Also, unless you’re selling literally everything, they can pad their margins on what you don’t provide, and pound you into the ground with loss-leaders, ON TOP of volume discounts. That’s how Walmart destroyed local businesses, by taking “acceptable losses” selling below cost for a while until it broke the competition.

I mean, sure, they’re the biggest, but really most of the Azhdarchid Pterosaurs would count as some kind of Dragon.

I mean, other than breathing fire, the difference between a particularly large pterosaur and a dragon mostly down to the shape of the head.

I mean technically the science of it has been settled for over 100 years. That’s why Alexander Graham Bell sunk his fortune into early solar energy. That we are going over the cliff into warming the likes of which haven’t been seen in 250 million years is what has been settled for at least 20.

It’s been settled for 20 years that the world is warming. The efforts at this point are entirely focused on containing and limiting the damage. The fight to stop it is long over, and there’s absolutely nothing that can stop some level of catastrophic damage.

For general consumers? Probably complete industry collapse and regression. Specialized industries and national security use will continue to develop, but broad market access is going to likely stagnate for a decade at least if not more.

Buoyancy. It has weight, but if it’s lighter than air, it still floats.

Knowing what you’re talking about is considered elitist by most Americans. Under-funding education is effectively a DEI program for idiots.

Or that a battery powered dumpster is a pickup truck?

Before the Artificers it was the rangers who were “stealing the stealth thunder from the rogue.” Heck, I remember in 3rd ed when people said the Bard was “stealing the Rogue’s lunch” because their skill mastery made them decent with traps.

whistles quietly in Armorer Artificer, stealth build

… yes… not fair at all…

Political influence accretes where treasure is. Same as always. Right now a bunch of old rich men are trying to buy their way into heaven with a sacrifice of human blood, that’s all.

Look, I’m of Scottish descent, but I’m not Scottish. It’s been generations since anyone in my family has seen scotch heather in anything but a photograph. I never went to a Scottish school, sat in a Scottish pew, and while I can understand the Scots dialect I couldn’t speak it to save my life. I have a few fragments of old traditions, some of which no one in Scotland even practices anymore. Sure, I like a nice dram of whisky or black pudding as much as the next guy, but I also enjoy sushi, that doesn’t make me Japanese either. So why would it make any sense to refer to myself as a Scottish-American? If I were a recent import or maybe 2nd generation, sure it makes some sense, but I don’t have the foggiest clue what life in Scotland is like. If you dropped me in Glasgow or Aberdeen without GPS in my pocket and asked me to find my way around I wouldn’t know where to start. So what gives me the right to call myself Scottish anything? Because my family held on to a few comforting traditions from a Scotland that’s been gone for more than a century?

There’s a very old trope that the land seeps into your blood over time and no matter how far you roam from it, it calls you back, and shapes your character. It’s from the same school of thought that coined the phrase “Blood and Soil” and murdered people in gas chambers. It’s not a philosophy I have much attachment to, in spite of the fact I have one of those in my bloodline too.

Actually most other places have far more indigenous culture, because the dominant socio-economic group is the indigenous people of that place. The existence of an indigenous minority is pretty unique.

Citizens United. That ruling should have started a riot that didn’t end until the constitution was amended.

I know a few people who kind of went crazy with the creatine and definitely took it too far and hurt themselves with it, which is crazy because I’m not even into fitness stuff so you wouldn’t expect a filthy casual like me to see that. From what I understand figuring out the right dose is tricky because there’s a lot of different body types and metabolisms, and the label always overestimates how much you really can process. It’s a supplement meaning it’s basically unregulated so they can put whatever they want on there. I’d say it’s common enough that people overdoing it is common enough to be concerning.

Can it mess with your kidneys? Absolutely. Will it? Bruh, this is the internet, we have no way to know that, but if you’re going easy on it, then probably not. Just make sure you’re using your head and it should be fine.

I mean, again, most if not all of them. Almost every language there’s slight variations in pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary and pacing between men and women that would otherwise qualify as a “different accent.” It’s more pronounced in some regions and dialects, but most of them have “male” and “female” variations.

Canadian, here. I think they’re great. Most seem like really nice people. Except the ones that astroturf for the CCP. Those can go back to China if they prefer it so much. Spare me the incessant propaganda. I’ve spent my whole life putting up with American lies, I don’t feel the need to replace them with Chinese ones.

But most of the ones I know are honest, good people, interesting perspectives, competent, if not particularly exceptional.

Why would Americans care? This happens every other week down there. Here, one is a national tragedy, there it’s just a Wednesday. This is the what happens when people soak their brains in the American social media BS too much.

Oh, they do. Depending on the context, there’s a whole host of ways to imply sarcasm without depending on intonation. Body language, context, double entendre, formality shifts, etc.