No not control it, certainly not. I get the feeling they might think they could though, and mobilize towards that goal. I don't necessarily think they'd win, but I just think they're prepared to launch head-long into it and it'll make a huge mess for everyone no matter how it really goes.

And yeah as soon as anyone hits the red button, the entire calculus changes (and also likely the planetary ecosystem along with it).

I wonder more and more every day if it isn't just the "unofficially-nuclear-equipped rogue state that has made it clear they will take everyone else down with them" thing.

Good News About The Cringe Zone

(TF2rue)

We need that meaty sausage-finger down-v as an emote and I mean we need it for something.

About to do a Winston draft this weekend with my BiL. 3pk Crimson Vow, 3pk Karlov Manner, which feels like a reasonable thematic match (and it's what I've got laying around). Plus a few promo packs thrown in for extra spice.

Very excited! Haven't been able to go draft for real for a few months since my latest child was born.

Hoping to pull a Sorin for the wifey while we're at it.

I think someone just had a goofy meme idea and a made a silly, and then it stuck because it looks silly and lessens the pain of having to see that daft bastard's crufty mug again.

Already more thought than that turd-through-a-playdoh-spaghetti-machine-for-brains dork-waffle deserves, tbqh.

First off, I would say to stop thinking about it as being easy or relaxing. It's an active practice, and it takes a lot of work to get started.

In most mindfulness practices, you aren't really trying to just empty your head and think of absolutely nothing the whole time - the point is more that you are intentionally focusing on one thing (your breath, or a candle flame, or the feeling of love or whatever), and when your mind wanders, which it will constantly, the whole practice is about recognizing that and bringing your focus back to where you want it to be. Boom, one rep. Your mind wanders again, you see that and bring it back. Another rep.

So the idea really is not that you are emptying your mind, but rather that you are training your focus to go where you want it to go, and eventually to stay there better.

It's like training to hold a kettle bell at arms length. When you start off its just hard, and you won't be able to do it long, but by putting the weight back up and trying again, you're getting stronger in those muscles, and the next time you can do it longer. Similarly, you can really only train so much at once, and you're going to need to take a break and come back again later. In many ways, that's the reps that you are doing, which is to come back to the practice again after being away. You do all you can for one day, and then when you come back and sit down the next day, boom that's a rep.

It's a thing that doesn't really get easier, you just get better at doing it.

Your focus is a muscle, and you're probably not used to training on it so specifically. Much like how if you go out and play a sport or just roughhouse with some friends, you're using your muscles and getting stronger, but you're not specifically training your muscles, and that type of training will only make you so strong. If you want to be able to bench press 200 lbs or whatever, you'll almost certainly never be able to do that just by playing a lot of baseball at the park; you need to go to a gym and use the equipment in a very particular way. Similarly, if you want your focus muscle to be able to instantly drill down and focus on a particular thing and hold it without wavering, then you need to sit in zazen and practice directing and holding your focus, and the breath is the perfect target for that - largely because it is truly boring, but it's always there, and you can feel it, and you will know exactly when you are not focused on it.

The kinda side benefit of making that focus muscle strong is that you get way better at using it without even trying. You'll be able to at least be present in the moment with minimal or zero effort as your practice develops, and then down the road you'll be able to achieve the full meditative state at will, even just standing in line at the grocery store or when you are experiencing something you really want to be present for. It gets hard to turn off, eventually. By that point you'll know what to do with it, but you will definitely not be the same.

Love love love this song. It came up as a spotify suggestion, at just the right moment in my life, and probably since I'd been big into The Books years before (same guy).

Always happy to recommend this track to people, though few real bites into it so far lol. Glad to hear that there's love out here for it! (lot of really nice comments on the video too)

Some of my favorite SW novels back in the day were the "Tales From Mos Eisley Cantina" and "Tales From Jabba's Palace" books. Basically every chapter just takes one of the random background characters from those scenes and tells their whole story. Really interesting way to get a lot of back story about characters that never seem to get any other real love.

Also, the story of the rancor trainer is really heartbreaking (seriously). Good stuff.

It accomplished it's body-horror genre goal by making me feel very uncomfortable for the whole movie. I couldn't really decide if I liked it or not, but I definitely do not want to watch it again.

Upon reflection, I think I liked it. But I'm not sure I would really suggest it to anyone else unless they are really looking for that particular type of thing, which like, personally, I really hope you are not.

Felt like the movie version of having a weird dream where you're picking at a scab that's not ready to come off, but you keep doing it anyways. It's a mood, to be sure.

Also the marketing made it look like it was going to be a lot more cyberpunk-y aesthetically than it really was, which was a little disappointing, as the neon-lights and cyber-helmet treat-hog I am.

lol