loved Arbys. B... | [
"Summary: I have the self-control of a four-year-old, or perhaps an especially stupid springer spaniel.\n\nPost: A couple weeks ago, I went out shopping for groceries. This is, as most adults consider it, a rather dull but not entirely unpleasant chore. \n I was nearly done when, in the frozen foods aisle, I found... | 41 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 9 |
Silent331 | Generate the content for a reddit post Currently school is catalyst for various stories and the non school world doesn't have this catalyst. | Im 21. I go to college and I drink very dark beers, extra stouts mostly. Enough about me, well I guess not. Alot of the stories do come from the younger ponies because of their situation. School is a popularity contest where the only decider if where you are on the social hieriacy of school is your ability to move up t... | Im 21. I go to college and I drink very dark beers, extra stouts mostly. Enough about me, well I guess not. Alot of the stories do come from the younger ponies because of their situation. School is a popularity contest where the only decider if where you are on the social hieriacy of school is your ability to move up t... | [
"Summary: SC will not about what ships you own, but what you accomplish with those ships.\n\nPost: This comment is money. I too miss the early days of wow, trivializing the 'grind' to get everyone where the want to be right away takes away from the connection to your character and the game. While wow and SC will no... | 30 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 10 |
cobysev | Generate the content for a reddit post Once I was able to calm the pain in my heart and really take a look at HER, I realized she wasn't what I wanted in a relationship. | Lots of time, patience, and rejection.
I once dated a girl I had been crushing on for a long time. It didn't work out, she dumped me, and I pined after her for months. I never longed for a girl as badly as I did this one.
Had she had her way, I would've never seen her again. But her mother really liked me and of... | Lots of time, patience, and rejection.
I once dated a girl I had been crushing on for a long time. It didn't work out, she dumped me, and I pined after her for months. I never longed for a girl as badly as I did this one.
Had she had her way, I would've never seen her again. But her mother really liked me and of... | [
"Summary: read previous paragraph\n\nPost: Military I.T. guy here. The first month I was at my first military base, it was December '02 and everything was closed for the holidays. I was told to enjoy my month off and in-processing would begin in mid-January. \n I was in Japan! There was so much to see! So much ... | 161 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 11 |
Mortons_Spork | Generate the content for a reddit post FFXIV has a lot going for it, but immersion in it's story and scenery isn't really one of them. | Disclaimer: I like this game, a lot and should probably stop being surprised that I am enjoying it so much. Usually I lose interest in most other MMOs before I go back to WoW or trying something else new in hopes it will hold my attention. But I really think this might be "the game" that I stick with for many years to ... | Disclaimer: I like this game, a lot and should probably stop being surprised that I am enjoying it so much. Usually I lose interest in most other MMOs before I go back to WoW or trying something else new in hopes it will hold my attention. But I really think this might be "the game" that I stick with for many years to ... | [
"Summary: Someone else said it best in another MMO-related threat but basically cash shops in these games will always be an opportunity cost to devs who will either produce content for players to earn by you know, actually playing or.. view it as another way to just make some more money by letting them buy it.\n\nP... | 162 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 12 |
solomute | Generate the content for a reddit post you only have special cable for DMX because DMX is very picky about its cables. Audio doesn't give a fuck and any old cable will work fine. | DMX cable will work just fine for audio, audio doesn't care about cable impedance in the same way that DMX does because a) it operates at much lower frequencies, so reflections and the like due to impedance mismatches just don't affect you as much, b) audio isn't generally trying to daisy chain multiple devices in para... | DMX cable will work just fine for audio, audio doesn't care about cable impedance in the same way that DMX does because a) it operates at much lower frequencies, so reflections and the like due to impedance mismatches just don't affect you as much, b) audio isn't generally trying to daisy chain multiple devices in para... | [
"Summary: I think you can save your money and be pretty good for your gig, as long as you're a good MON and know what your artist wants to hear. The JH16s sound fucking amazing though.\n\nPost: Oh man, I feel you. I bought my JH16s when they had their 20% off Black Friday sale, and I was like \"I'm gonna need these... | 47 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 13 |
JiForce | Generate the content for a reddit post 150 is fine. | Depending on the market and type of fit, $150 for a fit could be pretty good.
For an eyeball and plumbob job, I'd say it's too much, but if they're swapping stems and measuring angles and all that fun stuff, it's not a bad deal. Additionally, fits may just cost more in OP's area (college town) than in some random pla... | Depending on the market and type of fit, $150 for a fit could be pretty good.
For an eyeball and plumbob job, I'd say it's too much, but if they're swapping stems and measuring angles and all that fun stuff, it's not a bad deal. Additionally, fits may just cost more in OP's area (college town) than in some random pla... | [
"Summary: Bottom barrel generic bike with terrible build quality. Don't do it- save up or buy a respectable bike used. \n Also, if you're looking at fixed gear bikes, try visiting r/fixedgearbicycle. There's quite a few threads about first bikes, and failing that, feel free to ask some questions too. \n Good luck i... | 20 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 14 |
ncshooter426 | Generate the content for a reddit post We actually look at these constantly. You are helping by submitting. Would you like to know more?
--James @ MSFT | Actually, when you send data its VERY valuable. All the data transmitted ends up in different buckets. Based on the volume and span of time of an issue, those buckets get different priorities of review by the WinSE (Sustained Engineering) or other teams. Example:
Let's say Reddit.exe had a new version go out today. I... | Actually, when you send data its VERY valuable. All the data transmitted ends up in different buckets. Based on the volume and span of time of an issue, those buckets get different priorities of review by the WinSE (Sustained Engineering) or other teams. Example:
Let's say Reddit.exe had a new version go out today. I... | [
"Summary: My comment stands in the context in which it was written (ie: the topic of toner-phoners and their avenues)\n\nPost: These are toner-phoners. Get someone to agree, send out shit product at high prices. It is almost impossible to enforce a verbal contract, and it's also into the realm of wiretapping (depen... | 18 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 15 |
rosconotorigina | Generate the content for a reddit post It took me 1 year to escape but, it takes you only 5 minutes to read.
>EDIT : Thanks for all your support guys! It's been 4 years since I escaped, so I had plenty of time to rebuild my life, and to find a job. I work right now as a Pentester, Programmer and a skater, which is mo... | I hate those prisons. I truly hate them. I'm really sorry you had to go through what I went... I guess I'll share my story, and hopefuly I'll make some people realize that these camps are... more than evil.
>As a kid I really denied any form of authority. I often harrased teachers, and the idea of a great man in the ... | I hate those prisons. I truly hate them. I'm really sorry you had to go through what I went... I guess I'll share my story, and hopefuly I'll make some people realize that these camps are... more than evil.
>As a kid I really denied any form of authority. I often harrased teachers, and the idea of a great man in the ... | [
"Summary: Great rage comic, 10/10, thank you for reminding me that there is no hope for mankind.\n\nPost: I used to think \"if only the atheists were in charge, then there would be no more petty bickering over dogma and it would be a golden age of reason.\" Then I read /r/atheism. \"Hey guys a friend of a friend sa... | 17 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 16 |
Cananbaum | Generate the content for a reddit post My mother is very sick and I am tired of taking her to the E.R. for pills she won't even take. So I am wondering if trees would be good for her depression and pain..?
THIS IS WHERE I NEED HELP : With her C.O.P.D and asthma I know inhalation would not be the greatest idea for her... | A little back story if I may (you don't have to read this part - you can skip to the bottom, get to the point); 2 years ago my mother became disabled through illness and in the past 2 years I have watched her go from an independent woman able to run a hotel to a woman wasting away in bed only really being able to liste... | A little back story if I may (you don't have to read this part - you can skip to the bottom, get to the point); 2 years ago my mother became disabled through illness and in the past 2 years I have watched her go from an independent woman able to run a hotel to a woman wasting away in bed only really being able to liste... | [
"Summary: I had a teacher that assigned us month long eco-friendly projects. I became a vegetarian for a month, and yet she kept failing what ever I did in regards to the project to the point I got my parents permission to fail the class.\n\nPost: I think one of the worse was Ms. Z. I should have known she was trou... | 22 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 17 |
nmcotton | Generate the content for a reddit post What is your mindset when you solo carry a game? | Heya r/summonerschool, after my nolife summer grind to plat, I haven't really been playing much and I've lost my edge. I never was good at carrying being a jungle/support main all the way to plat. I kinda just set up plays for my team to carry me. My mechanics are decent and I know that I'm capable of carrying games, b... | Heya r/summonerschool, after my nolife summer grind to plat, I haven't really been playing much and I've lost my edge. I never was good at carrying being a jungle/support main all the way to plat. I kinda just set up plays for my team to carry me. My mechanics are decent and I know that I'm capable of carrying games, b... | [
"Summary: focus on only last hitting and keeping the enemy wave just slightly larger than yours. when your wave dies, tank the enemy minions until your next wave comes.\n\nPost: Okay, apologies in advance for the wall of text that's about to ensue. \n Wave manipulation is a relatively tough thing to understand at f... | 15 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 18 |
agentapelsin | Generate the content for a reddit post If you tell me I have to blur out the URL I will. | you can see this guy is no stranger to spamming his affiliate link to atheist forums:
I don't think we are in much danger of being accused of not making the effort here.
If you think that redacting the GSHMP from the URL in the screenshot is really necessary, then I will blur it out and update the image link.
I'm... | you can see this guy is no stranger to spamming his affiliate link to atheist forums:
I don't think we are in much danger of being accused of not making the effort here.
If you think that redacting the GSHMP from the URL in the screenshot is really necessary, then I will blur it out and update the image link.
I'm... | [
"Summary: It is not your fault that this businessman made a poor business decision. \n 12 months is a long time to find a new place, but I doubt it will come to that.\n\nPost: If I were you i would tell him to politely shove his rental increase. \n You may well get a 12 month eviction notice but you underestimate h... | 37 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 19 |
oorza | Generate the content for a reddit post Sona is most effective in ARAM spamming skills + power chords + Lich Bane... 40% CDR off Athene's + Morellonomicon and a Lich Bane make more sense than a tear for ARAM. | It's because Sona gains nothing from having a large mana pool versus mana regen. A champion like Karthus, Maokai or Anivia has an immediate and obvious benefit to having a large mana pool from their DoTs, and there are champions like Nidalee and Heimerdinger that require a super large mana pool because of low cooldown... | It's because Sona gains nothing from having a large mana pool versus mana regen. A champion like Karthus, Maokai or Anivia has an immediate and obvious benefit to having a large mana pool from their DoTs, and there are champions like Nidalee and Heimerdinger that require a super large mana pool because of low cooldown... | [
"Summary: you're comparing game manager type QBs with one of the most dynamic QBs in history - which is unfair to everyone involved.\n\nPost: The QBs you've mentioned (Romo, Schaub, Hasselback) are nowhere near as important to the offensive system they're in as any team Vick is going to be playing on. The Cowboys,... | 18 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 20 |
my_cat_joe | Generate the content for a reddit post take LSD. | Sorry it took me so long to reply to this. Busy weekend.
