I miss novels that did this.
Anytime is a good time to start.
“Miyamoto Was Like ‘That’s Not How Elephants Work’”
“Exorcist: Believer ran off its release date after Swift announced her Eras Tour concert movie.”
Friday Afternoon Links
About The Author
Riven
[riv-uhn]
noun
1. a gaming, lifting, shooting, intoxicated, ravenous, and happily-taken nerd.
2. often aims to misbehave.
3. and though she be but little, she is fierce.*
And rumor has it that she (and her husband) are also delightful dinner companions. You didn't hear it from me, though.
Be glad he doesn’t apply the same rigor to how plumbers and sewer pipes actually work.
Yay. Holiday weekend is here.
I’m curious what my FBI file looks like.
I’m guessing they didn’t spell my name right.
A good friend of mine in the former East Germany read his Stasi file. Most notable thing in it, he said, was “He is careful to maintain his motorcycle.”
They wanted a ton of cash to print mine back in the 90’s. It was $1 a page I think. You can asj for it.
Most people I knew did not want to see their file. They all said they did not want to know who among their friends and families ratted them out.
I assume they announced the date change with “Look what you made me do”
So the Wheel of Time map is actually a link to the FEE story on the FBI file on Oliver Anthony? Interesting.
What’s more interesting is that Riven misses novels about the FBI making files on potential “subversive” celebrities apparently…. Who knew?
If I’m supposed to know what that means, I’m sorry I do not.
That said — the remix really doesn’t work for me… the Toxic music just clashes with the vocals — obviously it must work for others… but I just find it jarring. At least they aren’t seeking Amy at the Love Shack, I suppose.
Somewhere in my mom’s basement is my circa-1980’s hard cover Dungeon Masters Guide and Players Handbook. I have tried in vain to find them. She swears she hasn’t thrown them out.
Given the complicated mess that BG3 seems like to me… I strongly suspect staying 3rd Edition or lower would be my preference as a DM. I don’t find much to write home about in 5e from what I’ve seen of it.
I’m just impressed that you had friends to play with TOK. I most certainly never did, so I dabbled with a couple systems but never actually was in a real game… just read the manuals.
I had 2 or 3 friends willing to play. Then in high school I made up a post-apocalypse game based on that rule set, and I had 2 or 3 willing to play that too.
I’ve spent more time reading the RPG books I own than I’ve spent playing the games, with just a few exceptions. I stand behind Earthdawn having one of the most well built and constructed world for adventuring in and giving a reason for abandoned areas full of treasure and monsters. On top of that, the main race was Dwarves, there was an evil slaving empire, and fun races (Windlings, T’skrang, and Obsidemen).
Earthdawn and Shadowrun have the best lore base in TTRPG history, and it’s not close.
I’d love to do a retro Shadowrun game on a compatible Virtual Tabletop, if one exists. Dunno if I’d want to use the Shadowrun game mechanics though. I remember those being a handful…
Today I have a friend who is part of a group, and his daughter plays too. But their night conflicts with hockey practice.
I’m always a bit disappointed in myself that I somehow managed to lose all of the D&D box sets from back in the day (I had them from Basic to Immortals).
You probably put them in a bag of holding and mistakenly put that in another bag of holding.
I still have all mine. Plus AD&D 2nd edition books with a smattering of AD&D 1st edition books.
I tried 5th edition once. I wasn’t impressed. I never bothered with 3rd or 4th edition.
I played some 3rd edition, and spent a LOT of time with Neverwinter Nights and NWN 2 back in the day (from memory, both were built on 3.5 ed). There were so many good fan created modules for those games.
I stopped playing after 1st edition, so whenever I look at the state of things, I am hoplessly lost. That said, I would love a OD&D/AD&D game to pop up arond here.
But, I lost all of my stuff in a house fire back in ’92.
Mine are somewhere around here.
AD&D. Five books. On the shelf in my office (right behind me). DM Guide, Play Guide, Monster Manual, and two Survival Guides.
2nd Edition as I recall (purchased circa 1982).
That’s probably what I have. Those books were beautiful. Full color cover, and black and white illustrations inside. I could just page through and look at the artwork.
