Posts made by dontpanda

I played a really evil villain in a faction of villains - he stood out, you know? - and had a blast. We'd plot bad things to do and then go do them. We didn't even try to PK every time, knowing sometimes the best victory is one where you leave your opponent alive with the knowledge you took everything else from him.

In the end, there was a chance for my PC to go out with a bang at the climax of an internal power struggle. It was one of the best arcs I've ever been a part of.

Being the antagonist, in my opinion, is way more fun, especially if you can work with the protagonists to create something truly remarkable.

@Jaded said in RL Anger:

@dontpanda said in RL Anger:

@Vorpal Just use autotune. You're welcome.

Noooo...@Vorpal sounds like they have actual talent and singing ability.

Fine. Lip sync to a previous performance. Who's going to know?

@Vorpal Just use autotune. You're welcome.

@Arkandel I once corrected a young fellow who sat on the bus while a pregnant woman /and/ a senior with a gorram cane stood. I was standing nearby, so it didn't involve any yelling - I don't think too many people heard it aside from him.

It didn't take much, to his credit.

Of course, then the senior gentleman refused to take the seat when there was a pregnant woman nearby. And she refused to sit when a senior was there. Politeness Standoff! If they'd each had a Double Double from Tim's it could've been the most Canadian thing ever.

Eventually, the pregnant woman won with, I believe, the words, "Please, sir, don't argue with a pregnant woman. Surely you've learned by now that we can get just a little bit irrational," and a charming smile. He grinned and winked at her and then sat down.

Public transportation etiquette is important.

Know what I hate? - people who post all these "scientific" conclusions on social media (usually medical in nature) that urge us all to "get the facts" but then don't include a link or reference to the peer-reviewed journal in which these ground-breaking studies were published.

I want to smack those people. If I tried to pull that crap in a paper even in high school, I'd get a failing mark, and deservedly so. Assertion without evidence... smdh

@Arkandel Out of curiousity, how would you rate a book you liked by an author you found repugnant?

@silentsophia I said before, and I will continue to say: even if (and I'm allowing for a Jupiter-sized if) there was a chance that vaccines were linked to autism (there isn't. Not ever), I cannot wrap my head around the concept that I would put my child at risk of catching diseases like polio, measles, diptheria, etc., etc., AND EVEN MORE ETC.

I know kids with autism. Some of them are challenging. So what? Know what else is hard? - burying your gorram kid at 18 months old because he caught whooping cough and died.

I don't tend to yell at strangers. I yelled at a stranger over this. I worry that somehow I came off as the crazy person....

I've written and re-written a response 5 times, and I can't explain my position accurately. So, interesting story. Thanks for sharing.

@Misadventure said:

http://latining.tumblr.com/post/141567276944/tabletop-gaming-has-a-white-male-terrorism-problem

Comments?

I have mixed feelings, I think. While my experiences have been different from hers, that doesn't mean she's being untruthful in any way. Mostly, I don't like playing with other people I don't know, so my engagement in the community is very limited.

Because my engagement is limited, I don't see Gamergate and SadPuppies the same way many critics of them do, which is fine.

Mostly, I feel sad and angry that she's had these experiences. No one should feel as though they're at risk of bodily harm just because they walk into a store.

@Ganymede said:

@dontpanda said:

If my libertarian slant didn't preclude me from insisting children be vaccinated by rule of law... damn my conflicting principles.

If you take advantage of a government service, you should not be surprised if there are rules related thereto.

I see nothing wrong with the public education system requiring vaccinations, even from a libertarian perspective.

I don't see anything wrong with it either, since it's tied to the service and not imposed across the board, which is what the "well duh" part of my brain advocates.

I do not understand not vaccinating your kids without their doctor telling you to. It makes literally (and I mean that literally) no sense.

When people you otherwise respect and like reveal themselves to be among the paranoia-riddled, science-ignoring wacknuts who refuse to vaccinate their kids without a real doctor telling them they should not because of this specific medical condition this specific kid has.

I just want to make them go to the poorest places in India and Africa where kids don't get vaccines and wind up dead or permanently crippled because of a disease we all but wiped out 50 gorram years ago.