You're absolutely right. I don't know enough about RCs or the RC community. That's one of the reasons I read r/drugs.
Yes, research chemicals once meant that, but it doesn't any longer. Unless you have a lab and some monkeys, you aren't fooling anyone. You ar... | Sorry it took me so long to reply to this. Busy weekend.
You're absolutely right. I don't know enough about RCs or the RC community. That's one of the reasons I read r/drugs.
Yes, research chemicals once meant that, but it doesn't any longer. Unless you have a lab and some monkeys, you aren't fooling anyone. You ar... | [
"Summary: I'll go to your damn restaurant if you ask me, but I'm going to pester the manager there to get some better beer.\n\nPost: Well, you asked the question. I'm responding. This is my opinion. I didn't mean to sound harsh about it or anything, but personally I don't have infinite funds for eating out. When I ... | 17 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 21 |
itsfreedomstupid | Generate the content for a reddit post Libertarians don't pretend to have all the answers, only theories on some potential solutions. But in the end, it is the libertarian position that the ends do not justify the means. | Questions like this are most certainly valid. However, I do want to highlight that the libertarian position is driven by morals vs outcomes. The problems with basing actions on what one perceives to be the outcome are 1) the outcome is only theory and side effects are usually not accounted for and 2) focusing on the ... | Questions like this are most certainly valid. However, I do want to highlight that the libertarian position is driven by morals vs outcomes. The problems with basing actions on what one perceives to be the outcome are 1) the outcome is only theory and side effects are usually not accounted for and 2) focusing on the ... | [
"Summary: Be careful how many \"brain shutdown\" triggers you allow. Mental shortcuts and labels are the enemy of critical thinking.\n\nPost: Whenever I'm talking politics with someone, and they bring up the NWO and Illuminati, my brain just shuts down. \n I'd be very careful about this. Sure, we can all agree th... | 17 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 22 |
lollyopple | Generate the content for a reddit post People are stupid and will sue for their own stupidity. | Obligatory IANALB - My mother is.
My mom started out doing personal injury - she worked for a few insurance companies, doing litigation related to people suing Company X for liability to cover medical expenses. Sounds great, right?
Anyway, she had some good stories - here are a few favorites:
1) The Slippery Str... | Obligatory IANALB - My mother is.
My mom started out doing personal injury - she worked for a few insurance companies, doing litigation related to people suing Company X for liability to cover medical expenses. Sounds great, right?
Anyway, she had some good stories - here are a few favorites:
1) The Slippery Str... | [
"Summary: Stay Classy, NYC.\n\nPost: Had a great one a few weeks ago - I'm minding my own business, standing outside a bar near 23rd and 3rd in NYC. I'm on the phone with my mother and I'm looking down the block. I see a very large drunk black man saunter-staggering down the street in a jacket and pants, jacket's o... | 20 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 23 |
anonslore112 | Generate the content for a reddit post Try to revise so that characters are a mix of yourself, the people you know, and your imagination. | I don't see this as much of a problem, as it would lead to the character being easier to relate to and more interesting simply because you can accurately express all the complexities.
If it really does bother you, though, I have a suggestion. I would say in my story, the central character is me, in a way, but she doe... | I don't see this as much of a problem, as it would lead to the character being easier to relate to and more interesting simply because you can accurately express all the complexities.
If it really does bother you, though, I have a suggestion. I would say in my story, the central character is me, in a way, but she doe... | [
"Summary: Much like picture above, hawk struck window outside my house, was immobile from neck down, died after about an hour.\n\nPost: Something similar to the situation in the picture happened to me, though. A hawk struck a big window on my back porch (which smaller birds died on all the time - I lived out in the... | 21 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 24 |
re_mix | Generate the content for a reddit post Quitting FT job on 9th of Nov. Starting FT at the PT job Thanksgiving week. Getting bartending job for new PT job. More school stuff I'm excited about. Yay. | D: I'm so sorry for your pain. My sister had that awhile back. It sucked. So to distract...
Right now I work two jobs; one fulltime (at a clinic) and one parttime (in retail). I can't stand my FT job because it's not a challenge to me. I get bored (and obviously am on reddit all the time). Then my PT job... I actuall... | D: I'm so sorry for your pain. My sister had that awhile back. It sucked. So to distract...
Right now I work two jobs; one fulltime (at a clinic) and one parttime (in retail). I can't stand my FT job because it's not a challenge to me. I get bored (and obviously am on reddit all the time). Then my PT job... I actuall... | [
"Summary: I am sorry.\n\nPost: I guess I just want to say, I'm truly sorry for getting drunk by the end of the bomb. I realize now it was completely wrong of me but at the time, I had a lot going on in my real life that I was trying to take the edge off. It was too much and I am very sorry for any discomfort I caus... | 15 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 25 |
platoandfriends | Generate the content for a reddit post Riding without gear? Not even once. | It always looks so attractive, but it's never worth it. I remember when I first bought my bike, feeling like leathers and gloves were too much but sticking it out and wearing them even in the heat. 'Surely', I thought on a particularly hot day as I was leaving to go to my GFs, 'one time isn't going to do me any damage?... | It always looks so attractive, but it's never worth it. I remember when I first bought my bike, feeling like leathers and gloves were too much but sticking it out and wearing them even in the heat. 'Surely', I thought on a particularly hot day as I was leaving to go to my GFs, 'one time isn't going to do me any damage?... | [
"Summary: my last sentence.\n\nPost: Wait, what? Did you read my two posts? Both times, all I was saying was that \n >There is a real distinction between impulse and action in reality. \n You were actually talking about the meaning of the word 'condemnation'. I was saying that's word-play, not my comment. \n >So it... | 18 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 26 |
Chinaroos | Generate the content for a reddit post I was caught in a riptide at 7 years old and tossed back to shore by a person who still to this day remains unknown. | I must have been around 7 or 8 years old, but it's been so long I don't even remember.
I had gone to the beach with my family and a mutual friend. Of course me being the adventrous little asshole I was, I wandered out away from my parents to get some good old fashioned ocean swimming in.
I was swimming for a good 1... | I must have been around 7 or 8 years old, but it's been so long I don't even remember.
I had gone to the beach with my family and a mutual friend. Of course me being the adventrous little asshole I was, I wandered out away from my parents to get some good old fashioned ocean swimming in.
I was swimming for a good 1... | [
"Summary: At 8 years old, I danced with a demon.\n\nPost: When I was little, maybe 7 or 8, my house had a huge mirror in the hallway. The mirror covered a set of sliding closet doors where we kept all of our beach stuff when we weren't using it. \n Well on this particular night, my parents had long since fallen asl... | 25 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 27 |
masshole4life | Generate the content for a reddit post get out of that habit before it comes back to bite you (or the poor bastard who gets stuck with the bill). If you do this at the wrong house you will be mortified at the results. | A cautionary tale for you:
In high school i had a friend who lived in a house with an older toilet. They flushed everything from tampons to socks (don't ask) without a problem.
Then they renovated the bathroom, toilet and all. Within the first 3 months they had a plumber over at least 3 times, to the tune of almo... | A cautionary tale for you:
In high school i had a friend who lived in a house with an older toilet. They flushed everything from tampons to socks (don't ask) without a problem.
Then they renovated the bathroom, toilet and all. Within the first 3 months they had a plumber over at least 3 times, to the tune of almo... | [
"Summary: it's bullshit\n\nPost: A high school in my city just assigned 2 police there complete with their own office due to the administration suddenly losing control. \n It's really a political thing here, I can't speak for the school in the story. It's about a bunch of rustled jimmies over pay and leadership th... | 22 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 28 |
dickdarlington | Generate the content for a reddit post Apartment complex in Georgia "lost" my ex-girlfriend's notice of not renewing her lease agreement; put an eviction notice on her record. Loss at what next steps are. | I live in Nevada, so I apologize in advance that I don't know what Georgia's laws are like in regards to renters' rights.
My ex-girlfriend ( who currently lives with me ) just applied to rent a condominium, but she got a call back this afternoon from the property management company that she has an eviction notice on ... | I live in Nevada, so I apologize in advance that I don't know what Georgia's laws are like in regards to renters' rights.
My ex-girlfriend ( who currently lives with me ) just applied to rent a condominium, but she got a call back this afternoon from the property management company that she has an eviction notice on ... | [
"Summary: Don't bitch and moan because you don't want to wait in a line to get seats for a sold out show.\n\nPost: I down voted you and here's why: \n I saw The Dark Knight Rises in its full 15/70 IMAX glory twice this weekend; once at the 12:01am showing on Thursday night and again at the 7:45pm showing the next n... | 20 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 29 |
Kesuke | Generate the content for a reddit post I have no sympathy for Notch because people are interested in the life which he flouts openly online... I do however have a lot of sympathy for him over the way he has been idolised as something larger than life, and put on a pedestal to almost inevitably fail in the eyes of some ... | Such are the consequences of your fledgling company earning $100 million USD in its second year of operation...
Notch isn't ashamed to use his internet presence and maintains a blog and an extremely active twitter account. Getting upset about people being interested in your life, when you push it into the public doma... | Such are the consequences of your fledgling company earning $100 million USD in its second year of operation...
Notch isn't ashamed to use his internet presence and maintains a blog and an extremely active twitter account. Getting upset about people being interested in your life, when you push it into the public doma... | [
"Summary: Just becasue you don't use a British doctor in Britain, doesn't necessarily mean the UK doesn't pay for it.\n\nPost: No you don't understand - it works one of two ways; \n 1) Either you are resident in the UK, in which case even if you require care in Sweden the costs will be billed to the UK - and by e... | 83 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 30 |
rek | Generate the content for a reddit post ExileStats gogo!](
Start to finish (well nowhere near finished) this was a 24 hour project. Consider it a sketch, or proof of concept, for some of my ideas. I'll be expanding it a lot more and adding more of the fun stuff soon - most my time was spent setting up the back end. I... | Path of Exile is awesome . I haven't had this much fun with a game in a while. Yesterday I tried to join an hour late in the 3 hour solo race but ended up dying to a desync in the forest. My short run experience motivated me to start a Path of Exile project which I'm calling ExileStats. Some of you may remember me fro... | Path of Exile is awesome . I haven't had this much fun with a game in a while. Yesterday I tried to join an hour late in the 3 hour solo race but ended up dying to a desync in the forest. My short run experience motivated me to start a Path of Exile project which I'm calling ExileStats. Some of you may remember me fro... | [
"Summary: online dating lol. \n My sister is happily married to someone she met online though, so I guess it can work.\n\nPost: I've made the mistake of meeting someone from the internet before. Well, actually, I've met a ton of people from the internet before but they were just friends (my best friends are people ... | 15 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 31 |
Iron-Fist | Generate the content for a reddit post Yes, it is supremely frustrating when even the best can't do anything. For another example, look for a BW game TvZ on the map Polaris Rhapsody. | Idra is soooo good. SOOOOO good. And he was damn near powerless in these games. He played flawlessly, there was nothing he could have done better. His build hard countered the reaper opening as hard as is possible. His micro was impeccable and conservative. He didn't lose a SINGLE DRONE to reapers any of the games, des... | Idra is soooo good. SOOOOO good. And he was damn near powerless in these games. He played flawlessly, there was nothing he could have done better. His build hard countered the reaper opening as hard as is possible. His micro was impeccable and conservative. He didn't lose a SINGLE DRONE to reapers any of the games, des... | [
"Summary: Knowing the potential timing attacks and how to follow up is what makes a decent player good, IMO.\n\nPost: I've been #1 in my plat league for the past week, a very frustrating state of affairs. \n I started winning when i started learning what to expect, when to expect it, and what I can get away with. I... | 18 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 32 |
DigitalHeadSet | Generate the content for a reddit post I suggest Name of the wind if you're <18, Malazan if you're older. WoT is great, but i think it suits a younger reader, but as its almost finished, you kind of missed the chance to read it as it came out, so you can read it at leisure while waiting for KKC.