Mine was 8th print, 1983. Looks like Player’s Handbook was 9th print, also 1983. Sigh.
My group also played Call of Cthulhu.
And someone gifted me with an RPG based on swashbucklers. But, it was a comedy game. Every character had a schtick. And you would have to roll saving throws. If you failed, you had to do your schtick regardless of the circumstances.
Tales From the Floating Vagabond? That game had schticks in it.
Nope. Not SciFi as I recall.
I don’t remember much about the game, except lots of players would get killed in the middle of combat when the schtick kicked in and the opposition didn’t care.
Nerds.
Mine are long gone.
correct
So you found the Cheetos?
https://www.glibertarians.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_1297-scaled.jpg
https://www.glibertarians.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_1298-scaled.jpg
My Primary FRPG bookcase. My Battletech and secondary FRPG bookcase are upstairs.
Notable points: The binders on the third shelf are the softcover BECMI cut and put into page protectors to prevent further wear and keep them usable. Those things on the right side of the shelf below that are Gazetteers. I don’t quite have all of them.
Nice. I didn’t see any Spelljammer books, did I miss? That was one of my favorites.
Bottom shelf.
I see some overlap in what you have and I have.
Looks like D&D gazetteers in there next to Dawn of the Emporers?
I still have a lot in the basement, D&D 3e/Basic/Expert, AD&D 1e/2e DMG/PH, modules. Unfortunately some items were lost over the years.
Holy fuck where the fuck is The Hyperbole?
Falling behind
An array of factors is behind the shift: the country’s rising costs and a shortage of open farmland, the lingering effects of former president Donald Trump’s trade war with China, a strong US dollar. The US today comprises about one-third of global soybean exports, a distant second to Brazil. On wheat, it’s now in fifth place, with a single-digit share of the global market.
The steady decline and loss of competitiveness for the US is a blow for a country that has long wielded food as a geopolitical force. At the height of the Cold War, it used its ample supplies as a tool to keep communism from spreading in developing nations and even supplied about a quarter of its wheat to Russia after a crop failure in the early 1970s.
“The US reminds me of the frog being slowly boiled,” said Ann Berg, an independent consultant and veteran trader who started her career at Louis Dreyfus Co. in 1974. “It’s lost its dominance but it took 40 years.”
To be sure, the shift in corn shipments isn’t all that unexpected: For years, the federal government has been incentivizing the use of domestically grown corn for ethanol, which is added to gasoline. About 40% of US corn goes to supply domestic mills making ethanol for use as a transportation fuel — though that demand will be at risk as more electric vehicles hit the road. When mills aren’t buying, the US corn crop can also be stored in massive silos or grain elevators for future use for years at a time, awaiting better prices.
Not much about actual production. Are we producing less, or exporting less of what we produce? Also, they talk about Brazil as if they are completely ignorant of the effects of communist political leadership on agricultural output. It’s Bloomberg; what do I expect? At least they remembered to ding Trump and his “trade war”.
What we need are more subsidies for the corn industry and inducements to grow surplus agricultural products for which there is no market so we can then use industrial policy to convert the useless surplus agricultural product into a less efficient form of fuel for our automobiles.
And what I need is to scroll all the way down before posting…
What a bitch.
I would have thought that would be Meredith Brooks. Or Halestorm, I suppose.
And- 40% of our corn crop goes out America’s tailpipes? Good grief.
A nice opt-out in OK.
Fake “renewable”, more inefficiency in ICE to push people towards electrics, eating small engines alive, driving up basic food prices as we burn food instead of fuel…. what’s not to love for the dystopian depopulation cult?
I knew an engineer who specialized in building ethanol plants.
He was tormented (deliberately) endlessly by people asking him why his drawings always included a fuel oil tank.
“Why do you have a fuel oil tank? Can’t you just run the plant on the ethanol it produces?”
Fake renewable indeed.
Yes
It takes more petroleum to create a gallon of ethanol than it does to extract and refine a barrel of oil.