If my libertarian slant didn't preclude me from insisting children be vaccinated by rule of law... damn my conflicting principles.

I love the zoo. Seriously. I go with my kids and wife and it's an awesome way to spend the morning. The animals are active, the lions are roaring, the polar bears are swimming.

A well-run zoo that operates with the health of the animals and education of the masses in mind is one of the finest things a person gets to experience.

I'm annoyed that Netflix has decided to police the use of proxies and VPNs, as though they'd learned nothing from how the RIAA handled file-sharing.

I pay for Netflix. What skin is off their nose if I want to access their content from Australia or wherever? It isn't even illegal to do so in my country.

Just... turn a blind eye, Netflix. No one who matters (read: Your Customers) will care.

#FirstWorldProblems I guess

@Misadventure Yeah, we went to a dude who, if his name had been Pelletier wouldn't have ever been elected Mayor of Nowheresville (for those who don't know, Justin!'s dad was a popular - if TERRIBLE - Prime Minister back in the 70s, so... name recognition still counts). My confidence in him is about as low as it has been in any of my options.

I'm sitting here, hoping Justin! doesn't screw this country up as much as I'm afraid he will.

But if someone wants to know why I think that way, feel free to ask privately. I don't mind, but the internet sometimes feels like a bunch of people yelling into a room.

@tragedyjones All these celebrities threatening to leave if Trump wins - usually to come here to Canada - seem to forget that: 1) we already have a healthy supply of entitled whiners, thank you, and; 2) other countries have immigration laws that don't just let RandomDudebro in because reasons. It's like someone saying, "If Hillary wins, I will declare myself King of England!" That's not how that works at all.

(Note: 100% of Canadians - I asked around - agree that voting for Trump is insane, so it's not like I'm yay Trump or something)

Know what can eat a Costco-sized bag of dicks with dicksauce? - croup. Seriously. Eat a bag of dicks, croup. Two kids coughing like death was knocking on their door, and then not sleeping (which means wife and I get no sleep either) for the last three nights and I'm about done.

I've fudged them in the players' benefit once or twice, playing tabletop. What I have done more often, though, is offered bonuses if the desired action is especially creative or imaginative. Heck, I've even added a couple of points for vividly descriptive.

Slash the abomination across the back? No bonus
Slash the abomination across the back while in the air, having launched yourself from the roof of a car, which should cause the abomination in question to stumble into the path of an oncoming train? Oh, you can have a few points for that.

I try to reward imagination instead of merely punishing difficulty. But I let everyone know how I'm modifying the roll, if for no other reason than to encourage repeat behaviour.

@Vorpal He's been a donor for awhile, and he was getting a tour, mentioned his presentation, and had a pretty decent list of places he'd given the same presentation. My bosses just didn't ask those places for a reference, is all.

My bosses - whom I love - brought in a guest speaker for the staff meeting yesterday without properly vetting him, who was going to talk about self-care (when you work with at-risk teens, this is important). This was, they admitted after, a mistake. I almost stood and interrupted him a half dozen times but I didn't, out of respect for my boss.

After the first...10 minutes or so, he lost the entire room (he didn't even have me for the first 10) when he said, "You can cure cancer with the right supplements. There's a cure out there, but the pharmaceutical companies are sitting on it." Rage mode on.... My colleague's dad didn't want to do chemo and died because of supplements. "Boys are physical, but girls aren't," and "everyone can overcome shyness," I'm sure were two sentiments the introverted woman who runs the gym we have for youth was thrilled to hear.

It was a dumpster fire. It was so bad that my bosses sent out an email to those of us in attendance denouncing the presentation, and apologising for it.

Back (I want to say 1995) when the dew of creation was still fresh upon the internet, before browsers and pictures (which is why I believe it was fresh dew...), my brother and I stumbled onto DSMuse (Deep Space Muse), out of... Binghamton, if I recall correctly. Star Trek: DS9. I was way into the RP side of things, my brother liked commanding ships and getting into space fights - I didn't have the head for imagining where I was in relation to everyone else, and he couldn't have given a hot damn about being a character if he tried). So, we shared a character named K'lemtoQ. That was fun.