Edit: oh my god thats... | Kind of depends ho old you are, i reckon. Im not sure if i would enjoy WoT if i started it now (in my mid 20s), as i did when i was 14. Its kind of innocent and straight forward. Thats not to say i dont enjoy the new ones, i love them, but its partly because i am already invested and attached to the characters and stor... | Kind of depends ho old you are, i reckon. Im not sure if i would enjoy WoT if i started it now (in my mid 20s), as i did when i was 14. Its kind of innocent and straight forward. Thats not to say i dont enjoy the new ones, i love them, but its partly because i am already invested and attached to the characters and stor... | [
"Summary: i would do this differently.\n\nPost: I wanted to expand on my middle paragraph, how i would enter this market. \n -> Develop and produce a nutrient rich syrup/paste/powder that can be added to home blended fruit smoothies to enhance nutritional value and whatever other aspects are important to the cleans... | 36 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 33 |
Autsin | Generate the content for a reddit post It's probably best to just keep your prayers on the DL. I'd suggest not posting them to fb. | Do you guys feel that Facebook prayers are today's version of this
Yes. It's usually best to keep prayers private. Share them with an individual person or pray aloud in small groups, but writing prayers on your facebook walls is quite literally doing it "to be seen by other people." Even if your motivation is good, I... | Do you guys feel that Facebook prayers are today's version of this
Yes. It's usually best to keep prayers private. Share them with an individual person or pray aloud in small groups, but writing prayers on your facebook walls is quite literally doing it "to be seen by other people." Even if your motivation is good, I... | [
"Summary: r/Christianity is awesome with a few bad apples.\n\nPost: r/Christianity is an excellent subreddit. Most people are really friendly, thoughtful, and intelligent. When teenagers or new Christians (or non-Christians) post, they are engaged with kindness and tact. It's a great place overall. I see users on /... | 42 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 34 |
aboucher089 | Generate the content for a reddit post Apparently my parents have a really effed up history of dating one another. | My mom was 9 months pregnant when my parents married. My father apparently proposed in a drunken stuper that he didn't remember in the morning (thank goodness they actually loved each other and had for many years prior). Also, my mother was married to another man for a couple years before marrying my father and my fath... | My mom was 9 months pregnant when my parents married. My father apparently proposed in a drunken stuper that he didn't remember in the morning (thank goodness they actually loved each other and had for many years prior). Also, my mother was married to another man for a couple years before marrying my father and my fath... | [
"Summary: Saw the movie, not read the book, how do they compare?\n\nPost: Let me know what you think of the movie after! How does it compare to the book? \n Amazon has been telling me to buy this book for about a year and I never did, the little blurb on Amazon just made it sound uninteresting. Well, now the movie ... | 16 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 35 |
ChitterChitterSqueak | Generate the content for a reddit post Odd behaviour for your dragon is odd but not outside the realm of normal for other dragons. No illness to worry about as far as I can see. PS: She's adorable. | Kicking feet like that seems to be a tickle response. All of mine have done that. It could be something made their foot itch/tickle/feel weird. The earlier kick was her trying to scratch higher. The one around 2 minutes looks like a similar thing but differently aimed. Since she's not normally so into baths I'd just sa... | Kicking feet like that seems to be a tickle response. All of mine have done that. It could be something made their foot itch/tickle/feel weird. The earlier kick was her trying to scratch higher. The one around 2 minutes looks like a similar thing but differently aimed. Since she's not normally so into baths I'd just sa... | [
"Summary: viv laps/glass dancing, crazy jump, climbing mom to traveling down the stairs, culminating in a massive shit at the bottom.\n\nPost: My Odahviing (a year Nov last) didn't full brumate. She would lazy for a couple days then come out for food a day then not eat the next. I'd bathe her. She'd poop. Back to l... | 24 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 36 |
yawnlikeyoumeanit | Generate the content for a reddit post You're right, in a way, but it's much more complicated than that, and often outside of the realm of conscious control. This is why when addicts quit, they often require a behavioural therapy component to their detox/rehab efforts- a conscious effort to control what is an unconsci... | Simple genetic expression (just genes, not introns and junk DNA) is governed by environmental factors in addition to biological factors. (Also, a bit of an aside, but keep in mind the very recent discovery that "junk DNA" actually controls aspects of homeostasis and biological function (from what I read the implicatio... | Simple genetic expression (just genes, not introns and junk DNA) is governed by environmental factors in addition to biological factors. (Also, a bit of an aside, but keep in mind the very recent discovery that "junk DNA" actually controls aspects of homeostasis and biological function (from what I read the implicatio... | [
"Summary: painful, boring, worth it\n\nPost: PHIL 210 was not a fun class by any means, but the concepts definitely have been useful (I took it in the fall term, am just finishing up my summer term for U0). Your progress is definitely hindered by the need to go through a kind of \"a-ha!\" moment for some things, an... | 22 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 37 |
NoeticIntelligence | Generate the content for a reddit post Lets get a more efficient system in place to post anonymously to reddit. Different from having thousands and thousands of throw away accounts created that are indistinguishable from regular accounts. | Over at Ask.Metafilter they have an option where a user can request that the post be made anonymous. This requires approval from a moderator.
In order to post I think you still need to send them $5 to
"validate" your account. Which cuts down on spam and imposes
a mild barrier for people to create lots of throw aw... | Over at Ask.Metafilter they have an option where a user can request that the post be made anonymous. This requires approval from a moderator.
In order to post I think you still need to send them $5 to
"validate" your account. Which cuts down on spam and imposes
a mild barrier for people to create lots of throw aw... | [
"Summary: Whilst parents may act like its the greatest thing because of pressure from society. I dont think they really feel that way when alone and honest.\n\nPost: It goes wider than that I believe. \n Recent research has shown that [couples without children are happier]( Its just one study so its not very concl... | 22 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 38 |
tryify | Generate the content for a reddit post Pessimists get fat, optimists get muscle. This is also a gross simplification. | I would argue that energy conversion to fat instead of muscle may have resulted from stress and the inability to foresee possible avenues for energy expenditure, with the converse being conversion to muscle, meaning an individual has encountered recent past success with their energy expenditures, and are likely to agai... | I would argue that energy conversion to fat instead of muscle may have resulted from stress and the inability to foresee possible avenues for energy expenditure, with the converse being conversion to muscle, meaning an individual has encountered recent past success with their energy expenditures, and are likely to agai... | [
"Summary: Monogamy is not actually for most humans.\n\nPost: If it makes you feel any better, in a self-reported survey I think around 40% of men and women cheat on their spouses within about 6 years or so of their marriage, with women cheating on average... I believe 3 years in, and men cheating 4 years in. \n So ... | 31 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 39 |
Honztastic | Generate the content for a reddit post Whore likes douche dick and doesn't like people knowing about it. | Some people panic for no reason. Some people can play smooth and weasel out of a situation where they were caught redhanded.
Most people are feel guilty and shamed when they do something wrong. Especially when they get nominally caught because they're worried about actually being caught.
Cholo boy trying to be al... | Some people panic for no reason. Some people can play smooth and weasel out of a situation where they were caught redhanded.
Most people are feel guilty and shamed when they do something wrong. Especially when they get nominally caught because they're worried about actually being caught.
Cholo boy trying to be al... | [
"Summary: Rapists are, of course, to blame. But maybe being a whore, dressing the part, and hanging out in bad neighborhoods makes you partly to blame.\n\nPost: Exactly. How many times are rapists characterized as thinking/saying \"she wanted it\" or something similar. That comes from dressing slutty. \n I have no ... | 15 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 40 |
llamagoelz | Generate the content for a reddit post take the reigns and start being a better happier person and COMMUNICATE, dont stew and lash out or give the cold shoulder. | im not trying to deny the validity of your point but should you really be making such sweeping generalizations? and what is this nonsense about "love" and "in love"...
the best advice for people who feel this way is to talk it out with their SO, communication is key (yes this is a played out line but seriously think ... | im not trying to deny the validity of your point but should you really be making such sweeping generalizations? and what is this nonsense about "love" and "in love"...
the best advice for people who feel this way is to talk it out with their SO, communication is key (yes this is a played out line but seriously think ... | [
"Summary: this is a great monitor that many people LOVE and any problems that it seems to have with making nice with graphics cards (this is what i suspect makes it so cheap) can be easily fixed if not altogether ignored. its probably the best deal you will find\n\nPost: THIS . The reviews are great for it and its ... | 35 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 41 |
Khue | Generate the content for a reddit post The 'cloud' is a cool concept, but ultimately just another C-level bauble that will get forced down peoples throats. | VOIP, Virtualization, and Cloud... all three things that CIOs are haphazardly introduced to at various periods in time over the last 10 years. The VOIP thing promised huge savings in monthly bills but the articles really abstracted the amount of up front cost. End result: no net gain, no net loss to the bottom line so,... | VOIP, Virtualization, and Cloud... all three things that CIOs are haphazardly introduced to at various periods in time over the last 10 years. The VOIP thing promised huge savings in monthly bills but the articles really abstracted the amount of up front cost. End result: no net gain, no net loss to the bottom line so,... | [
"Summary: Verify that the Cat5 you are messing with isn't being used for anything.\n\nPost: Are you sure that nothing is running over it? I say this because in my younger years, I actually managed to take out all the phones in my parents house because I messed with Cat5 that ran through the house. \n When my parent... | 35 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 42 |
CptBoots | Generate the content for a reddit post Religion is an infomatic entity, not a physical entity of any kind. | I would agree to a point, but I would not call this 'genetic'. Simply because it is enforced as a supplement to a genetic line of evolution. Religious philosophy, like non-religious philosophy are more memetic than genetic. while it arises from the genetic potential of the species it is a multi-human entity. Every thou... | I would agree to a point, but I would not call this 'genetic'. Simply because it is enforced as a supplement to a genetic line of evolution. Religious philosophy, like non-religious philosophy are more memetic than genetic. while it arises from the genetic potential of the species it is a multi-human entity. Every thou... | [
"Summary: I think that the war with the genetically modified humans (which I think is before first contact with the Vulcans) causes an inadvertent psychological change evolutionarily, because of how many humans die and the traits of a warrior versus an artist or engineer. Just an idea.\n\nPost: Also there is a war ... | 21 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 43 |
yourgaybestfriend | Generate the content for a reddit post it's only pretty recently that straight men have had to hide their extramarital sex. women, as property, have been hiding it all along. | This, like all conversations about the sexual behavior of 'gay vs straight', forgets the history of sexual social constructs. Men have been more than openly going outside of their marriages for millennia. Romans, for example, thought it was hilarious for any man to love his wife, let alone have sex with only her. Men, ... | This, like all conversations about the sexual behavior of 'gay vs straight', forgets the history of sexual social constructs. Men have been more than openly going outside of their marriages for millennia. Romans, for example, thought it was hilarious for any man to love his wife, let alone have sex with only her. Men, ... | [
"Summary: Penetration isn't really all that great for women without everything else, so yeah - scissoring is kind of a thing. I think. It also just occurred to me you might just be making a South Park reference. \n Either way.\n\nPost: It's more complicated than that. Vaginal orgaisms are kind of a myth - it's most... | 23 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 44 |
breadrising | Generate the content for a reddit post Its fun. | I, for one, like the taste. I like how refreshing a cold beer is.