If politicians absolutely positively have to buy farm state votes, why not just send the farmers a check once a month and skip all the play acting involved in the ethanol fuel business? Also support the non-workers at the ethanol-non plants and give Cargill et al some extra cash. The same palms would be greased and we would be net better off.
Because the narrative is all that matters. You must believe that they care.
I guess so, but that’s a lot of extra machinery just to buy some votes.
The alternative is gulags.
Nothing so permanent as a temporary government program. Big Ag loves those subsidies.
It’s a holiday weekend, and I’ll be in and out all weekend, so I give you the Zoom link to use and abuse.
UCS — if you come around, I don’t have any idea why Starfield is bugging out on your system (my guess would be video drivers updated to latest, but I’m assuming you did that when you changed out for the 2070 you mentioned this morning). I was going to wait for it to go on sale, but picked it up since I was likely going to eventually anyway (got a couple games to get through first though) and started it just to make sure it worked. Got to the main menu without issues, card detected and all. (3090 here). So I hope you get it / got it worked out… but I don’t think it is a widespread bug from what I can find.
I just read a review that mentioned there are procedurally generated bits in the game, probably a lot of them when you think about it. That is big no-no for me.
I’m beginning to be happy I didn’t get super extra deluxe version that included the early release.
I can wait until next week to not be able to not be able to play the game because it crashes.
Do people play online Parcheesi?
Anytime is a good time to start.
The only winning move is not to play.
A nice opt-out in OK.
Que?
There was a report recently saying the EPA has essentially stopped giving waivers to refiners for non-ethanol gasoline. I have not been able to find any here at the pump. The small cans of VP and other brands are around for chainsaws and weedeaters, but no bulk sales.
It was when I last went a few years ago? Sorry for not keeping up, but thanks for the intel.
I’ve never seen non blended gas for sale in NJ. I’ve always been jealous of states where it was available.
It’s not common, but I know of a couple places around me that sell non-ethanol gasoline.
Same. Clear premium only.
We now have a number of gas stations that offer ethanol free unleaded. But you pay a twenty cent premium.
Worth it.
When two idiots collide. It’s not like the first idiot just transported into the middle of the road.
Idiot in truck decided to pull out in front.
Target fixation on the car turning from the right hand lane maybe? Otherwise…. what a moron.
I’m assuming the truck in motion just didn’t really think the one pulling out was going to do it. Not wise, but it happens.
Yep. Seems was focused on the turn lane and now beyond that.
This actually doesn’t surprise me.
“idiots collide”
What can you even say? I hope the dash cam guy laid on the horn.
For the melodica enthusiasts earlier:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH82sJ898jg
I love the FBI.
Bunch of great people, working tirelessly to keep us safe!
Just like Friend Computer!
Let’s not forget the fine folks at the CIA and IRS!
#metoo and the CIA, IRS,ATF , capital PD, Border Agents,Hwy Patrol, City PD, and Sheriff officers. Underpaid public servants, the lot of them, they are.
Tireless workers on behalf of the people and their liberties. I agree.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms: Real America’s Holy Trinity.
And as numerous Americans have pointed out to me, an excellent shopping list.
. . .
Wait, was that the wrong thing to say?
Damn.
“A convenience store, not a government agency”
I got a beer coozie from a great general store in Calumet, MI. On one side says: “Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms” and the other side is “I buy my beer and booze at the same place I buy my guns and ammo.” Cool place.
HEAR! HEAR!
Bless me Agent for I have sinned.
It has been five minutes since my last NSA zero day exploit reported back to the Holy Servers at Ft Meade.
X to collect biometric, employment information from paid users
Sept. 1 (UPI) — Social media platform X updated its privacy policy to indicate it will begin collecting biometric and employment information from paid users.
The company, formerly known as Twitter, updated the policy Thursday to indicate it would collect unspecified biometric information “for safety, security, and identification purposes,” with the changes set to take effect on Sept. 29.
In the past, other companies have used biometrics including fingerprints and facial scans from photos to authenticate users or to protect financial and other sensitive information.
“We use information we collect to provide for the safety and security of our users, our products, services, and your account,” X said in its privacy policy. “This includes verifying your identity, authenticating your account, and defending against fraud, unauthorized use, and illegal activity.”
