My fiancee and I were discussing the worst metal to use to make armor, and the obvious answers are lead and gold, but she cunningly suggested mercury. Which is a fair point, but then I wondered if solid mercury is any good. Googling told me that the melting point of mercury is -38° c (-37° f), so first you get it really fucking cold. At that point, it turns out that mercury has a tensile strength of 1900 mpa, compared to lead’s 18 and steel’s ~500-940 (depending upon the kind of steel).
Now, I know that tensile strength is not necessarily the best measure of a material’s ability to function as armor, but I’m a liberal arts major and didn’t care to actually do that much more research before going straight to, “EVIL ICE DEMONS IN MERCURY ARMOR. THE PCS CAN’T LOOT IT BECAUSE WHEN THEY PUT IT ON IT MELTS AND KILLS THEM.”
Ice Demons wielding weapons made of frozen mercury. Spearheads that break off & melt inside the target. Swords that leave tiny bits of melted mercury inside the wound (the swords re-freeze to razor sharpness while in the ice demon’s claws).
Item: blades, spears, and/or arrowheads made of mercury frozen by Ice Magic; can only be used by one with Ice Magic, but deliver whatever damage the weapon type would normally make plus equal amounts of Cold and 1d8 Poison. Once the wound has been delivered, it continues to deliver 1d8 Poison until the mercury has been removed by healing magic, Wish, &c.
Apparently I’ve seen this before? But this EXACTLY matches the description of the Morgul blade in LOTR? It felt like “a dart of poisoned ice” (or something like that), it left a piece in Frodo’s shoulder that slowly poisoned him, and the blade melted away when Aragorn looked at it. And Glorfindel warned them all to handle it as little as possible, too!
#i feel like this is also the stance of the movies#because lando spends approximately zero seconds redeeming himself#think of how black characters are usually treated for betrayals#even if it is an airquote betrayal#lando helps at the end of esb and is officially one of the heroes no redemption necessary#the whole choking thing is a misunderstanding really tags via cadesama
Lando is 100% right to do what he did. He was Responsible for everyone on Cloud City. Leia, who grew up as the Princess of an entire planet, 100% understood that. Lando is completely validated by the story, the characters, and everyone for what he did.
And we see that he did try to shoo off the “hero crew” when they arrived in Cloud City in such a way that a) they’d have a decent chance of escaping, and b) he’d have plausible deniability. We see him ribbing Han a lot, for example, in such a way that it would be entirely possible that Han, who’s very touchy, might well just … go off in a huff. Lando could then easily go “haha, sorry Darth Vader sir, didn’t realize that Han couldn’t take a joke.” Win-win.
I also really appreciate that Lando is depicted as a solid person. He’s in a position of trust and authority, and he acts like it. He might have a bit of a checkered past, but he’s trying his best to do the right thing - and he’s doing a better job than Han, who’s still in trouble with the law.
I also think that Lando’s choice is supposed to be something of a parallel to Luke; Luke knows, on Dagobah, that the galaxy needs a Jedi to defeat Vader and the Emperor. He knows that becoming that Jedi is basically the most important thing, and as far as he knows, he’s the only one who can do it. He also knows, from the cave vision, that his friends/the Special Important Heroes are in danger.
He’s got a choice to make: either stay with Yoda and ghost Obi-Wan and keep learning how to be the Jedi the galaxy needs, or put that on hold and save the Special Important Heroes against his teachers’ warnings.
Lando’s situation is pretty similar. He’s in charge of Cloud City and responsible for its people, and when the Empire comes, he knows that he’s the only one that can protect them. His choice is to either save his city full of people and let the Empire in for Han and Leia, or refuse, save the Special Important Heroes, and watch the Empire destroy his city. He chooses right, and because of that he’s actually able to do more good, because he can evacuate the city and use the trust he’s gained with the Empire to get Leia and Chewie out.
Luke, on the other hand (sorry), chooses the Special Important Heroes and abandons his training. And it goes bad. He loses his fight, loses his hand, learns that Darth Vader is his dad in probably the most traumatic way possible, and, in Hamil’s own words, attempts suicide. He’s not actually able to help anyone; Lando’s already got Leia and Chewie out by the time he gets there, and the fact that they have to go back for him means that they lose the chance to go after Han until RotJ.