But for those who drink stuff they hate just to get drunk, well, I guess I can offer some insight on that too.
Imagine if someone said, "Here, lick this penny I found on the road. It'll be gross, but doing so before you walk into that party will ma... | I, for one, like the taste. I like how refreshing a cold beer is.
But for those who drink stuff they hate just to get drunk, well, I guess I can offer some insight on that too.
Imagine if someone said, "Here, lick this penny I found on the road. It'll be gross, but doing so before you walk into that party will ma... | [
"Summary: Did you expect to be in wicked shape after one day at the gym? It takes dedication and time. Its a slow gradual process, but stick with it, be smart, be honest with yourself, and do it right, and you will see results.\n\nPost: This post makes you sound someone who would show up to your first day of Ka... | 42 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 45 |
perverse_imp | Generate the content for a reddit post Sorry buddy, get a good safe and bolt that fucker down. Burglar resistant is a plus, but you'd be fine with a mild water and fire resistant safe that is rated for a few hours. | I feel for you man. Hell, the thief probably doesn't even know what he has. I'd keep an eye on craigslist listings and call up local pawn shops. Alert the police, ready insurance papers if you have them, or at least proof of purchase for those you have'em for.
Not to blame the victim here but if you had a sizable col... | I feel for you man. Hell, the thief probably doesn't even know what he has. I'd keep an eye on craigslist listings and call up local pawn shops. Alert the police, ready insurance papers if you have them, or at least proof of purchase for those you have'em for.
Not to blame the victim here but if you had a sizable col... | [
"Summary: You're fat and lazy and proud of it, full of hypocrisy and a self-righteous butt-hurt fatty-defender. Go lose some weight you poor delusional fool.\n\nPost: Hope to see you at the top. \"I'm fat and it offends you? Okay, I'll be proud of it then and piss you off further, because I'm a fatty and that's oka... | 16 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 46 |
effa94 | Generate the content for a reddit post does the powerlevel of his superpowers depend on his body, or is the theory that he has some sort of powerfield that bypases his bodily functions?
Also, last question. If it depends on his muscles, can He strain himself hard enough to hurt himself?
If no, is it casue his durab... | I know that superman uses his muscles to move around and such, but does his superstrength use his muscles? Or does it use solar energy in some way?
I mean, would a superman with the bodybuild that he has in Flashpoint be as strong as a normalshaped superman if they were exposed to the same amount of sunlight? If nor... | I know that superman uses his muscles to move around and such, but does his superstrength use his muscles? Or does it use solar energy in some way?
I mean, would a superman with the bodybuild that he has in Flashpoint be as strong as a normalshaped superman if they were exposed to the same amount of sunlight? If nor... | [
"Summary: would other humans starve cause u fed their blood to a vampire and not a human (since they turn the dead into food goo for the others) and would the benefit of a immortal vampire be enought?\n\nPost: But the vampire.needs a human to.die in order to feed. The question would be if the cost feeding the vampi... | 36 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 47 |
Spiral_flash_attack | Generate the content for a reddit post Yes, talking helps somethings, but sexual compatibility is also highly dependent on factors beyond either of your controls. Sex is just one part of a relationship though. | I don't agree with this. There are lots of aspects of sexual compatibility that can't be changed. You can't talk your way out of every problem, despite the panacea /r/sex touts it as.
Things like body features (boob, dick, vagina size), libido, fetishes. All of these are more or less how they are. You can't start lik... | I don't agree with this. There are lots of aspects of sexual compatibility that can't be changed. You can't talk your way out of every problem, despite the panacea /r/sex touts it as.
Things like body features (boob, dick, vagina size), libido, fetishes. All of these are more or less how they are. You can't start lik... | [
"Summary: PPD got destroyed in the drafts worse than I've ever seen anyone get destroyed in a draft. As a result RTZ and Fear couldn't do anything but farm and hope for a throw.\n\nPost: He does afk farm on stream a lot, but in these games that's all he could do. OD isn't going to show up to a gank or something wit... | 15 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 48 |
wonderful_wonton | Generate the content for a reddit post these subsidies don't seem to provide relief to students in the long run but wind end up funneled into higher administrative and executive pay in academia. | I would support this if there were any evidence that this provides relief to the students on a systemwide level. But as it is, I think it's been pretty clear that with each bump in aid to students, college tuition, fees and expenses increase to absorb the aid benefit.
So what happens is, the subsidies underwrite esc... | I would support this if there were any evidence that this provides relief to the students on a systemwide level. But as it is, I think it's been pretty clear that with each bump in aid to students, college tuition, fees and expenses increase to absorb the aid benefit.
So what happens is, the subsidies underwrite esc... | [
"Summary: 1) You're wrong, it's not a colloquialism and (2) you're wrong, its \"4-post bed\" when you specify post numbers and \"poster bed\" when the number of posts is unspecified. Tagged you as \"bumbling grammar nazi\".\n\nPost: I believe you're mistaken. It's not a colloquialism. \n It's more of a specialize... | 21 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 49 |
a_baby_coyote | Generate the content for a reddit post You can get a custom built desktop with a lot more power than a laptop within that pricerange, leaving money leftover for headphones or studio monitors or cheap DAW like REAPER.
A laptop within that pricerange will be less powerful, and leave less money leftover for goodies. | May I make the suggestion that if portability is not a large concern, that a desktop would allow a lot more mileage?
You can certainly score a respectable laptop within that range, and there are subreddits that can help you find one with the specs he would need, but it is most likely that will be all you can get as t... | May I make the suggestion that if portability is not a large concern, that a desktop would allow a lot more mileage?
You can certainly score a respectable laptop within that range, and there are subreddits that can help you find one with the specs he would need, but it is most likely that will be all you can get as t... | [
"Summary: Stop trying to convince him to change the way he looks for you. Tell him what you like, and let him make his own decisions about his appearance.\n\nPost: Let him make his own decision. I'm sure you've told him you would like to see him with one and that you think he would look outstanding with it, so just... | 21 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 50 |
Freakazette | Generate the content for a reddit post Just because a guy is doing his job doesn't mean he's not a complete douche outside of work. | I upvoted you. But it's fun story time!
My brother used to be a telemarketer. I have no sympathy for them. Sure, most of you people see my brother as a man who was doing his job - he was even only 18 at the time! But I've known my brother my whole life, and if anyone did this crap to him at work, it was karma. M... | I upvoted you. But it's fun story time!
My brother used to be a telemarketer. I have no sympathy for them. Sure, most of you people see my brother as a man who was doing his job - he was even only 18 at the time! But I've known my brother my whole life, and if anyone did this crap to him at work, it was karma. M... | [
"Summary: Scripting comics, need an artist BFF.\n\nPost: I script a lot of comics. I can't even afford to feed myself, so I really can't afford an artist (and I'm not even exaggerating on that one, my friend houses and feeds me because he found out I was living in a porta-potty). I literally cannot draw, and I re... | 90 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 51 |
Archammes | Generate the content for a reddit post More emphasis should be placed on personal financial responsibility than the notion of "living wage". I'm not going to feel sorry for minimum wage "career employees" about their pay until they can start getting my order right in the drive through and stop buying slushees and cand... | 1) True, but $1280 ($8 hr, 40 hr week) a month after tax is still more than she has.
2) She is not on SNAP, she is on Sooner Care (and anyone at a minimum wage job more likely as not qualifies under one or more conditions, so thats quite possibly moot), and she is not subsidized for rent. In fact one of my biggest... | 1) True, but $1280 ($8 hr, 40 hr week) a month after tax is still more than she has.
2) She is not on SNAP, she is on Sooner Care (and anyone at a minimum wage job more likely as not qualifies under one or more conditions, so thats quite possibly moot), and she is not subsidized for rent. In fact one of my biggest... | [
"Summary: I spent a lot of time in basic being compared to a grandfather I could never live up too...it fucking sucked.\n\nPost: Oh dude, don't get me wrong, basic/AIT was no cake walk because of this fact. For instance: \n -Due to the fact that my grandfather IS not only buried at the Ft. Benning Post Cemetery (P... | 19 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 52 |
hiero_ | Generate the content for a reddit post Cool story bro | One time, I pulled up to a Burger King drive thru. The chick was on her cell phone, she sounded just like your stereotypical black chick (she was white, mind you), complete with MMMMMMMHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMM and the accent and whatnot. So, anyway, I'm waiting for my food, she gets off the phone, and starts talking complet... | One time, I pulled up to a Burger King drive thru. The chick was on her cell phone, she sounded just like your stereotypical black chick (she was white, mind you), complete with MMMMMMMHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMM and the accent and whatnot. So, anyway, I'm waiting for my food, she gets off the phone, and starts talking complet... | [
"Summary: Sadness.\n\nPost: She was the Titan with the ability to control the earth who joined in I think Season 3. She basically became Beast Boy's love interest, and he hers. Then she turned out to be a double agent for Slade, and during a huge fight, was turned into stone as she saved the Titans from him. \n In ... | 28 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 53 |
thomasmason | Generate the content for a reddit post your posts are usually inspired and they're always inspiring. I do hope you continue but either way thanks for all the great photos you've already posted.
tm | I'll be very sorry if you leave! You're one of the great consistent front page posters for a reason. You're obviously physically very attractive, which is always nice, but you're really sexy too. Your series of posts from earlier this summer where you were (I think seriously) flirting with a colleague in a nearly ... | I'll be very sorry if you leave! You're one of the great consistent front page posters for a reason. You're obviously physically very attractive, which is always nice, but you're really sexy too. Your series of posts from earlier this summer where you were (I think seriously) flirting with a colleague in a nearly ... | [
"Summary: Wow! Thanks!\n\nPost: Oh cool! I stumbled across this after finding your newer, later album. And getting up on the table like that was exactly what I'd been hoping to see next. You gotta know you're top-of-the-chart above-average attractive. These photos push you way up the chart in terms of sex ap... | 16 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 54 |
mad_disciple | Generate the content for a reddit post Start Walcott or Ox | I know he works hard, I know he goes more than others, but he gave NOTHING going forward and was caught short in defensive positions a couple of times, WHY IS MILNER IN THE TEAM? It simply allows the opposition to attack down that flank, which every team has had success at doing so far. Having an attacking threat there... | I know he works hard, I know he goes more than others, but he gave NOTHING going forward and was caught short in defensive positions a couple of times, WHY IS MILNER IN THE TEAM? It simply allows the opposition to attack down that flank, which every team has had success at doing so far. Having an attacking threat there... | [
"Summary: Redditors are saying moronic things and the international community is not doing enough.\n\nPost: What on earth is wrong with people's responses to this? The responses of redditors in these comments is racist and pathetic. Have a heart and understand the politics of the area are not cut and dry or simple ... | 20 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 55 |
takatori | Generate the content for a reddit post A camera showed some steam on the fifth floor. No abnormalities were indicated. It was cold and humid, and Google Translate sucks.