“We also use the information to evaluate and affect the safety and quality of content on X — this includes investigating and enforcing our policies and terms, as well as applicable law.”
Fuck you, Muskrat. That is all.
Muskrat Sally and Muskrat Sam.
Did Sally and Sam ramble?
Man, I’ve really enjoyed TwiX since Musk bought it.
It looks like my days there are numbered.
I wonder if that’s just for the paid/verified accounts? I’m currently not paying for it, and I’ll quit if it’s not free. None of those things really applies to me at this point.
Right, so far that’s correct. I don’t pay either. But it’s starting to look like the bad old days are coming back.
I’d assume they want to add biometric data to use their mobile app.
If it’s optional it doesn’t bother me. However, I won’t be surprised if it isn’t.
If Elon Musk thinks he’s going to sap and impurify all my precious bodily fluids, he is sorely mistaken.
Grammar Enthusiast Who Knew What You Meant Just Gonna Go Ahead And Correct You Anyway
I only correct the grammar of people that should know better, like alleged “Editor in Chief” Jonah Goldberg.
When I visited my German relatives back in 1989, Dad’s cousin had a great way of correcting me. When we were talking to each other, if I got something grammatically wrong she would basically ask a question using the proper grammar to get me to clarify. It was a great way for me to pick up on the fact that I had gotten something wrong. And then there was the lesson I got on modal verbs when I got a nasty sunburn and she asked me the next morning, »Hast du schlafen können?« 🙂
In fact, part of the reason I tend to be a bit of a stickler for grammar is so that people who aren’t native speakers can see the language as it’s technically supposed to be used.
Yes, I use that technique with my friends.
In fact, part of the reason I tend to be a bit of a stickler for grammar is so that people who aren’t native speakers can see the language as it’s technically supposed to be used.
Nice.
Had some great progress at the gym this week. Yesterday we put in 10 security cameras, and today they installed our commercial doors. Tuesday we’ve got some people coming out to help with the remaining 3 or 4 cameras, troubleshooting a bunch of electrical issues, and running cable from the electronic door system to our office computer. We still need to set get our gym membership software going, and a fire inspection, but that’s pretty much it.
Great news!
Woot! Congrats!
I’ve got the camera system hooked up to my phone so I was watching them work on the doors today. #stalker
BTW, I settled on a Swann system because a few family members use those for their homes. So far it’s working just fine.
You just want to watch the hot women in sports bras and yoga pants working out. :-p
Better than the alternative.
I fail to see the issue here.
Offer accepted by the seller on the house. Should be taking the keys by October, so some temporary housing for a few weeks. Shit getting real now. 2 more weeks of Nevada, really Cali East and off to greener pastures literally.
Wow, more great news!
Happy for y’all!
🥂
Excellent
Will the last Glib leaving Nevada – Turn out the lights
odds and ends
During my brief stint as a Floor-duh math teacher, I had a student in my geometry class raise his hand and ask “what’s arithmetic?” while I was explaining a problem. He was in at least 10th grade. I took geometry in 9th grade along with many of my peers. That high school is 20 miles or so away from UFL and it doesn’t have a calculus or even a trigonometry class.
Over the past 2 days, I emailed my book proposal to about 80 literary agents. I’ve gotten 5 rejections so far, but at least one good piece of advice, which was it’s hard to get an autobiography published unless the author is already famous. I was thinking of retooling my autobiography into a novel. My working titles are I, Robert and Thinker, Sailer, Soldier, Spy.
I used this site to search for agents: https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/find-agentseditors/search/
About 95% are women and maybe 90% are leftists. The quiltbag brigade is heavily represented.
If you decided to self-publish, there’s a Glib for that, just sayin’.
It is Wine Thirty and I am administering the grape juice of healing.
*angels sing*
“Exxxxxxxxcellent, Smithers!”
Yes it stinks, but pay no attention to strung out addicts, lines of “undocumented” immigrants, crazy ass cyclists, or violent crime. It’s the pot!
