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Sure, just totally ignore Littlefinger's fraud and embezzlement. And a large surplus of bodies, torture devices and wildfire. Targaryens are worse.

So less evil is somehow good, lol

The TNG and DS9 crew were exposed to death almost every week and almost never cried. I really miss professional adults acting like professional adults.

Please stop using facts, they’re the natural enemy of all trolls, lol We all know that Ned and Robert are the worst humans in the history of the series, lol

And the fact that that you got to play ironman mode. That's only for the experts.

I don’t think “Dune” would have been made in 1984 if it hadn’t already been “popular”.

That sounds hypocritical considering the major American professional sports leagues are all closed shops with no promotion, relegation or easy entry by new franchises — designed to be oligopolies that protect profits for incumbent owners. But “up to 12” being specified in the F1 Concorde gives the complainants some plausible basis, even if this is primarily a lobbying effort.

Your article by Jerry Coyne is already off to a great start: If you are using the term "woke" unironically to describe this, it kind of undermines any claims of trying to speak from scientific objectivity on the matter of biological sex.

Another whistleblower dead. https://time.com/6973635/boeing-spirit-aerosystems-whistleblower-josh-dean-dead/

I have to admit, halfway through the show I was going to just stop. It was at times really not a fun watch. It's quite upsetting at points. If you get through that, I think by the end it makes it all worth it, and Gadd actually creates a pretty thoughtful piece that is much better than what looked like a standard scary stalker tale.

My wife is desperate to watch it, as someone who once had to call the police on a housemate (that's embarrassing) after i woke up with her watching me sleep, and then making cat noises outside my door after i kicked her out, its doesn't sound fun.

Also, “we’re talking gonads” as a random quote will help me get through today.

Earlier there were appeals to common sense and what regular people grew up understanding as a woman. Now it's gametes, as if this was something that the aforementioned common person easily grasps through common sense. From best I can tell, gametes are just the latest and newest goal posts that are being shifted in a long debate about what it means to be a woman. The writing on the wall seems to be finding whatever criteria can be used to exclude transwomen from womanhood. ETA: Potentially disagreeing with what an emeritus evolutionary scientist has to say about sex and gender does not mean disagreeing with evolutionary theory. So let's cut that one ahead of the curb as well. ETA: Here is an interesting blog post by a biologist talking about how the obsession with gametes has become the latest in a series of talking points used by transphobes.

Telling how specific you insist we talk.

I’ll go back to my food analogy. Are you going to remember and relish your daily big mac that is always available or your few times dining at a four star restaurant? Sanderson is a big mac. It is dependable and consistent… sometimes it’s fresh and well made… better than usual… but it is never a gourmet meal for all that it is easily obtainable. Let me put it another way. Frank Herbert only wrote six books in the “Dune Universe”… KJA has written vastly more than that. Does KJA quantity ever surpass Frank Herbert quantity based on volume alone?

Baby Reindeer has been a massive success on Netflix, but is also creating quite a controversy as online snoops try and piece together who the real life counterparts to the characters in the show are. This has led to people being sent abuse and wrongly being identified as abusers themselves. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/apr/28/baby-reindeer-sleuths-real-life-drama-netflix-debate-identities It is quite amazing that this was allowed to happen. It seems a bit misjudged by Netflix to allow the show to do things like cast an actress who looks basically identical to the real life character she was portraying, and not doing enough to disguise people's identities. Having said that, I think the show is very good. If you watch it all the way through, Richard Gadd, who plays himself, takes a lot of the blame for the situation on himself and it's quite self reflective. This isn't about turning someone into a monster and about shaming them. If you watched the first couple of episodes you might get that impression but as it goes on you see much of it is about him. It can be pretty sympathetic to the Martha character, despite her terrifying behaviour.

The pardon before the help. Receive the pardon first. Walder has learned from Robb's treachery.

I wish for the Frey family to receive a full pardon but that is not going to take place now because George set them to receive punishment. The best hope is indeed a restoration of House Targaryen under Dany. She will at least listen to all the facts of what took place between the families and pass a balanced decision. No such balance is possible if a Stark gets enough power to harm the Freys. Arya and Jon are merciless animals.