Layman's speculation: On a cold day with intensely wet air, some of the water vapor in the air turned to steam near equipment or material that was w... | The Japanese press releases don't contain anything that could lead to the conclusion stated above.
My guess is panic over a bad Google Translate result.
Edit: Here's the relevant part of the press release, translation my own:
> ※12月27日午前７時48分頃、３号機原子炉建屋５階中央部近傍より、湯気が発生していることをカメラにて確認。
> On December 27 at about ... | The Japanese press releases don't contain anything that could lead to the conclusion stated above.
My guess is panic over a bad Google Translate result.
Edit: Here's the relevant part of the press release, translation my own:
> ※12月27日午前７時48分頃、３号機原子炉建屋５階中央部近傍より、湯気が発生していることをカメラにて確認。
> On December 27 at about ... | [
"Summary: I've been exposed to a lot of languages, but only comfortably \"speak\" the ones I use regularly and recently\n\nPost: Speak comfortably? Right now, two: Japanese and English. \n Brief language history: \n \n Swedish-German grandma only spoke mixed-up Swe-Deutsch to me until ~12 \n \n mother spoke French,... | 120 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 56 |
beeblez | Generate the content for a reddit post Ebert and Penny Arcade are talking about apples and oranges. | This stems from two different conceptions of art: art as anything creative, by this standard the best videogames and worst videogames are art, as are the best and worst movies, because artists worked on them. Therefore Paris Hilton's my new BFF is just as much art as Shadow of the Colossus. This is the conception o... | This stems from two different conceptions of art: art as anything creative, by this standard the best videogames and worst videogames are art, as are the best and worst movies, because artists worked on them. Therefore Paris Hilton's my new BFF is just as much art as Shadow of the Colossus. This is the conception o... | [
"Summary: roommate was a con-artist, start looking for a new place asap.\n\nPost: This is a common scam. I worked for a housing rental company for a while and we had people try to pull this on us (find a random roommate who hadn't signed anything with us and steal their money and then bail on their contract with us... | 56 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 57 |
YakCat | Generate the content for a reddit post Go you! Your love turns into support for programs for teachers to teach kids whose only joy in life comes from playing music. | Good for you! That means people getting passionate and hopefully always inspire art funding and music programs in schools.
Had it not been for my school's music program, I honestly would've killed myself in high school. I don't think people understand how much pain kids can be in and having a safe, supported outlet m... | Good for you! That means people getting passionate and hopefully always inspire art funding and music programs in schools.
Had it not been for my school's music program, I honestly would've killed myself in high school. I don't think people understand how much pain kids can be in and having a safe, supported outlet m... | [
"Summary: CRAP!!!!!! I totally spew forth underwriting/insurance knowledge everywhere! I am sorry! Increase personal property, cannot schedule it as in list it for value assessment.\n\nPost: I have gotten this question before as an underwriter for a major insurance carrier. Unfortunately, unless it's for a busines... | 88 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 58 |
dashrandom | Generate the content for a reddit post ISP contract definitely guarantees bandwidth not throughput, lawsuit seems like a bit of an overreaction but still justified. | Ok guys, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this in my honest opinion. ISPs all over the world charge for bandwidth, not throughput, and even their contract says so. ISPs cannot guarantee throughput because there are many factors that play into affecting throughput. As for the difference between the 2, think of it ... | Ok guys, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this in my honest opinion. ISPs all over the world charge for bandwidth, not throughput, and even their contract says so. ISPs cannot guarantee throughput because there are many factors that play into affecting throughput. As for the difference between the 2, think of it ... | [
"Summary: scam\n\nPost: Lol what the fuck. Whichever genius made this product probably associated the fact that the only negative calorie food in the world is cold water. When you consume cold water (0 calories), your body temperature drops. In order to bring your body temperature back to its normal level, your bod... | 29 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 59 |
to_Becca_again | Generate the content for a reddit post For the few assholes that I did come across, I just proved that I'm not weak within my own body by challenging them with calisthenics. Even if I may not lift as much as them, I can certainly push/pull/lift my own body around as well if not better than them. | I'm with you on this one. I used to be in the Army and worked out on post in the nicer gym there, and on other bases when I was away for schools. I was usually the only girl in the free weight section wherever I went, but I wasn't weirded out by it.
I was an instructor for a while, and I did have one class that I wou... | I'm with you on this one. I used to be in the Army and worked out on post in the nicer gym there, and on other bases when I was away for schools. I was usually the only girl in the free weight section wherever I went, but I wasn't weirded out by it.
I was an instructor for a while, and I did have one class that I wou... | [
"Summary: Muscle burns more calories than fat while you are inactive. Don't wait to lift, do it NOW. It can only help your cause. Though diet is 95% of the battle, the muscle has to be there to show through once you've lost the lbs to get the look you want.\n\nPost: Ooooookay, I would like to tackle a few misconcep... | 20 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 60 |
Smokeya | Generate the content for a reddit post combining bathrooms like this just causes more chaos for some places, your view should be changed to venues having enough bathrooms or more stalls opposed to them being unisex. | I cant say with 100% certainty that this would be a issue where you live but where i am at 95% easily of the male bathrooms have a urinal. By making the bathrooms unisex to save money when building urinals likely would no longer be put in.
My issue with this from experience is a mens bathroom lacking a urinal the sit... | I cant say with 100% certainty that this would be a issue where you live but where i am at 95% easily of the male bathrooms have a urinal. By making the bathrooms unisex to save money when building urinals likely would no longer be put in.
My issue with this from experience is a mens bathroom lacking a urinal the sit... | [
"Summary: just gotta keep on keeping on :p\n\nPost: Im a diabetic atheist who lost his father to diabetes and gangreen. Pops got shot in the leg when i was young then a few years later burned his feet on a electric heater after snowmobiling since he couldnt feel how hot they were getting from problems due to being ... | 38 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 61 |
hak8or | Generate the content for a reddit post So yeah, the rigs cooler with Liquid nitrogen and Liquid Helium are used for overclocking contests. They are not stable enough for mining, you would have to replace components after they are destroyed probably every few days, and the cost of cooling with with LN2 or Phase change w... | The people with liquid nitrogen and whatnot are most likely extreme overclockers and not miners.
For example, you can buy a processor from Intel which runs at 3.2 Ghz (Giga Hertz) at stock, meaning Intel guarantees the processor to run correctly and without any problems at 3.2 Ghz. This means that, for the sake of ex... | The people with liquid nitrogen and whatnot are most likely extreme overclockers and not miners.
For example, you can buy a processor from Intel which runs at 3.2 Ghz (Giga Hertz) at stock, meaning Intel guarantees the processor to run correctly and without any problems at 3.2 Ghz. This means that, for the sake of ex... | [
"Summary: I am losing my train of thought due to lack of energy this morning, but to be short, I am not seeing reasons to be going CISC these days except for legacy reasons like X86 backwards compatibility. This can be evidenced by ARM continuing to gain traction for more intensive hardware needs such as running an... | 16 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 62 |
Mach10X | Generate the content for a reddit post Video game mastery of various genres can develop skills that can be cross applies and provide an advantage or head start when applied to other similar tasks, but it's unclear if it would effect overall brain development as there are many other ways to practice these skills. | There are definitely strong arguments from both sides. I have not read any studies that control for the fact that those with naturally enhanced cognitive ability seeks out stimulation of those abilities via certain types of games. Games to test and stimulate hand-eye coordination, logic and reasoning skills, social i... | There are definitely strong arguments from both sides. I have not read any studies that control for the fact that those with naturally enhanced cognitive ability seeks out stimulation of those abilities via certain types of games. Games to test and stimulate hand-eye coordination, logic and reasoning skills, social i... | [
"Summary: Tobacco is radioactive, weed helps prevent lung cancer from starting.\n\nPost: On my mobile so I will not be citing my sources. Tobacco is grown in, and fertilized with, a type of soil rich in radium 226 which decays I to polonium 210 and lead. Other types monoplanes that grow and are fertilized in thes... | 31 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 63 |
rimo | Generate the content for a reddit post here)
So now here I am, looking back at the games I pirated. Apart from one exception (Halo 2), I bought every game I love to play and I also simply took the "right" way by resorting to free multiplayer games mostly to still have some fun. Portal 2 will be single player and I'm ... | Edit: Please remember that I'm not trying to give a justification. I am trying to answer the question of why people can so vigorously defend piracy and how they feel about it. So, this is not a justification, it's merely describing a feeling.
I don't think people are consciously trying to act like "heroes". It's ju... | Edit: Please remember that I'm not trying to give a justification. I am trying to answer the question of why people can so vigorously defend piracy and how they feel about it. So, this is not a justification, it's merely describing a feeling.
I don't think people are consciously trying to act like "heroes". It's ju... | [
"Summary: you need to work it before you can pull them out, but it takes time and conviction and some fascination for the whole process, and some force/pain.\n\nPost: Your milk teeth will be loose, but they're never going to come out without pliers. \n False, since I just need one case to disprove it, I'll use my o... | 23 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 64 |
connery_007 | Generate the content for a reddit post Jumped and stabbed guy trying to run me over on a quad bike, quad bike rolls to a stop in comical fashion. Whole team lols. | Last night I had quite a good one-
We were defending Port Valdez, first stage and had been slowly wearing down the attackers. We just lost A (the house) but were holding a line at the front of the base and nothing had got through so far. I was running down the road on the far right hand side past B, when a quad bike ... | Last night I had quite a good one-
We were defending Port Valdez, first stage and had been slowly wearing down the attackers. We just lost A (the house) but were holding a line at the front of the base and nothing had got through so far. I was running down the road on the far right hand side past B, when a quad bike ... | [
"Summary: You're looking at 2x Titans or 780ti's (or whatever the AMD equivalent is) to get a minimum of 120fps. Looking at your spec's you'll also need a new PSU to handle the load. \n EDIT: Seeing as smoothness is a major factor for you, you might want to seriously consider buying NVIDIA so that you will be able ... | 16 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 65 |
ThisDamnSite | Generate the content for a reddit post I think a good way to remember it is: QSS drops all debuffs and Cleanse drops all CC except suppressions and knockups.