The narrative clearly indicates that there’s a right choice in each of these situations. It’s also the one that seems, at face value, to be the morally wrong one; Lando’s choice to give Han, Leia, and Chewie up to the Empire feels like a betrayal, and Luke staying on Dagobah would’ve felt like him abandoning his friends. Still, when you think about it from a practical rather than emotional perspective, it’s clear that Lando makes the right choice on Cloud City, and Luke makes the wrong one. It’s a fun parallel
“The Militarization of the Police Department – Deadly Farce,” an original painting by Richard Williams from “The 20 Dumbest People, Events, and Things of 2014″ in Mad magazine #531, published by DC Comics, February 2015.
Here’s the original, for comparison. And here’s a bit more about the artist and why he created the piece above for MAD Magazine.
Richard Williams on Norman Rockwell:
“For most people, he was the painter of ‘America,’” he added. “But even he said his vision was what he wanted ‘America’ to be. It was a mythical ‘America,’ a place where all people were decent, honest and full of good will. His work was full of gentle humor that made you feel a little better; even if you knew it wasn’t really true… you just wished it was. My parody of Rockwell’s painting simply says, ‘That myth is dead.’”
I think it’s relevant to add that even Norman Rockwell chose to leave his cushy job at the Saturday Evening Post because he wanted to make artwork that was more radical. The Post had rules that wouldn’t allow him to do artwork depicting black people as anything other than servants. The job paid really well and that was a huge reason he continued on. But he wanted change that and so he moved to Look magazine.
A lot of people know about the very first piece he did when he left the post which was the The Problem We All Live With which depicts Ruby Bridges walking to school under federal protection.
But I don’t think enough people know about Murder in Mississippi which depicts three real civil rights activists who were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan and sherriffs. The magazine ran the sketch instead of the finished piece because they felt it had a more striking statement to accompany the article. Norman Rockwell would finish that version after publication which is here
Rockwell’s legacy is sanitized because he decided to maintain his job at the Post for so long despite his frustrations with not being able to express himself. The civil rights movement was just his final straw to change what he could with the little time he had left. Look magazine received a lot of hate for Rockwell painting these as well.
Another favorite piece of mine is The Right to Know which depicts an integrated populace questioning their government. In 1968, the year of Vietnam and the year the Fair Housing Act only just got signed in months prior:
But I think it’s important to include the caption Rockwell originally wrote for the piece as well. I think it represents how a 74 year old Rockwell felt about the America he believed in and the people in it:
We are the governed, but we govern too. Assume our love of country, for it is only the simplest of self-love. Worry little about our strength, for we have our history to show for it. And because we are strong, there are others who have hope.
But watch us more closely from now on, for those of us who stand here mean to watch those we put in the seats of power. And listen to us, you who lead, for we are listening harder for the truth that you have not always offered us.
Your voice must be ours, and ours speaks of cities that are not safe, and of wars we do not want, of poor in a land of plenty, and of a world that will not take the shape our arms would give it.
We are not fierce, and the truth will not frighten us. Trust us, for we have given you our trust. We are the governed, remember, but we govern too.
I’d just like to briefly say even Rockwell’s seemingly feel good Americana pieces are often more political than people today realize for example
likely the most famous picture of a Thanksgiving dinner ever painted and you see it all the time.
What you may not know is its actual title
“Freedom From Want” it’s a part of a series of 4, including this now famous meme
“Freedom of Speech” These paintings were illustrations of FDR’s “Four Freedoms” speech where The President laid out a vision that would become what the Allies were fighting for in WWII universal human rights that became a part of the UN charter.
So this homey American Thanksgiving scene was also a bold statement that no one in the world should go hungry
Rockwell’s work was very political, he used that Americana small town America vibe of his work to make what he was saying feel very close to the viewers he was trying to reach and also his optimism of the human spirt but for sure not blind to the need to build a better world.
Need a game that’s actually built around tanking as the main combat style. Not a game where you can, strictly speaking, build a character as a tank.
A game where the systems are built from the ground up assuming that you, the player, will be putting yourself in front of world-ending threats, standing up straight, and blocking the enemy.
Not dodge-rolling, not skipping around going “tee hee hee i’m a lil guy you can’t hit”, blocking.
And not as a disappointing alternative to a damage build!
Need the CLANG of the enemy’s attacks against armor, need clear sound and UI design that communicates “here’s how much damage you DIDN’T take, you absolute badass”, need a little gaggle of frail party members trembling in fear behind me as the extreme aura farming of walking up to a dragon and putting my entire shield in its mouth inspires them to fight on.
Also the player character should be a huge woman who’s into women.
