Only superficially. Dune deconstructs the entire heroic archetype. Paul Atreides’ emergence as the hero and leader of the Fremen is completely artificial and engineered for colonialist purposes (so that House Atreides can control the supply of spice with minimal resistance from the population of Arrakis).

The plan backfires, of course, as the Fremen jihad ends up being more successful than they’d anticipated and spreads off-world and out of Paul’s ability to control it.

And we wouldn’t have to cross the border to fight wildfires anymore!

Canada has a massive program of equalization transfer payments where taxes collected in rich provinces go to subsidize poor ones. The US does not have anything like this. None of the state governments have their budgets subsidized by other states.

Yeah, right. If California joined they’d be subsidizing health care for the rest of Canada through transfer payments since every province would be considered a “have not province” compared to California.

This is like inviting your billionaire uncle to move in with you and also open a joint bank account.

Edit: just to put some numbers on my point, the GSP (gross state product) of California is $4 trillion, nearly twice that of the GDP of Canada which is $2.18 trillion. Canada’s economy would effectively triple in size by bringing in California.

I love pico but it’s definitely a topping or a dip for chips. A sandwich is not going to work well if you dip it in pico.

You owe it to yourself to try some traditional Roguelikes:

• Caves of Qud (Just released 1.0 a month ago. Amazing game. Unique science fiction world full of weird and wonderful characters, complex tinkering crafting system, crazy mutants and really cool cybernetics. Huge amounts of lore and a rich detailed world. I can’t stop playing it!)
• Shattered Pixel Dungeon (Really awesome game with a friendly developer who posts on Lemmy. Extremely well balanced classes: 5 main classes with a 6th in development. Cool character customization and equipment upgrade system. Super deep alchemy system. Probably the best mobile roguelike but amazing on PC too, with a great UI for every platform)
• NetHack (old school, developed since 1987 and still active, very tough game, might not want to try this one first. Incredibly rewarding once you learn it! Absolutely crazy amount of interactions between items, characters, and features in the dungeon. Takes its “verb-based action system” much farther than any other game, including text adventure games)
• Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup (very complex but not as brutal and spoilery as NetHack. Extreme replay value due to the huge number of species, backgrounds, skills, and gods)
• Tales of Maj’Eyal (not as many races as DCSS but still a huge variety of character builds. Great music as well)

Most salsas are too watery for dipping, unless you’re talking about some traditional Mexican cooked salsas that have a thicker consistency.

Wow you aren’t kidding! I was expecting some 3D modern graphics thing but it’s literally a new Escape Velocity game without the EV name!

Thanks for this. Wishlisted!

Edit: oh it’s actually free!

I think I will! Thanks for the rec!

I think my dream girl is someone who solves a murder mystery while wearing a flapper headband. Like she’s ready to go to some big party involving super long cigarette holders but she carries a magnifying glass and a notebook in her purse and she doesn’t hesitate to start looking for clues and talking to witnesses when everyone finds the body sprawled on the drawing room floor!

You’ve worn a flapper headband? Have you ever solved a murder mystery?

Just like it’s easy to quit smoking — for a day or two. Much worse is the fact that so many traditional institutions have been supplanted by online ones. Try getting a job for example.

I get that. But usually the hero is someone who underestimates their own ability and learns to overcome challenges by believing in themselves. Here we have the opposite, which seems more fitting for a villain.

It’s honestly such a weird show. The “hero” is an incompetent jerk who constantly screws up and relentlessly bullies his most loyal friend who is vastly more competent in every way.

At least they gradually tone down the bullying as time goes on and the teasing on Tool Time becomes more of a two way street.

Dogs kill people. It’s not always 2 adults, one dog. Sometimes it’s 2 dogs, one woman or one child. The victim could be the dog’s owner, or it could be someone out for a walk and two strange dogs on the loose.

Well you could eat one in South Korea instead. They love hotdogs there. They have developed some cool new takes on the corndog:

That’s a great idea! I need to do that at some point! For a long time I’ve wanted to hike the pacific crest trail. Maybe I’ll bring books along for that! Thanks!

Yeah I do tons of reading in the games I play! I’ve been playing Caves of Qud and there is a gargantuan amount of reading in that game. A lot of it is AI slop, admittedly, but its text to wade through nevertheless!

Not a single mention of the word game or gaming in that article. It’s my hypothesis that video games have largely supplanted fiction reading for boys and men over the past several decades. Men do read some science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction books but not general fiction or erotic fiction. Those latter categories are heavily targeted at women (eg. any of Elena Ferrante’s books or smash hits like Fifty Shades of Grey).

There’s nothing here to suggest that toxic masculinity or the rise of Trumpism or the alt-right have anything to do with it.

I (as a 40yo man) stopped reading for the most part many years ago. And it’s not for a lack of trying! I have purchased many books (fiction and nonfiction) but I struggle to bring myself to read them. I just don’t have the attention span and it’s really frustrating. I actually really want to read these books!