Edit: One important thing I forgot to mention is that Cleanse also removes summoner spell debuffs, i.e. Exhaust and Ignite. By Cleanse's more general definition... | QSS is the easy one to remember. It literally just drops all debuffs on you. Basically, it gets rid of practically everything.
Cleanse is way more complicated. It removes most CC effects, but not suppression, knock-ups, knock-backs, grabs and flings. It is worth noting that it removes the whole debuff with it, alo... | QSS is the easy one to remember. It literally just drops all debuffs on you. Basically, it gets rid of practically everything.
Cleanse is way more complicated. It removes most CC effects, but not suppression, knock-ups, knock-backs, grabs and flings. It is worth noting that it removes the whole debuff with it, alo... | [
"Summary: MotG sucks for the computer. Modern card games designed for the computer have nice benefits of being able to find a lot of opponents from your bedroom, but the tradeoff is that the games SUCK compared to MotG.\n\nPost: The game is definitely designed for face to face play. Trying to play MotG on a compu... | 26 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 66 |
CookiesFTA | Generate the content for a reddit post IB is ultimately luck based, but the part that is luck reliant doesn't change enough to be fair for all players. (Oh, and "get in a good fireteam" and "learn2play" are not the answers to this problem) | No it's not. In regular crucible, the only mode where your progress and rewards is really slowed by a crappy team is skirmish. The rest of the time you get pretty much the same stuff if you smash it and your team sucks. In IB though you essentially have no control over your progress, it almost entirely comes down to ge... | No it's not. In regular crucible, the only mode where your progress and rewards is really slowed by a crappy team is skirmish. The rest of the time you get pretty much the same stuff if you smash it and your team sucks. In IB though you essentially have no control over your progress, it almost entirely comes down to ge... | [
"Summary: everything above level 22 actually takes the same damage if you are their level or higher and using a 331 weapon. Higher level enemies just seem to take less damage because they have more health (until they are higher than you, when they do actually take less).\n\nPost: This is actually a misconception. W... | 18 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 67 |
thelastdeskontheleft | Generate the content for a reddit post No | Why would it be in plain text?
I'm assuming you mean since it is used between multiple applications it must be in plain text to be used between them?
Looking at just logging into one (lets use just the website). You log into website, it compares to what is expected. Accepts or rejects. This can be in plain text or ... | Why would it be in plain text?
I'm assuming you mean since it is used between multiple applications it must be in plain text to be used between them?
Looking at just logging into one (lets use just the website). You log into website, it compares to what is expected. Accepts or rejects. This can be in plain text or ... | [
"Summary: Stay in drive.\n\nPost: Technically yes... but the amount of force from your slipping is much less than the force in a clutch. You're barely going to be using your brakes and it's not going to hurt them or wear them out any faster since you are STOPPED. Your brakes aren't moving and there is no wear being... | 18 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 68 |
TheLoneHoot | Generate the content for a reddit post don't demean someone for having a degree in something you feel is lower class or unworthy, and don't belittle them for taking longer to get it - at least they got it. I don't like Sarah Palin, but technically she's better educated than I am. | If you wanted to pursue a career in broadcasting or sport reporting what would you get your degree in? Journalism? Possibly, but suppose you literally just wanted to read the news on a local level, host a chat show, etc. A degree in communications isn't any less worthy than a degree in philosophy, or some other degr... | If you wanted to pursue a career in broadcasting or sport reporting what would you get your degree in? Journalism? Possibly, but suppose you literally just wanted to read the news on a local level, host a chat show, etc. A degree in communications isn't any less worthy than a degree in philosophy, or some other degr... | [
"Summary: both cars are great \"poor man's exotics\" and stuffing 200+hp into a 2500 or so pound AWD car makes for insane performance. \n \n ¹ \"Alcyone\" is the name of the brightest star in the Pleiades constellation, Subaru's emblem. At the \n time the XT and later the SVX were sort of their brightest star in... | 57 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 69 |
Villentrenmerth | Generate the content for a reddit post I'm pretty sure it's a one-click fix, but I don't know where to click. Have a great day! | Ladies and Gentlemen,
Symptoms and Steps
Hello there, I'm Vill, and I'm ashamed to admit a failure and give up trying to find resolution on my own. Basically, for the past months my stock fan from Gainward's GTX 770 was making stupid regular noises. Being patient guy I ignored the issue, because "Expert Tool" softw... | Ladies and Gentlemen,
Symptoms and Steps
Hello there, I'm Vill, and I'm ashamed to admit a failure and give up trying to find resolution on my own. Basically, for the past months my stock fan from Gainward's GTX 770 was making stupid regular noises. Being patient guy I ignored the issue, because "Expert Tool" softw... | [
"Summary: Paragon level =/= Skill. Damage =/= Skill. Gear =/= Skill. Skill = quick clears.\n\nPost: Hi sadst4tue, \n I think you have a point with this low DPS - high Torment hype in public games. And there is very simple explanation for it: \n Greed - many players really want to be carried. And problem is, that t... | 22 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 70 |
PornAddictionBlows | Generate the content for a reddit post So if you are getting involved with a girl when you have recently kicked porn, be extra careful about how you approach the relationship, what the girl means to you, how you treat her, how you treat yourself when she is not around.
Focus on building your own arsenal of tools to c... | Hear me out here. And I hope I don't come off as hypocritical since I am currently dating someone. Just let me share something really quickly and then comment on how I'm trying to deal with it in my own situation.
If you are like me, this PMO thing has been an inseparable part of your identity since an extremely yo... | Hear me out here. And I hope I don't come off as hypocritical since I am currently dating someone. Just let me share something really quickly and then comment on how I'm trying to deal with it in my own situation.
If you are like me, this PMO thing has been an inseparable part of your identity since an extremely yo... | [
"Summary: The difficulty of this journey builds a lot of character and it's nice to see an appreciation of that from the opposite sex.\n\nPost: This post brought me to tears. \n On some level I feel that your admiration of the depth of your boyfriend's struggle, even if all you're getting is a tiny glimpse, is some... | 29 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 71 |
Bircher | Generate the content for a reddit post My HM1 said that with this being my first PRT, it won't really effect my career as long as I do good+ on the rest of my PRTs. Is this true? Has this bad day fucked up my career forever? | Hey Reddit.
I just recently failed by PFA but there's a lot of strange circumstances outlining the failure. I had just gotten off 2 months of LLD due to a hip injury. I report to my new command on March 27 and on April 8th, I'm informed I have a PRT next week. I got an excellent on my curl ups, good on my cardio but ... | Hey Reddit.
I just recently failed by PFA but there's a lot of strange circumstances outlining the failure. I had just gotten off 2 months of LLD due to a hip injury. I report to my new command on March 27 and on April 8th, I'm informed I have a PRT next week. I got an excellent on my curl ups, good on my cardio but ... | [
"Summary: worked my ass off to grind the 320,000 XP for the panther. I feel cheated out of my time and dedication that I put towards it\n\nPost: Go ahead and tell me what you wish. You are entitled to your opinion. \n The reason I'm saying drop the BR is because in RB, it gets so overmatched that you literally cann... | 25 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 72 |
neur0 | Generate the content for a reddit post those cry babies might be justified in the bigger picture.
Course, you're not gonna bother/think much of this, so move along thanks. I hope you continue with your successful resiliency in yourself/means as you seem to be promoting as something "everyone" shares. | Actually, considering how the global market is, its more of a necessity and investment.
You can look on the news and see kids on the street as, well, kids. Got no trouble in the world, probably haven't seen the worse in life, shit paid by parents, and partying when they're not 'studying' right? That's true too.
Wel... | Actually, considering how the global market is, its more of a necessity and investment.
You can look on the news and see kids on the street as, well, kids. Got no trouble in the world, probably haven't seen the worse in life, shit paid by parents, and partying when they're not 'studying' right? That's true too.
Wel... | [
"Summary: accountability through people and websites, books for theory of how to act, people to follow, dreams to wake up to, and perspectives to not want to live. \n Hope that helps. I think a serious sit down and soul searching is about due for you. Even if you fix all that you want based on the post, you’ll stil... | 15 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 73 |
WhosCountin | Generate the content for a reddit post In my personal experience, psychedelics have been the best medicine I've ever encountered. I hate that they're not readily available. I really miss those 6 months where I was a truly happy person. | I know this is just anecdotal evidence so it doesn't change anything you said - and I agree entirely (we shouldn't make scientific declarations without due diligence), but from a personal standpoint, the legal barriers to psychedelic research make my blood boil. I'm on anti-depressants (Wellbutrin) for the second time ... | I know this is just anecdotal evidence so it doesn't change anything you said - and I agree entirely (we shouldn't make scientific declarations without due diligence), but from a personal standpoint, the legal barriers to psychedelic research make my blood boil. I'm on anti-depressants (Wellbutrin) for the second time ... | [
"Summary: Being hot makes her better than most people because she has the capacity to bring way more to the table than someone who isn't a sexual prospect\n\nPost: No, she has the capacity to bring happiness into my life. I value about people who can make my life more enjoyable. I'd much rather be with a hot girl t... | 44 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 74 |
Yarcofin | Generate the content for a reddit post do you like speedsolving and trying to get super low times? 2x2
do you prefer doing casual untimed solves? megaminx | Megaminx may be a bit intimidating if you are still learning 3x3, it's not as fun as I expected. I'd recommend 2x2 as long as you are ok with an "easy" puzzle -- in my opinion it's more fun solving a puzzle that you can do in under 10 seconds than one that takes several minutes. Plus some algorithms from the Ortega met... | Megaminx may be a bit intimidating if you are still learning 3x3, it's not as fun as I expected. I'd recommend 2x2 as long as you are ok with an "easy" puzzle -- in my opinion it's more fun solving a puzzle that you can do in under 10 seconds than one that takes several minutes. Plus some algorithms from the Ortega met... | [
"Summary: Want to get /r/cubers to 50k subscribers and get speedcubing mainstream? High production quality guide and tutorial videos, charismatic likable figures in the community who aren't 12 years old, cross-promotion (have a popular gaming channel on Youtube? Devote a video to cubing and link them here), breakin... | 36 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 75 |
Zeds_dead | Generate the content for a reddit post I wouldn't worry about it unless you're in masters | As I understand it, you would gain a slight increase if you took the drones off the far mineral patches from your main and only left drones doubled up the the close ones on your main. So then, after taking the drones out of the far patch from your main, you double them up on the close patches on your Nat. Although, to... | As I understand it, you would gain a slight increase if you took the drones off the far mineral patches from your main and only left drones doubled up the the close ones on your main. So then, after taking the drones out of the far patch from your main, you double them up on the close patches on your Nat. Although, to... | [
"Summary: EX-GF holds hopes of us getting back together. Should I let her be or tell her specifically in person that I have no interest in dating her again. \n I feel like I may cause more damage in telling her this because I don't think I'm stringing her along and she may only be mildly interested in me, I can't b... | 15 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 76 |
Ent_Guevera | Generate the content for a reddit post Silly anti-theists angry at a belief system that is itself atheistic. | The idea itself doesn't need to be proved. See my response to the parent of your post. The idea of reincarnation really only speaks to the view that the entire universe is one being, a being moving forward in time (also explained as each moment dying for the next to be born), and that one person's death is followed i... | The idea itself doesn't need to be proved. See my response to the parent of your post. The idea of reincarnation really only speaks to the view that the entire universe is one being, a being moving forward in time (also explained as each moment dying for the next to be born), and that one person's death is followed i... | [
"Summary: black history month is essentially a celebration of ethnicity - the history and culture of African-Americans. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having an Irish-history month or an Irish-American club for exactly the same reasons. A \"white\" club celebrating whiteness is more a celebration of America... | 65 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 77 |
jello_apparatus | Generate the content for a reddit post I like my insects in my food to be ground up in the food and indistinguishable not alive and wiggly. | Once I opened a box of cereal and freaked out when I noticed cocoons at the top of the inside of the bag. I didn't open it, and my mom said to leave it on the porch and we'd take it back to the store. By the time we got around to doing that the moths from the cocoons had hatched and died in the bag. Was years before I ... | Once I opened a box of cereal and freaked out when I noticed cocoons at the top of the inside of the bag. I didn't open it, and my mom said to leave it on the porch and we'd take it back to the store. By the time we got around to doing that the moths from the cocoons had hatched and died in the bag. Was years before I ... | [
"Summary: the consequences of someone getting a degree they don't deserve probably are not actually as bad as you are making them out to be. \n People still should not cheat though. Dishonesty is generally considered to be a character flaw rather than something one should make a habit of.\n\nPost: I think you are o... | 17 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 78 |
Jesta23 | Generate the content for a reddit post want to quit working and finish my degree, make to much money for financial aide. Help please? | I have had a decently paying job since I left high school. (75k a year.) I do not want to do this for the rest of my life however. I have started going to school while still working full time.