NYC’s disgusting pot stench is keeping tourists away
I never thought I’d say it, but I’m getting sick of the smell.
But yeah, it’s ain’t the weed that’s keeping people away
Outdoors I prefer the smell of tobacco over pot.
I’d prefer neither, but that’s not going to happen.
But I’m walking to work at 7:15am smelling weed at multiple times during my over 1 mile walk.
Pipe smoke is heavenly to me.
LOL.
It will never change because the topic has been racified – was, in fact, from the beginning. The whole point of legal pot was that there were too many arrests of people of certain hues. Complaining about pot smoke is going to be deemed racist if they’re not doing it already.
Of course, pot was outlawed because its users were of certain hues, as well. So there’s that.
I thought it was the jazz music.
FWIW there is (still) a big difference in who smokes on the street versus who smokes at home. Any crackdown on public smoking will get the racist! flag for sure.
Finally my time has arrived!
Women should date short, bald men: Jana Hocking
Oz thot.
Pfft, Marissa Tomei has known what’s up since 1996
LOL.
“Hi Marissa, I’ve got the funeral at 3… but I’m free the rest of weekend.” *click*
The number of FBI agents posing as Asian thots on X is impressive.
Or it might be Russian gangsters, hard to tell.
My follower list is growing daily.
Mine too! I’m up to 60 followers, with names like Mary, Martina, Lysan, Daisy, Anna, Kim. Is it common for real people to use just one name?
They come through and clean up the BotThots on occasion. The last one got a dozen for me.
If only you knew how bad things really are
Around 3, I finally got everything the way it should have been.
Took me long enough.
*sigh*
Now the thieves are breaking through my fence to take wheelbarrows to the adjoining property and steal something, I don’t know what. I stopped them from driving new lawnmowers across my property, now I’ve got to stop wheelbarrows?
ED 209?
It’s a thought. I hate thieves.
Got any caltrops?
I keep them right next to my skintight leather catsuit and whip.
Stop hoarding ’em. Caltrops want to be *free*.
A woman documented the 12 hours she spent at a Golden Corral slogging her way through its all-you-can-eat $12 buffet and it’s quite something
Good.
God.
First official pepper harvest of the season:
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/O6iaIKIMTuS_s69UZS0Qog.HAN5PwkcVL-jYEySJqiIkg
My bell peppers are big and hearty. The little green Thai made my man o’ the world son bolt for the cold water tap after one teeny bite. Not me, I’m not touching anything that may be spicy, not even Heinz chili sauce. More for the rest of you, I say.
Worth a watch. Eric Weinstein talks about meeting Epstein.
https://twitter.com/EricRWeinstein/status/1697727030068912566
Well you run the stock from mid 50s to 30s and loose your CFO and the reason you are on the street with pockets of cash is because you are black.
Walgreens CEO’s Exit Highlights Isolation of Black Female Leaders
Of course it’s because she’s black.
Just like how they fired Fiorina. Women just aren’t accepted as CEOs.
+ 1 Lisa Su
JFC what a bunch of racist bullshit.
It’s a problem to be “the only”? Go fuck yourselves.
Wait, I thought we were supposed to celebrate the first woman, black, whatever CEO, President, whatever.
But if you’re the first, doesn’t that mean you are the only?
It’s lonely at the top.
The company, formerly known as Twitter, updated the policy Thursday to indicate it would collect unspecified biometric information “for safety, security, and identification purposes,” with the changes set to take effect on Sept. 29.
I wonder if this is an attempt to appease advertisers after the epidemic of impostors a while back.
Around 3, I finally got everything the way it should have been.
Took me long enough.
Quicker than a 3D print?
Ford continues to confirm my decision to buy an Acura.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/01/ford-to-replace-rear-cameras-in-new-recall-take-270-million-charge.html
We can’t even look out our back windows while backing up anymore?
Give crash and rollover safety requirements I’m amazed they are able to keep any glass.
Comparing visibility in anything made pre 2000 to now is amazing.
I don’t have a back window to look out of on my Ford
I try to find a parking place that doesn’t require backing up. Most dangerous maneuver in driving. Unlike young guys like MikeS my back window looking days are over.
