So many vampires, so little time

Rambles about whatever pops into my head. 

[meerawrites]

Correct.

[prokopetz]

One of the funnier recurring things I bump into around here is people rocking up in the notes on one of my posts critiquing indie tabletop RPGs for this or that and going "golly, I sure am glad I'm exposed to tabletop RPGs exclusively via Dungeons & Dragons podcasts, which never do anything problematic".

[prokopetz]

Me: "You know making 'cop' a distinct biological category isn't a great look, right? Doing the whole 'ontologically evil species who are always morally okay to kill' thing doesn't stop being gross just because you put your orcs in jackboots."

Them: "This is why I only watch Critical Role."

[stellarcombusterihardlyknewer]

My impression is that the big ttrpg podcasts genuinely don't do much that could be considered problematic in the sense that they don't really do or say much of consequence at all.

It's a bit like saying.

"You know it's a bit problematic to have your utopian space civilization have service droids be second class citizens"

And getting the reply

"This is why I only read "Wheres Wally?""

[prokopetz]

Partly, yes, but also, responding to a criticism of tabletop RPGs trying to distance themselves from race science and ending up simply doing a different kind of race science because they didn't think shit though by citing Critical Role as an example of RPG media which doesn't do this suggests either that you don't understand the substance of the complaint, or that you haven't been paying attention to Critical Role.

[loumandaniel]

i think ultimately a point of contention in the iwtv fandom is that one side is very into strict soulmates and monogamy whereas another side wants everyone to be in love despite whether they should be or not

[sangohigurashi20]

This!

[zaramel23]

Louder for the ignorant in the back!!!

[roboco-san]

the distortion of "there is potential profit we did not earn" as "there is money we lost" is fascinating and disgusting to me. "megamediaconglomerate lost $1,000,000,000 to piracy this year" is a flat out lie. it is not true. they did not have a billion dollars, that they now do not have. they felt entitled to one billion dollars, that they did not have, and still do not have. it's an infuriating perversion of the truth

[alicentsgf]

no you do not need to hold fictional characters "accountable". they are not real.

[franzthemeerkat]

"all vampires come to resent their maker" actualy just a statistical error. vampire lestat, who has made 10,000 fledglings, all of whom resent him, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Why do people like high speed rail so much?

Because its public transit, not private transit.

Its significantly cheaper to travel long distances compared to other options like flying or driving. In a lot of cases it may even be faster than flying, and even when its slower, its not slower by a large amount. Its better for the environment, and trains are just cool.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

I have rode the High Speed Trains in Europe.

Once you've experienced them, you will understand the hype. They are also very comfortable and very scenic.

You can go from Amsterdam to Paris in about 3 hours. This would be like going from Mississauga to Ottawa in 3 hours instead of almost 5.

[phynali]

I think "comfortable and scenic" is accurate, but undersells it.

Being in high speed rail is far more comfortable than a plane. The seats are good, the ride is very smooth (no turbulence! no take off and landing! none of anything like that!), and you can get up to find the restroom whenever you want, no seatbelt sign or any of that.

It is so much faster than many other forms of transport not just because of its own speed, but because train stations can be centrally located and easy to get to (unlike most airports), and don't have the excess security theatre of airports that slows down the process. So the entire experience feels quicker and easier from start to finish.

trains are better for the environment by a huge margin than flight and than driving as well. and the scenic element is indeed much nicer -- you get to watch the landscape go by and change, without the stress of driving.

trains are incredibly efficient at moving large volumes of people. there's a reason that much of europe and asia has invested in them, and a reason that we had railroads across north america until the truck and car lobbies essentially ruined investment in this mode of transport.

[ukulelekatie]

standing in the crosswalk and holding up a sign that says "i did not stop walking because i'm being polite and letting you go before me. i stopped walking because i, the person with the right of way, wanted to make sure i could trust that you were actually going to stop your car before you reached this crosswalk and weren't about to run me over'

[motherfucker-somewhat-limited]

really enjoying all the videos Muslims have been posting of their cats looking like this

when the humans are up at 4 am for suhoor

[motherfucker-somewhat-limited]

[rocketsaurus]

PUBLIC COMMENTS ARE OPEN FOR GENDER IDENTIFIERS ON US PASSPORTS

Right now, you can submit a comment for consideration on the proposed changes to US Passport law that will include requiring a change from "Gender" to "Sex" on all passports and require that people identify with their sex assigned at birth.

THIS IS THE LAW THAT WOULD BAN TRANS PEOPLE FROM UPDATING THEIR IDENTIFICATION

Please take a moment to click through and submit a comment. This kind of thing is fast, easy, and is one of the many ways to show your support of the trans community to the people that need to know how many of us there are.