One of my class's requires me to be a student teacher 1 day a week, school full time, and working 40-45hours a week. I cant ke... | I have had a decently paying job since I left high school. (75k a year.) I do not want to do this for the rest of my life however. I have started going to school while still working full time.
One of my class's requires me to be a student teacher 1 day a week, school full time, and working 40-45hours a week. I cant ke... | [
"Summary: argued with professor for a few weeks, calls me out in class and shows proof on the projector in front of the entire class.\n\nPost: I had an assignment that required me to make a website portfolio, and add the class to my course work. When the teacher gave me a 0, I asked him via email what the problem w... | 16 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 79 |
XanaVanovoVitch | Generate the content for a reddit post you have a jelly fish in your foot and he's trying to get out! :) | could be something trying to work it's way out?
anecdote: my mom, around age 12, ran into a wooden bench and had a large piece of wood (4 inches long, 1inch thick) embedded into her leg. the dr's pulled out as much as they could find. time passed, a couple of years later she had a pain in her leg and out shoots the r... | could be something trying to work it's way out?
anecdote: my mom, around age 12, ran into a wooden bench and had a large piece of wood (4 inches long, 1inch thick) embedded into her leg. the dr's pulled out as much as they could find. time passed, a couple of years later she had a pain in her leg and out shoots the r... | [
"Summary: it's best for all parties if the property owner could contact a shelter, negotiate with police, and have the guy removed. have police transport him to the shelter.\n\nPost: I'm not advocating lettingthe govt have him. I worked with homeless shelters all throughout college and beyond. I'm aqauinted with ho... | 17 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 80 |
Iandrasil | Generate the content for a reddit post DA2 is bad compared to DA:O :( | That's probably the one thing they fucked up the most in DA:2
An elf with bishie white hair that's constantly emo over his own existence literally the edgiest character ever in a bioware game that looks and feels as if he was plucked from any random fanfic
Anders which got a complete makeover from his cynical jokin... | That's probably the one thing they fucked up the most in DA:2
An elf with bishie white hair that's constantly emo over his own existence literally the edgiest character ever in a bioware game that looks and feels as if he was plucked from any random fanfic
Anders which got a complete makeover from his cynical jokin... | [
"Summary: whatever happened to [the good old days](\n\nPost: The problem originates when people give these people money and attention without the basic critical thinking of \"does this person have a point, what is this person actually saying, how does he or she chose to represent their argument, and does that argum... | 19 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 81 |
BraveSaintStuart | Generate the content for a reddit post decide together to bring someone else into your sex life... a counselor. | First, just for safety's sake, you may want to stick a NSFW tag on this. It is, at least, a sensitive subject.
It sounds to me like everything you've experienced is what I would consider to be... uh... not weird? I would certainly recommend seeing a counselor of some sort, as this would allow (neigh, force) you guy... | First, just for safety's sake, you may want to stick a NSFW tag on this. It is, at least, a sensitive subject.
It sounds to me like everything you've experienced is what I would consider to be... uh... not weird? I would certainly recommend seeing a counselor of some sort, as this would allow (neigh, force) you guy... | [
"Summary: People are different, and I'd rather not answer the question \"What kinds of generalizations can you make about a large group of people?\" I'll take it on a person by person basis.\n\nPost: First of all, contrary to popular belief, there is no true Atheist, just as there is no true Scotsman and no true C... | 16 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 82 |
sndzag1 | Generate the content for a reddit post Cougars don't care if you play dead (unlike bears and some other animals), so fighting back is not always everyone's first reaction when wild animals attack.
source: eagle scout, Utahn, know-it-all | You are correct. Think of it this way; animals do not like expelling more energy from food than it takes to get the food. Mountain Lions are smaller than bears. To injure a bear sufficiently to the point where you were no longer a problem (or worth the food source) would take a lot more power than you can exhert, or a ... | You are correct. Think of it this way; animals do not like expelling more energy from food than it takes to get the food. Mountain Lions are smaller than bears. To injure a bear sufficiently to the point where you were no longer a problem (or worth the food source) would take a lot more power than you can exhert, or a ... | [
"Summary: War is never cut and dried and those who view it as such are being naive, and ultimately, very dangerous.\n\nPost: Even that's been highly debated at times, particularly the US' involvement in the European theater. It's entirely plausible that if the US stayed out of the European theater of World War 2, H... | 24 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 83 |
bacon_catz_karma | Generate the content for a reddit post don't blanket everyone into a general statement about mental health prescriptions because everyone is different. | ADD meds can have a lot of serious and uncomfortable side effects, and you really shouldn't be taking them just because "you can't focus."
Not being able to focus is a perfectly acceptable reason for taking adderal or vivanse (spelling???).
Short and simple :
I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 6 and never took ... | ADD meds can have a lot of serious and uncomfortable side effects, and you really shouldn't be taking them just because "you can't focus."
Not being able to focus is a perfectly acceptable reason for taking adderal or vivanse (spelling???).
Short and simple :
I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 6 and never took ... | [
"Summary: fuck erin\n\nPost: a girl got very sick (cancer or something) and Erin told everyone at school that the girl was faking it. So, for the entire time the girl was in the hospital she got no visitors and no texts/calls from friends. Upon returning to school someone hands her a note that said \"Erin told ever... | 22 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 84 |
warpus | Generate the content for a reddit post I want to go to Peru and do some multi-day hiking. Please suggest trails and provide logistical information
edit: I might as well keep a track of suggested ideas here so it's easier for me to go through it later:
Suggested hikes:
5 day hike to Choquequirao - less touristy... | I am interested in hiking either the Inca Trail or the Ausangate Circuit in Peru with a friend. Right now there are two of us but there might be more.
My only long-distance hiking experience are the w-circuit in Chile, the Milford & Routeburn Tracks and the Tongariro Crossing in New Zealand. Other than that I have ... | I am interested in hiking either the Inca Trail or the Ausangate Circuit in Peru with a friend. Right now there are two of us but there might be more.
My only long-distance hiking experience are the w-circuit in Chile, the Milford & Routeburn Tracks and the Tongariro Crossing in New Zealand. Other than that I have ... | [
"Summary: goats don`t have teeth and my apostrophe is broken\n\nPost: I had started playing soccer that year on an intramural university team. I watched soccer on tv but have never played so naturally they stuck me on defense. I was alright.. but then one day our goalie got injured. Nobody wanted to play net so... | 56 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 85 |
Jabourasaurus | Generate the content for a reddit post My mom would have much nicer cars if I just did my fucking laundry more often. | I have a cursed t-shirt I don't wear anymore. One of the first times I ever wore it I had a seizure.
That just made me kind of dislike it for being associated with it, but I ran out of clean laundry one day and put it on. Later that night I got a call from my mom in tears because she'd gotten in a car accident and to... | I have a cursed t-shirt I don't wear anymore. One of the first times I ever wore it I had a seizure.
That just made me kind of dislike it for being associated with it, but I ran out of clean laundry one day and put it on. Later that night I got a call from my mom in tears because she'd gotten in a car accident and to... | [
"Summary: Shitty dude from a shitty band said some shitty things on Remembrance Day, then gets pissy when called out on it. Now I refuse to play him on the radio.\n\nPost: This one is a little odd, but there is a band I boycott. \n I won't say their name as to not give them any exposure and because you've likely ne... | 26 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 86 |
AnArmyOfWombats | Generate the content for a reddit post No, they don't want to support it, it's tedious and time consuming... but it makes them money by removing the tedium from others | I'm sorry, but I just had to burrow you (i.e. negatives already, but downvote). How in the holy fucking hell do you not see how much money is made from continued support. No to mention the relative security such support provides.
Not only do people continue to buy a dated product, but they also have years of tested (... | I'm sorry, but I just had to burrow you (i.e. negatives already, but downvote). How in the holy fucking hell do you not see how much money is made from continued support. No to mention the relative security such support provides.
Not only do people continue to buy a dated product, but they also have years of tested (... | [
"Summary: Corporations are invested in keeping our parents anti-MJ (it's been going on for a while), but intoxicating substances are open for potential abuse, so kids smoking willy-nilly may not be the best of ideas.\n\nPost: I thought this was a known thing. \n A big factor (I can look up sources if you like) in i... | 16 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 87 |
drgradus | Generate the content for a reddit post Were you me , I'd get the Canon or push the budget to get a Micro 4/3 camera. Were you my mother or brother, I'd recommend the Fuji F660EXR to you instead. | I like the Fuji F660EXR (it's closing out around $119). I don't think that it's a better camera than the S series Canons out there, but it's superior to the A800. It has a 15x (24-360) zoom, which is very handy on vacation, pretty fast AF (for a P&S), and a few auto features that are often overlooked in this subred... | I like the Fuji F660EXR (it's closing out around $119). I don't think that it's a better camera than the S series Canons out there, but it's superior to the A800. It has a 15x (24-360) zoom, which is very handy on vacation, pretty fast AF (for a P&S), and a few auto features that are often overlooked in this subred... | [
"Summary: Corruptors aren't the hard counter that everyone says they are because they force the Zerg into making difficult choices) \n Thoughts? Comments? Criticism? Let's talk about the carrier!\n\nPost: I love strategies that aren't the standard deathball. That's not to say I don't like the idea of a Protos... | 46 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 88 |
borez | Generate the content for a reddit post The music industry just ain't doing it for me any more. What to do?
