when I see people bragging about their high IQ it reminds me of those people who buy sports cars and then take them around to shows on a trailer with 5 miles on the odometer to talk about how it has 750 horsepower and a top speed of 300mph
one of the most retroactively embarrassing moments in my life is in like 2015 or '16 I was doing some dumb team-building thing for some school-adjacent activity, and the task was to create a “new Mount Rushmore,” basically as a group nominate four people who are doing good and important work in the world. I suggested musk. at the time most people there hadn’t heard of him, so I gave a little spiel about how he was the “founder” (which I thought was true at the time) of PayPal, Tesla (which people were just becoming aware of), and SpaceX. every time I remember it I cringe and hope nobody else does. although most other people in the group suggested Beyonce as someone doing “important work for humanity” so idk if they have much of a leg to stand on to criticize my choice
“we” huh? as in he identifies himself as part of their group? while acknowledging that they’re Nazis? interesting.
yeah I had something similar with the Beatles, where literally my first memory of music is Abbey Road, so my whole life I was like, I don’t get the hype, that’s just what music sounds like. it was only recently I went and listened to the album again with context of what other music from the 60s was like, and I finally realized that they were truly doing some wild shit with songwriting and production
“you can’t just say bankruptcy”
“I didn’t say it, I asserted it”
I got everything except the guilt, because I realized “living up to your potential” is 1) often not even in your control, 2) not something you are actually under any obligation to do, and 3) not as important as being happy
if by home you mean prison
a million documents is on average about one document every 35 minutes for his entire life. that seems like a lot, even for a broad definition of “document”
live SpongeBob reaction
Saturn’s coming back around for older gen-z’s
doesn’t matter if it was unanimous or not, the board does not have the legal authority to change the name. my d&d group can vote unanimously that we should have free snacks, that doesn’t mean there’s no consequences if we go rob the convenience store
not necessarily. for example we say things like “the lion is the king of the jungle,” but that doesn’t mean there’s only one lion per jungle. sometimes we refer to an archetypal singular to convey something about every member of a group
it always bugs me that this phrase isn’t even grammatically correct. mitochondria is plural. it should be “the mitochondrion is the powerhouse of the cell”
this isn’t new, “making smaller marks on a rock” has been mankind’s method for expanding data storage for thousands of years
edit - hmm, needs workshopping I guess. maybe something like: “over thousands of years, humans have refined data storage from its most primitive beginnings as marks on rocks, to its most advanced novelty, different marks on different rocks”
he’s canonically a track athlete iirc
I don’t know for sure actually. definitely Sauron would have commanded the Balrogs during the Years of the Trees when Morgoth was imprisoned by the Valar. but then the Balrogs fled and scattered during the War of Wrath when Morgoth was defeated at the end of the first age. and then my knowledge of the 2nd and 3rd age history is pretty fuzzy, so I don’t know if Durin’s Bane (or any other Balrogs) would have been in contact with Sauron, or if he tried to regather them (which I imagine he would if he knew of any that still existed), or if they were all just isolated in hiding for thousands of years. but in any case, if the confrontation with the Fellowship had gone differently, Durin’s Bane might have been flushed out of hiding, and gone out into the world to discover that Sauron was regathering his forces, and in that case I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t agree to ally with Sauron
good points but I have a nit to pick. I don’t think Flame of Anor refers to Narya, the Ring of Fire. keeping the 3 rings secret was imperative, so much so that Aragorn chides Frodo for mentioning that Galadriel has one, even though that’s a pretty obvious guess, and they were completely alone in the wilderness when it was said, and assaulting Lorien to get it would be difficult for Sauron’s forces. so for Gandalf to say directly to one of Sauron’s highest captains that one of the 3 is directly in front of him, carried by someone unexpected, as easy to take as defeating a single enemy (powerful as that enemy may be), just doesn’t make sense
Anor is the sun, so I think Gandalf is just saying “we both wield fire, but mine is bright like the sun, and thus superior to yours which is dark”
well mostly it’s explained by the fact that it didn’t happen.
"In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.
All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dínen.
‘You cannot enter here,’ said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. ‘Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!’
The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.
‘Old fool!’ he said. ‘Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!’ And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.
Gandalf did not move."
and then the Rohirrim arrive and the Rider leaves.
exactly, the real Luddites weren’t opposed to technology, they were opposed to wealthy factory owners using technology in a way that eliminated or cheapened their labor to extract more profit. what Sanders and most others are citing as threats posed by “ai” are actually perfectly in line with the Luddites, but they’re not allowed to say so because the actual history of the Luddites has been smeared and propagandized to make them look like unreasonable morons who are scared of things they can’t comprehend
remember when AOC was going to make hamburgers illegal?