Almost all if the parking spots available for my Ford are back-in. You gotta pay extra for the pull-thru
I usually park an extra walk away and pull through. I know the extra walking isn’t for everyone. Cameras are nice.
Yeah; I try to take a pull-through whenever I can.
I also prefer backing out if required as opposed to backing in.
Overhead camera views are fucking awesome, as are front and rear camera views.
The back window in my Mustang is damn near useless.
FJ Cruiser says “hi”.
Now the thieves are breaking through my fence to take wheelbarrows to the adjoining property and steal something
I looked one day at Lowes, and the wheelbarrow I paid forty bucks for a few years ago is now ninety. Are you sure they’re not just stealing the wheelbarrows?
It’s a lawn and garden place next door. They’re probably stealing seasonal supplies for their landscape service.
It’s getting stupid out there.
Ford continues to confirm my decision to buy an Acura.
Uncle Tony’s Garage had a nice little rant about a $5600 taillight repair on a Ford pickup yesterday.
Yeah I mentioned that the other day.
Those tarted up Hondas are good cars.
I would have bought the Pilot, but the wife needed the MDX…
Needz moar scare quotes.
We can’t even look out our back windows while backing up anymore?
Newsflash- the boxes and tailgates are so fucking tall you won’t see a Lincoln Continental back there, much less a Hyumdai.
I was at the grocery store a few days ago in the Honda Element (which does not exactly hug the ground) and I could not see over the hood of the Dodge truck next to me when I was backing out of my parking place.
Fortunately for me I’m not in a lifted and coal rolling area.
I have enough trouble with all the moms in full size SUVs.
How have I never seen this clip before?
https://twitter.com/Inversionism/status/1697696409359642911
I watched part of the original youtube video on that taillight repair, and he talked about “locator’s fees”. Seriously? On top of everything else, they charge you a fee for telling you if they have it?
$300 worth.
And it was a glorious time
https://twitter.com/Super70sSports/status/1697684491899171306
Those were the days, R’herder. Smokes, ciggies, fags, butts.
“Cheap enough for 10 year olds”
The defining movie of the decade
Jews, spics, niggers and now a girl? 😲😂
It twas a simpler time.
No blacks, no Jews, and no gays
The ‘70s were great and it’s never too early to start smoking cigs.
I sincerely apologize to anyone I offended with my cold hearted and not well thought out comment re: looking out back windows when backing up. I’m just glad I didn’t add anything about using mirrors. 😜
Yes, back-up cameras are good tech. There are even times I wish I had one on my Silverado.
😂😂
You use your rear windows while backing up because you hate technology. I use my rear windows while backing up because I drive a cheap old beater with no backup camera. We are not the same.
If I had one, I’d use it.
Drunken furniture assembly will begin ~9:30 ET
What wine pairs well with Ikea?
Something with a screw top.
😂🍷
Never drink and code
You could have told me that 25 years ago. 🙄
DELETE FROM public.item WHERE item_id ~* ‘[0-9]*’
Now where did I put that fucking database dump from last night?
Jews, spics, niggers and now a girl?
They were diverse and inclusive before it was cool.
Hiya, Riven!
After watching and reading multiple reviews of the WoT series I’ve decided to give it a pass as well. Most of the critics I’ve encountered have been your typical, mediocre, Critical Drinker wanna be “How Dare You Redefine My Beloved Geekdom!” bullshit. This young lady, however, is an editor and newbie to both the books and series and gives a dry, humorous, often strained to the point of failure, attempt at a dispassionate critique of the series. She makes many good points…the fact that she’s cute as a button helps tremendously.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pIw2vKs0XfQ
*hits bowl*
Case in point: The beginning of this video taking the piss out of the series version of Perrin and Egwene’s first encounter with the Whitecloaks…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MfzXGjuOqkA&t=24s
Er…that started twenty-six seconds into the vidy…sorry. I shall now fuck off for the evening.
Tex Talks Battletech: The Hunchback.
Test test?
Your test failed.
We’ve got bush
“What the fuck is a “frush” ?”