Edit: Oh and I also got a tune that was blowing up rejected from radio 1 the other week because, get this, (verbatim, from a plugger I'd paid a fortune for): the vocal sounds a bit dated because it doesn't have ... | OK, so I've been a dance producer for 15 odd years now, I've had countless club hits, a few British top 40's, I run a label, worked with some of the worlds top DJ's blah blah blah, but lately I've completely lost it. I just can't be bothered with the whole thing, in fact I think it's all a bit childish so I just can't ... | OK, so I've been a dance producer for 15 odd years now, I've had countless club hits, a few British top 40's, I run a label, worked with some of the worlds top DJ's blah blah blah, but lately I've completely lost it. I just can't be bothered with the whole thing, in fact I think it's all a bit childish so I just can't ... | [
"Summary: I don't like the place.\n\nPost: Sorry, been out. \n I mean the preface is interesting but it's full of hard core whinging misogynists. In fact it's a misogynists circle jerk. \n I frontpaged it once for a week to see what it was about and got into so many arguments and downvote scraps that I got rid to b... | 18 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 89 |
illusorywall | Generate the content for a reddit post Good news is I'm more confident than ever in my ability to self-spawn Vagrants when I want to, having successfully created one or more in 10/10 testing sessions. Bad news is, I was hoping to solve the humanity criteria, but it looks impossible. | I did a bunch more testing recently, and was surprised by the results. In the past, I only ever intentionally spawned Evil Vagrants using 99 humanity. Not knowing what the minimum required amount was, I figured I'd start my testing off with an amount that had to be sufficient.
So I finally worked my way down. Aband... | I did a bunch more testing recently, and was surprised by the results. In the past, I only ever intentionally spawned Evil Vagrants using 99 humanity. Not knowing what the minimum required amount was, I figured I'd start my testing off with an amount that had to be sufficient.
So I finally worked my way down. Aband... | [
"Summary: Find Token of Spite \n-Duel in BoB Arena \n-No sin will be acquired \n Bear in mind that BoB ranking up requires net wins in the arena. If you lose more often than you win, you'll never rank up.\n\nPost: Only winning BoB arena duels counts towards ranking up in BoB, which does not come with sin. \n Kill... | 19 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 90 |
swim_swim_swim | Generate the content for a reddit post You are wearing a white hat. You know this because when each brother gives up, it is because he did not have enough information to determine the color of his own hat. So, when the first brother gives up, you know that he did not see 2 black hats - he must have seen at least 1 whit... | No - First off; it is an impossibility for all three brothers to have black hats - out of the 5 total hats, 3 are white, and only 2 are black. Second; it is likewise, incorrect, that you are wearing a black hat. This is why:
When the first brother gives up, we can obviously deduce that he did not have enough informa... | No - First off; it is an impossibility for all three brothers to have black hats - out of the 5 total hats, 3 are white, and only 2 are black. Second; it is likewise, incorrect, that you are wearing a black hat. This is why:
When the first brother gives up, we can obviously deduce that he did not have enough informa... | [
"Summary: Brandon Phillips swings at the first pitch of the at bat even if it's rolling into the plate, and it's hard to be a good hitter when you only get 2 strikes.\n\nPost: Brandon Phillips, and it's one of the most annoying things ever. All the casual fans know his name, and see his 103 RBIs from last season an... | 23 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 91 |
zeshtorm | Generate the content for a reddit post Car tailgates me for no apparent reason for about 20 miles, freaking me out. Maybe someone has an idea why someone would have done this? | So the weirdest thing happened to me just last night. I was driving down the highway and I was going pretty fast. Well above the limit. Then in my rearview mirror I see a car zooming towards me, so I pull out of the left lane to let him pass. But he just slows down and pulls in behind me. So I think, "Ok he was going t... | So the weirdest thing happened to me just last night. I was driving down the highway and I was going pretty fast. Well above the limit. Then in my rearview mirror I see a car zooming towards me, so I pull out of the left lane to let him pass. But he just slows down and pulls in behind me. So I think, "Ok he was going t... | [
"Summary: Convinced a kid in summer camp that a chubby cap was trying to kill him. \nEDIT: Put the link to the chubby picture back in. The caps we used were yellow. \nEDIT 2: Please don't gift me gold. This is the third time I'm posting this story, and the first two times I was gifted gold. By this point it's almos... | 16 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 92 |
ninjaduets | Generate the content for a reddit post this place is srs-lite. | kitchendancer gave him orangename.
i don't need a breather, i just thought it was ironic is all. here on cb we bullshit about bullshitters and then someone gave orangename (supposedly a sign of good contributions) to an absolute bullshitter. it really didn't take a socrates to see that he was making strong claims on ... | kitchendancer gave him orangename.
i don't need a breather, i just thought it was ironic is all. here on cb we bullshit about bullshitters and then someone gave orangename (supposedly a sign of good contributions) to an absolute bullshitter. it really didn't take a socrates to see that he was making strong claims on ... | [
"Summary: 1st case: Follow the law. 2nd case: μολὼν λαβέ\n\nPost: What do you mean by \"comply\"? \n If you mean \"not buy any more illegal sporting rifles\" then I guess I am SOL since no one will sell them (if the ban becomes law again) I already stocked up on 30rd PMAGs, so that's not an issue. \n If you mean \"... | 18 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 93 |
MuffinPuff | Generate the content for a reddit post I'm a sucky person. | Yep. Not only from an American/US viewpoint, but globally. The majority of living people are absolutely fucked , while the average person in the US lives a pretty damn good life compared to the majority. Would I be willing to donate a good percentage of my overall income to help those around the world? Only if it does... | Yep. Not only from an American/US viewpoint, but globally. The majority of living people are absolutely fucked , while the average person in the US lives a pretty damn good life compared to the majority. Would I be willing to donate a good percentage of my overall income to help those around the world? Only if it does... | [
"Summary: I smelled my dad across a massive and busy parking lot, like a dog.\n\nPost: One time I was coming out of Walmart garden center with my mom, and I instantly looked up (and yes, my nose was in the air like a fucking dog) thinking my dad was nearby, but I couldn't figure out why I'd get such a strong feelin... | 15 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 94 |
Dylox78 | Generate the content for a reddit post what are compression buttons for? Do they have to be pressed EVERY TIME? Thank you guys. | My m just bought a used 2005 HD Heritage. She bought it from a HD dealer and upon coming home I realized there had been Compression buttons installed in top of each head. My mom says she knows they told her there "had been some engine work done" and that every time before she starts the bike she has to press the button... | My m just bought a used 2005 HD Heritage. She bought it from a HD dealer and upon coming home I realized there had been Compression buttons installed in top of each head. My mom says she knows they told her there "had been some engine work done" and that every time before she starts the bike she has to press the button... | [
"Summary: I still plan on buying an STI because I am not buying it to be a fast racecar, I am buying it because that is what I want/like/enjoy.\n\nPost: This. In the next 2-3 months I am going to be in the market for a new car, and I still plan on buying a '15 or '16 STI (depending on which is on the lot with the o... | 27 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 95 |
Tamlar | Generate the content for a reddit post because, democracy. | Because these outbursts (threats by NK etc) cause public panic....I'm a member of the public, I pay my taxes, the taxes fund the military. I think living in fear can be just as bad as war itself (for the public, not for the military of course)
So .... yeah that's what gives me the right, I'm a citizen. I deserve to l... | Because these outbursts (threats by NK etc) cause public panic....I'm a member of the public, I pay my taxes, the taxes fund the military. I think living in fear can be just as bad as war itself (for the public, not for the military of course)
So .... yeah that's what gives me the right, I'm a citizen. I deserve to l... | [
"Summary: If you're going to make a prop a key story element, then don't fucking zoom in on it with the camera, fuck you director.\n\nPost: I watched the Alan Partridge movie the other night. He writes something down during a scene and it was absolutely obvious by the camera angles that we would be re-incorporating... | 22 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 96 |
nightsfrost | Generate the content for a reddit post I like the changes, some might be ridiculously OP in the hands of a good ranger, but overall, they are decent and I'm interested to see where they go. | Remove spirits. They clutter up the map and provide less strategic value with target changes. Instead, apply an aura to the pet that does the same thing spirits currently do.
This would be a great, great change in my opinion. Clutter on the battle field is already annoying for trying to keep track of your pets locati... | Remove spirits. They clutter up the map and provide less strategic value with target changes. Instead, apply an aura to the pet that does the same thing spirits currently do.
This would be a great, great change in my opinion. Clutter on the battle field is already annoying for trying to keep track of your pets locati... | [
"Summary: I probably talk too much also.\n\nPost: I think you're right about the two camps. I also think it boils down to basically how patient is someone? I'm a relatively patient person, so what I described is fine for me. Whereas with someone else who might not be patient would see everything needing a grind. \n... | 26 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 97 |
jonathon8903 | Generate the content for a reddit post I am poor and can barely pay bills but my mother won't allow me to cut down on them. | I am hoping the /r/personalfinance can help me out her. But first a little background info. My mother divorced her ex-husband about 3-4 years ago and between that and a series of unfortunate events she now has horrible credit and is making a horribly low paycheck. I work at a grocery store but according to management, ... | I am hoping the /r/personalfinance can help me out her. But first a little background info. My mother divorced her ex-husband about 3-4 years ago and between that and a series of unfortunate events she now has horrible credit and is making a horribly low paycheck. I work at a grocery store but according to management, ... | [
"Summary: Work hard, it's a great job considering the alternatives and just don't give anybody trouble.\n\nPost: Also known as Walmart Unloaders, it really isn't too terrible of a job on the good days but on the bad days it can really suck. Granted I work in a small store so take my advice with a grain of salt but ... | 18 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 98 |
Falterfire | Generate the content for a reddit post Russian copies. Russian copies everywhere. | Unlikely. As you probably know, Australia pays more per game than America. You may not be aware that Russian users pay much less per game. There's a lesser known market where users from other countries pay Russians to buy games on the cheap and then gift them. Although it works, it's not very popular since it technical... | Unlikely. As you probably know, Australia pays more per game than America. You may not be aware that Russian users pay much less per game. There's a lesser known market where users from other countries pay Russians to buy games on the cheap and then gift them. Although it works, it's not very popular since it technical... | [
"Summary: Who tests the test writers?\n\nPost: No, you're missing my point. I'm asking how you design the test in such a way that it can't be abused. \n I agree that voters should be informed. The trick is finding a way to test the voters that can't be rigged by one party or the other to give their party a boost. \... | 75 | longlamp_4 | user_based | 99 |
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