I've seen suggestions that Ukraine has released strategic reserves of shells and ammunition because of the impending arrival of replacements from the US and Europe. Also, one of the Ukrainian units that pulled back from the front (and whose replacements not getting into place in time may have caused the breakthrough) apparently resupplied ASAP and turned around to rejoin the fight, providing local reinforcement from veterans. Although they're a bit narked off that their several weeks-long leave was reduced to effectively nothing. But they'd rather that then, y'know, the front collapsing. Pretty big Ukrainian hits in Smolensk, Oryol and Rostov oblasts, targeting Russian energy supply systems, resulting in blackouts. Drones also hit the Afipsky refinery in Krasnodar Krai.

To add to what @Ran has said, we know that sex isn't about chromosomes because of what we see in nature. Although in humans chromosomes determine (not define) sex, there are some animals for which that is not the case. In some crocodiles sex is determined by the temperature at which the eggs are incubated, but crocodiles are still male or female. So sex is something else...it's gametes one produces or would have the function to produce. (That italicized part is there to head off "Are post-menopausal women still women?" objections.) Jerry Coyne, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, has written a good bit on this topic, and I recommend him. (He is also a staunch defender of evolutionary theory, which you wouldn't think still needed defending but this is America.)

Hey @Ring3r, I haven't seen you in a while. Your suggestion that the Bloodstone Emperor caused the black stone to fall in the first place is interesting. I hadn't thought about that before. If anything, it could make his character even more villainous, since he actively sought out an evil influence rather than potentially being corrupted by it after it fell. I always think that the Bloodstone Emperor must be inspired, at least in part, by the Roman Emperor Elagabalus, who also worshipped a stone that fell from the sky and had some unsavoury habits (although there is also the possibility this was made up/exaggerated to make him seem worse). Elagabalus (from the Wikipedia page): Bloodstone Emperor (from the ASoIaF wiki): The God Elagabalus was high priest of (from the Wikipedia page): I would question whether the Shade of the Evening trees are really corrupted though. Ingesting their sap seems to have the same effect as ingesting Weirwood sap, e.g. visions. They just seem like the Essos version of Weirwoods to me. There are also suggestions that nothing is growing in Asshai/Stygai, which would include Shade of the Evening trees, if they were a symptom of the corruption I might expect to see more of them there.

Nope. It isn’t the place that causes immorality. The “Gift of Men” cannot be taken by the Valar. Men are still men if they are living in the Blessed Realm. They would still die… Numenorians after a somewhat longer life. So, why bar them from Valinor? Why not let some come and see that they still die no matter where they are and prevent that “forbidden fruit” problem?

The blood betrayal allegedly caused the long night. But that happened in Essos. Betrayal and treason are bad in general and considered negative within the framework of the overall story. It is likely similar to the explanation that Adam and Eve eating the apple was the cause of the expulsion from the garden. It is an interesting tale but the story in Westeros is only a parallel. Look to Bran's dreams. His ancestors were worshiping trees and making human sacrifices to the gods. Which in reality were Greenseers tricking gullible humans to give them blood meals. Euron is Black Harren. He serves the same role as he did in his past life. I have no doubts at all that he will conquer the Reach, Westerlands, and Riverlands. Daenerys is Aegon returned. She will do to Euron what Aegon did to Black Harren. Roast him with dragon fire. Jon Snow is the Nights' King returned again. Arya will be his corpse bride. Bran and the Otherswill supply the magic they need to return Jon back to life and rule the wall as the NK.

Eberl said the German language requirement is not killer for a candidate. Emery was the second name after Rangnick on their list apparently. Problem is atm really that the guys in charge have to reach a consensus. That was what more or less killed off Nagelsmann's comeback (even before he withdraw himself by extending with the German FA). Eberl and Freund really wanted him, Hoeneß and folks who were already at the club when Nagelsmann left were vehemently opposed. Rangnick was sorta the candidate that they could all agree on. Flick apparently also has some opposition from Hoeneß, who is not entirely convinced that he has the quality for the job. And it's very difficult (or impossible?) to do anything against the wishes of Hoeneß at Bayern. Right now with the manager market being what it is, I still think they will eventually settle on Flick for lack of alternatives. So Hoeneß openly attacking Tuchel before the Frankfurt game means that Tuchel will most definitely not be in charge next season, something Hainer confirmed. Not that Tuchel wants to be. Btw. Mourinho is somebody, whom Hoeneß has ruled out for the Bayern job years ago, as too much drama with him (too toxic), and that was way before he went to United, Spurs and Roma.

Aerys left behind a large surplus of gold. Robert and Jon badly managed the realm and left behind a heavy debt. Baratheon, Stark, and Arryn are bad for Westeros.