Bonding more strongly with your polycule of cute DPS and healers makes your brave words of encouragement in battle act as a stronger performance multiplier, increasing attack and spellcasting speeds. Blocking a really big attack makes them go “I have to do my best too, she’s counting on me!!” and unleash extra strong spells so you’ll be proud of them.
Its very important that your character laughs when She blocks that big hit, not only is she willing to defend her polycule with her life, but she relishes the thrill of being the bastion that she is.
Also, she does carry a sword or something but not because she realy needs it, it’s solely for the purpose of taunting her enemies by tapping it against the rim of her shield to draw aggro.
Hear me out: skill tree where you use a huge sword to block instead, like death knights in WoW or similar two-hander tank classes. Still none of that dodging nonsense of course, dodging is just letting the attack hit something else than you.
Like there are a lot of ways to tank here:
Extreme Stamina Tanking: You take the damage unblocked and then survive it anyway because you’ve just got THAT much willpower. You can go to negative HP and still be standing.
The vampire tank: You’re not dying because you’re draining the enemy’s life force
The Classic Knight
The Low HP High Parry tank: There is no fucking way you should be surviving and yet. AND YET.
Like if you’re doing a Tanking Game you’ve gotta include a variety of ways to tank
asking for
myself, i refuse to feel guilt over pleasures
will there be cut scenes or similar where the damage is brutal, the battle barely won, and the healing, whilst tender and carefully applied, is slow and arduous?
to the point where it is uncertain, for a heartbeat, if the discomfort caused by the initial application will itself be the killing stroke?
one thing i am quite grateful to Brian David Gilbert for is the phrase “If you needed ME to tell you that… I’m glad I told you that.”
it has been etched into my brain for the past six years, fundamentally altering how i consider knowledge gaps held by others, as well as myself. people usually need to be told stuff before they can know it! that’s how knowing stuff works! this is an extreme example played for laughs but it’s a legitimately helpful philosophy!!
I’ve hear about how having cats makes you immune to hauntings, ghosts, spooky midnight noises etc but. for years I’ve been dealing with a panic response to unexpected nighttime noises, major enough that the adrenaline can keep me from falling back asleep for hours.
A few weeks of living with a cat and my brain’s been reprogrammed. last night at 4am the furry little shitmuppet broke a vase & I only woke up long enough to call her a rat bastard & roll over back to sleep
Oh shit. This totally made me realize that it must have been my cat that killed my fear of the dark. I used to be intensely scared of walking into dark spaces. Hated any area where I had to turn a light off before I could turn another one on.
Enter my mostly black demon who likes to jump out of dark spaces at me.
Now I can just walk through dark rooms with no anxiety. I’m now used to the darkness taking physical form and jumping at me. At this point if a monster did jump out of the darkness I’d instinctively reach for the cat treats to offer it.
holy crap what other fears do cats make you immune to?
I’m no longer scared to dangle my foot over the bed bc of demons with sharp claws & glowing eyes, i’m scared to dangle my foot over the bed bc of one specific small furry demon with sharp claws & glowing eyes
#fuck off beelzebub my cat has dibs
My cats are legit part of my grounding strategy for when I have sleep hallucinations. As part of my sleep paralysis, I “see” corpses in the bed next to me on a frequent basis, or shadow men lurking in the doorway; if there is a cat blissfully, softly snoring at the foot of the bed, I know I am safe, despite what my brain is trying to conjure.
the sound of my door opening slowly, but theres no one there. my cat. somethings clawing at the walls, glass or window screens, cats. somethings fucking licking my toe in the middle of the night, my fucking cat again. nothing can hurt me its all cat
Unearthly noise? Cat.
Movement out of the corner of your eye? Cat.
Objects moved? Cat.
Inexplicable smells? Cat.
Corpses (small)? Cat.
Ectoplasm right in middle of the room, which you won’t notice till you step in it? Cat.
Do cats make the ghosts go away? Nah. They just make you stop being scared.
Do cats make the ghosts
go away? Nah. They just make
you stop being scared.
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.
I haven’t done anything for 4 hours but watch whatever cartoon loads up next so anyways there’s a whole episode of american dad bout klaus the fish dating an ancient malevolent wraith
alright so he was super in love with her but he found out she’s just bound to whoever holds this cursed artifact he bought and therefore she never had any agency in their relationship, which he didn’t know because all she could do is shriek and he was inferring whatever he wanted to hear. He shatters the item to set her free and she tries to kill everyone but now that he can talk to her for real he finds out what she’s really into is baseball trivia so they go on a baseball road trip as platonic friends and that’s how the episode ends
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