My 20-year-old kid was just lamenting that today's children will never know an Internet that's not all brain-rot garbage. She said (and I paraphrase): "I see so many toddlers in strollers staring at their iPads, showing them 'Cocomelon' and the like, that must be rewiring their brains in a bad way."

I've still not seen or read any plausible answer to: "Why should we believe that this DOJ/FBI, which has had months to redact/lose/burn/shred/delete anything they want with no accountability or oversight, can be expected to reveal anything close to the 'real' files?"

I'd love to hear one, though!

Oooh, neat! That does sound like you've opened a linguistic can of worms for yourself. 😜 (And, yeah, I do love me a good silhouette!)

Ha! I generally draw the line on the "it's fine" side of those two words, but there's no objectively wrong place to draw it for secondary-world fiction. I admire your dedication. :-)

(But if that's your challenge, also watch for dunce, boycott, mausoleum, and chauvinism!)

I think we can close down the Internet, now that we've seen the greatest thing it has to offer.

I've noticed this a bit, yes, though I confess I don't find much fault with "bitter as seawater." My own experience is that seawater is most salty but also with some unpleasant (seaweed-y? fishy?) overtones that one could reasonably describe as bitter.

With you on the roach one though!

I may have to buy two copies so my wife and I won't fight over it the moment I bring it into our house!

Pretty sure it’s because Gygax and Arneson also were borrowing from other fantasy authors for the magic system — Vance and Saberhagen in particular. In some of the latter’s books, there were (IIRC) similar restrictions, e.g. metal interfering with spellcasting. That’s my best guess! 🙂🗡️🧙‍♀️

Ugh! That’s awful. How long had the campaign been going on?

I’ve always felt a D&D game is a partnership between a dm and the players. That’s an outright betrayal. 😡

The second movement of Kalinnikov's Symphony No. 1.

The whole symphony is my favorite piece of classical music, but the 2nd movement in particular is just (for me) heartbreakingly beautiful.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E11v...

Loved this article. When I started reading, I soon thought: I wonder if the author is familiar with my old colleague Marc LeBlanc's taxonomy? Was not disappointed!

Did you know that since those old LG days, he's also done board game design? Check out Heroes Welcome! It's fu... er, well, you know.

Two questions:

1) My (college-aged) kids both played Cthulhu Death May Die recently, and they had good things to say. What did you think, both narratively and mechanically?

2. When you played Guillotine, did everyone involved speak in bad French accents the whole time, as is required by law?

Say that again and I'll knock that stupid Santa hat off your stupid head with this slushball!

Feel how you want to feel; I don't blame you! But there's something formative about watching, as a teen, another team's grown-up fandom committing vandalism out of petty anger.

Plus they tore up Philly Phanatic dolls. Unforgivable.

www.upi.com/Archives/198...

The Mets.

As a kid, I was there when the Mets played at the Vet in Philly, and if they had won, they would have clinched the division. But my beloved Phillies held them off.

The crowd was full of Mets fans eager to see the clinch, and, denied that, they *tore seats out of their moorings.*

So.