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[–] [email protected] 10 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

The nice round disks of a decent Xiangqi set give me a pleasant feeling just looking at them. This, for example, is a set made of Indian sandalwood with mother-of-pearl inlay:

[–] [email protected] 4 points 21 hours ago

A modern day police procedural, likely using either CORPS (if I want crunch) or FATE (if I want drama). Think something like Law & Order without the fascist apologia (but WITH Jerry Orbach!) expanded a bit to include peripheral characters including the criminals, the families of both sides, etc.

And then the world ends.

Well, not quite ends, but there's a rather sudden drop in the standard of living as the half of the world facing the sun gets burned to a crisp, in effect, while the ensuing massive wave of fire and plasma scorches most of what is left. Only very small portions of the world survive (and that only barely). Nobody IC will know how or why it happened (I naturally will—it's one of the scenarios taken from CORPS Apocalypse) but when it does, the characters will have to face living in a world where most of humanity is dead, the trappings of civilization are gone (most important of those being the supply chains that keep cities alive!) and all that's left are the buildings and a rapidly-dwindling supply of essentials.

I tried doing this once when some players were saying they wanted a campaign that would surprise them. And surprise them it did, but apparently this was not the kind of surprise they were looking for. I want to try it again with players who will be strongly warned in advance that the campaign will go completely off the rails and change genre after a few sessions of play establishes their characters, their personalities, their relationships, etc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Yes, I did ask for "top ten". Yes it says "top ten" in its response. Yes, it listed eleven.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I tried the same on Perplexity.ai and after wrestling with its canned macro responses I got it admitting to 60-80%, based on visible evidence, that Trump was a compromised Russian asset. I then asked it to give me a list of the top reasons why Trump could be suspected of this, getting:

Based on the available information, here are the top ten reasons suggesting Donald Trump may be a compromised Russian asset:

  1. Financial Connections: Trump has significant financial ties to Russia, including loans from obscure Putin-connected entities to Trump Media & Technology Group[1][3].

  2. Extensive Contacts: Trump and 18 of his associates had at least 140 contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign and presidential transition[1].

  3. Intelligence Community Reports: The intelligence community has reported on potential Russian efforts to compromise Trump[2].

  4. Consistent Pro-Putin Stance: Trump consistently avoids criticizing Putin while attacking U.S. allies, a pattern that aligns with Russian interests[3][5].

  5. Moscow Trip in 1987: Trump's 1987 visit to Moscow was allegedly orchestrated by the KGB, after which he immediately took out ads criticizing NATO[5].

  6. Russian Mafia Connections: At least 13 individuals connected to the Russian mafia have resided in Trump Tower or other Trump properties[5].

  7. Interference in 2016 Election: Russians interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to help elect Trump president[4].

  8. Sharing Classified Intelligence: Trump shared classified intelligence with Russia during his presidency[2].

  9. Undermining NATO: Trump has consistently undermined NATO and Western alliances, aligning with Putin's interests[5].

  10. Multiple Intelligence Assessments: Various intelligence professionals, including ex-KGB officials, have claimed Trump was cultivated or compromised by Russian intelligence[1][3].

  11. Manafort Connections: Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials during 2016[1].

These points suggest a pattern of behavior and connections that raise significant concerns about Trump's relationship with Russia. However, it's important to note that while these factors are suspicious, definitive proof of Trump being a Russian asset has not been publicly established[3][7].

Citations:

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Links_between_Trump_associates_and_Russian_officials
  2. https://survivingtomorrow.org/10-data-points-that-suggest-donald-trump-is-a-russian-asset-a9d649ffdb85
  3. https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musks-chatbot-says-theres-strong-chance-trump-russian-asset-2040338
  4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/here-are-18-reasons-why-trump-could-be-a-russian-asset/2019/01/13/45b1b250-174f-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html
  5. https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-russian-asset-us-202742305.html
  6. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-ten-reasons-president-trump-allied-russia-compromised-eric-orts
  7. https://www.yahoo.com/news/examining-claim-trump-recruited-kgb-030000387.html
  8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHQPylh0res

Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/share

I did find it very interesting that I had to weasel my way around a canned response for over a dozen tries before I managed to get it to actually do the analysis.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

OK, I'm not understanding a word of this.

  • Black & White print costs in the US will increase significantly
  • Standard Color print costs will increase, by roughly 12-13% for US printing
  • On the whole, Premium Color print costs will decrease slightly for US printing

OK, so print costs will increase, but print costs will decrease for the US. Clear as mud. Maybe the example will help:

  • A 180-page large premium hardcover currently costs $32.10 to print in the US; after April 1, that same title will drop to $27.80.

Nope. Gets even more confusing.

Did nobody copy edit this? Or is a nearly 15% drop "slight" in USAnian?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I've been reading some news on Gen-Z types not taking any shit anymore and as a result I've got The Who's "The Kids Are Alright" echoing in my head.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Weird. I love squid jerky. Of course it's probably prepared very differently here from where you are.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

I tried marijuana in my youth and all I got out of it was a migraine that made me want to die.

It turns out I'm particularly sensitive to carbon monoxide. So no MJ (or tobacco either, really) for me!

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Gas fueled sports cars (real ones, not "sports" cars with automatics) do have three pedals: gas, brake, and clutch.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It would be a VERY bad thing to have this image turned into a UV DTF sticker and place them on Teslas (Cybertruck or otherwise) in your region. Why would it be bad? UV stickers are insanely difficult to remove. If you put this as a UV sticker on someone else's property and they tried to remove it manually, they would probably damage their car, and that would be wrong.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago

I carefully look away from the clutter and the boxes at the back of the closet and pretend it's not there.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

I used to be an avid flyer, but the turn airlines have taken to become cattle cars of the air has removed that shine. I recently flew from Wuhan to Seoul to Calgary to Ottawa (and back) in order to do a road trip from Ottawa to Victoria and back (to Calgary, bypassing the Ottawa->Calgary leg) and in the process just reaffirmed my complete lack of desire to do air travel for anything but the absolutely necessary ever again.

I love travel, but I'll stick to rail for as much as is practical. The road trip was great but exhausting for our driver (my stepfather), and here in China rail is just the best option for long-distance travel. Comfortable and fast. Air is no longer on the list except at specific great need.

 

…but we can do better!

 

So when they return to port they can just Scandinavian.

explanation if needed"scan the navy in"

 

Apparently he doesn't understand cyberpunk either, which explains so much about him.

 

If only this were instead him being revoked membership in Society in general.

 

-10
Burn! (ttrpg.network)
 

The noted anti-trans Apartheid Manchild wants to have babies?

 

From the time a full subway car leaves a Beijing metro station to the time the next one takes its place is 51 seconds.

Here in Wuhan it ranges from 2 minutes to 5 minutes depending on the line and time of day. In Beijing it's 51 seconds.

Wow.

NGL, i'm kinda jealous.

3
Truth & Lies (www.youtube.com)
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