[rocketsaurus]

YOU HAVE TWO MORE WEEKS TO COMMENT

This is an excellent low effort way to make a clear statement to the government that you do NOT support the unnecessary and expensive process of changing everyone's passport just so that a tiny population that has done no measurable harm to society can feel afraid.

Public comments are one of the many tactics we have to show the people in power how many of us are willing to stand up and say fuck this. Stand up and say fuck this in every single place that you can.

[stephenroot]

Writing Effective Comments

[sanguinarysanguinity]

Will accept comments up to March 17, 2025.

[hey-its-sybarite]

My favourite idea from the prank writers’ story board for IWTV Season 3.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Saying that a certain group of people is too privileged to complain about the way that things are is its own sort of defense of the status quo

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Like if a white person from the American suburbs who had doctors for parents says "the suburbs are set up in a way that's designed to alienate the people within them from their neighbors growing up there can be an incredibly lonely isolating experience" and you respond with "shut up you had everything you ever wanted growing up" you are sort of pretending that this asocial way of living we've set up based on harmful ideas like castle doctrine and individualism is in some way desirable for someone when the reality of the situation is that everyone is miserable.

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Oh boy this is popping off. But I just want to put on this post that this isn't just about the example that I used this is also when people get mad at you for complaining about aspects of living in America because other people are getting bombed by America how dare you, or when (usually neurodivergent) white people complain about how wasp monoculture is high key hostile to be raised in, or when people with middle class jobs complain about the shit their boss pulls, or any other number of situations in which a relatively privileged potential ally talks about the unique ways the oppressive systems we're looking to overthrow effects them negatively. Like yes sure if you have a minimum wage job it's annoying to listen to someone with a salary and benefits say "my boss treats me like shit and my company is doing x evil thing" but if you're in that situation and you're actually down for the cause instead of just here to play oppression Olympics, you want to gain allies in this fight by saying "have you considered unionizing" instead of pushing people away by saying "shut up at least you can afford rent"

[dreadfuldevotee]

theyre laughing but i want that for real

[littleastrobleme]

Can I get a shoutout to the amazing Inuit whose hard work and ingenuity brought Franklin's ships back from the mists of history?

Louie Kamookak, who passed in 2018, was an Inuit historian who used Inuit oral histories and Franklin searchers' notes to relocate HMS Erebus in 2014.

Sammy Kogvik is an Inuk Canadian Ranger who rediscovered HMS Terror in Terror Bay in 2016 (he actually sighted it earlier, but it was formally announced in 2016!)

I haven't seen a lot on Tumblr about these gentlemen, so here they are!

[naonic-blog-deactivated20230221]

John Oliver Buys $15M of Medical Debt for $60K and Forgives It All, Because He Could

Once again John Oliver proves that you can do anything with money and lawyers

Oliver then proceeded to detail how with $50 and knowledge of the law he was able to successfully apply online to create a debt buying company named “Central Asset Recovery Professionals,” or as Oliver put it, “CARP” named after “a bottom-feeding fish.”

After setting up a rudimentary website for CARP, the satirical, but still real company was offered a $15 million package of medical debt for $60,000.

Oliver explained that the debt was out of statute, which means it is the kind of debt that a collector can only continue to collect, but not sue the debtor for.

Then, instead of chasing down the 9,000 debtors in the debt package as a normal collection agency would, Oliver decided to stage the largest one-time giveaway in television history and work with the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt to forgive the $15 million with no consequences for the debtors.

[helloquirks]

Okay but now I know what I want to do of I get rich?

[beabaseball]

You dont have to be rich to do a bit of this actually

RIP Medical Debt is a charity (and therefore takes donations). They buy the rights to medical debt and then forgive them. So far they’ve forgiven over 1B in medical debt.

So a little ray of hope for someone out there today.

[shayvaalski]

Donating $10 buys $1,000 of medical debt. This is real, it works, and we’ve done it ourselves. You can too.

[yummy-tummy-time]

As of June 29, 2024, the charity is still active under a new name, Undue Medical Debt

[spiralarray]

Signal Boost!!!

[ffcrazy15]

If you’re Catholic this is a great thing to do for the Jubilee year by the way. Forgive debts and set captives free!

[bringmemyrocks]

Now renamed as Undue Medical Debt:

Undue Medical Debt Homepage

Undue Medical Debt makes it easy for donors to make an impactful difference in the lives of those struggling with medical debt.

[getvalentined]

I got a letter recently letting me know that a $3k medical bill from an emergency room visit in 2018 had been purchased by Undue Medical Debt and destroyed. Gone forever. They were very clear that I didn’t have to do anything, but they would appreciate it if I would talk to people about it to spread the word about what they were doing. Fucking phenomenal.

[marithlizard]

Always a good time to remember that Undue Medical Debt exists.

[sillier-than-thou]

Heavy on the Arctic part

[rqbossman]

I'll be honest. This is bang on for Jonathan Sims.