u/audiophilistine

1. Frankenstein - Mary Shelly

2. Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke

3. The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

4. Hyperion - Dan Simmons

5. The Forever War - Joe Haldeman

6. Dune - Frank Herbert

7. Rendezvous With Rama - Arthur C. Clarke

8. The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

9. Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky

10. Sphere - Michael Chrichton

I've read a couple books by Greg Bear and I'm a fan. Blood Music and Eon are both fantastic, even though wildly different. I suggested these two for my sci-fi book club and they had mixed reviews. The most common complaint on the author was he starts too many crazy ideas, then just leaves them undeveloped. The Forge of God series is already on my reading list, but thanks for the reminder.

Yes, she's obviously the subject, but the framing is odd. The poses are odd and the lighting is sometimes harsh and not flattering. In the 4th picture her face is obscured by reflections. It seems deliberately amateurish. Lucky it's hard to take bad pictures of beautiful people. I'm just saying I don't like the style choices the photographer has made. Pardon me for having an artistic opinion on porn pics.

I just started a mage playthrough this weekend and my guy is feeling pretty strong! I've agonized over each skill point, refunding through the flame shrine and replacing them where it'll make my character stronger. Don't be shy to check some YouTube videos of people making your chosen build. You don't have to copy them exactly, but they can for sure give you some tips.

As far as getting surrounded by enemies taking turns to hit you, you have to move yourself to be better positioned. I did martial arts for nearly a decade. I only mention that because we occasionally drilled fighting multiple opponents. The trick is to not let yourself get surrounded.

You need to "stack" your opponents by moving around so one enemy is between you and the next guy trying to hit you. This way you're only facing one enemy at a time; they can't all attack you at once. This requires you to be aware of the environment and obstacles, and also juking and maneuvering to keep your main target up front and they other enemies behind him.

Stacking opponents is fantastic for mages because heavy wand attacks go through one enemy to hit the guy behind. If you have several enemies in a row, everyone takes some damage from a single shot. I wonder if assassins have any ability that does similar damage to enemies in a row?

Lovely girl, but these are bad pictures. There's more focus on the environment than on the model.

By coincidence I had just bought a bottle of sherry for a stew recipe I was making. I poured a shot just to try it as I'd never had sherry before. I left half the shot glass out overnight and when I saw it the next morning I was legit scared because of how many freaking flies had drowned themselves in it. The LOVE that stuff. It is pretty tasty, after all.

For all of their vaunted education on topics such as history and economics, the majority of professors in the majority of universities still seem to think that socialism is a pretty neat idea. This even given nearly a century and literally dozens of examples of how that system fails every time. The only time socialist/communist nations become wealthy is when they adopt some capitalistic markets. China is a prime example of this.

Other indoctrination in modern colleges is the idea that men and women are exactly equal in every aspect, be it intellect or even physical strength. That is simply not true and is easily verifiable with simple experiments. They also indoctrinate their students into believing that America is inherently evil because, according to them, we invented slavery and racism. This is also patently false and easily disproven.

Did you take any civics classes in your schooling? I fear you don't have a good grasp of how our nation, its government and laws, work.

First thing to understand is America is not a democracy. That word does not appear anywhere in our founding documents. We are a Constitutional Representative Republic. The mass media doesn't talk about this, they only talk about "our democracy," which is them changing the language to cause confusion and change opinions. This is where you are right now.

Keeping in mind we use representatives to make decisions and laws for us, you next need to realize the state's citizens aren't the ones directly voting for who will be President. The voters elect state representatives who then vote in the electoral collage for who will become President. Each state is voting for their own representatives, who in turn vote for national positions.

The fact California has more people than Montana shouldn't mean Montana's vote shouldn't count. California already has a weighted advantage having the largest number of electors in the college because of their population.

All of this is a very long way to say that our country is vast in physical size, and we rank third in the world in population. It is damn difficult to give every person in the country an equal voice, however the Electoral College is a brilliant attempt to even out disparities.

It sounds to me like you want the tyranny of the majority because you believe it will always go in your favor. It may go your way for some time, but there will eventually be some issue the where the majority will not be on your side and I'm certain you'll scream to high heaven that's unfair.

We are the United States of America, not the United Cities of America. Our nation is a collection of states, each with their own constitution and population-based representation in the federal government. California has more representatives in the House of Representatives because they are a more populous state than, say, Montana.

Just because California has more people voting, doesn't make their opinions more important or more valid than the people of Montana. You can do funny math showing that the fewer voters in Montana makes their votes count more than voters in California, but it is actually about as fair as is possible to make it.

As you said, "why should someone's vote count more based on where they live?" Why should California get a bigger say just because more people decide to live there? Same for New York and Illinois. Each region votes in their own best interest. What is needed in Nebraska is not the same as what is needed in Nevada.

"Pure democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner."

The majority don't know what's right for everyone in the country. Rural life has very different needs and desires from city life. Why should country dwellers bow to the wishes of the city dwellers?

Equilibrium is definitely overrated and deserves to be a flop. The gun kata, a series of moves that let's you dodge bullets while guaranteeing you hit your targets, is so incredibly dumb. I don't understand why this sad knockoff Matrix movie is so liked. At least the matrix had actual Kung fu. As a martial artist, Equilibrium is offensive.

So you're choosing between committing whataboutism or starting a distraction campaign to divert attention away from the issue? Which did you choose to do? I think the answer is yes.

Why are the Republican men getting shorter through time? The opposite is true. Men are taller today than during the Civil War because there's simply more calories available.

You are entitled to your beliefs, and I have zero interest in watching either. But, Islamist extremists have no problem filming beheading and other gruesome murders they commit.

I don't have a problem showing publicly that we have the stones to reply in kind when they attack our people.

Ignoring facts and logic is how idiologues talk. In terms you'll understand easier, that's how people who are part of a cult talk.

Art and beauty are subjective. She can be beautiful with proper hair and makeup, but she is by no means a beauty of the ages. She was in the right place at the right time. I highly doubt she will be remembered by anyone in 20 years.

The scare tactics didn't stop working, there's still climate cultists today who are true believers. Just look at the idiots gluing their hands to the roads to block traffic or people throwing paint and soup on classic works of art. That's current news, not even recent history.

What happened is AI is the future of wealth creation and it's very power hungry. You can't usher in the next version of the industrial revolution with sunbeams and rainbows. The problem will be overcoming a quarter century of ideological programming.

Not even bad things. It's when the political party they're opposed to scores some wins.

I respectfully disagree. On the whole, you are orrect, most of space is empty. However, in localized spots the clouds of gasses absolutely must be very dense.

Think about just how massive a star has to be, then realize it formed out of one of these space clouds. There are localized patches that are very dense with gasses and even solid materials. In such areas there could even be enough friction-caused static build up to create lightening.

Jesus wore sandals. That's good enough for me.

A lie told often enough is indistinguishable from the truth. This is the same situation as the "Trump is a pedo" claim. There is no evidence, like an incriminating diary from his own daughter. It's simply slander that his opponents spread to justify their hatred.

Evidence and logic are just artifacts of the white Christian nationalist patriarchy. /s

There are vast clouds in space. They're called nebula, and some stretch across hundreds of lightyears. This is where stars are formed. Look up The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle nebula. I cannot attest to the lightning, but it's possible.

I think Dearborn is getting close. It's the first Arab majority city in the country.

Information is just a tad out of date.
https://weather.com/2026/10/08/storms/hurricane/tropical-storm-hurricane-isaias-gulf-coast-louisiana-florida

I'm terribly confused. It says tamale and Mexican street corn, yet looks like refried beans. What the hell even is that?