#and government institutions

[chemistrycongressblog]

chemistry congress

[onlytiktoks]

[minecraft]

There is straight up no reason why eggs, cheese, rice, or beans should cost anyone anything at all. They are all produced in such an enormous surplus that the current businesses associated with them are more like vestigial remnants of capitalism than actually needed.

[tanadrin]

One thing I notice about the Supreme Court with their church of "The President Can Do Whatever He Wants Unless It Directly Inconveniences Me, A Conservative Jurist On The Supreme Court" ("separation of powers") is that they completely ignore the phrase "Checks and Balances" that was the whole goddamned point of "Separation of Powers".

Related to other ask, but I'm basically at the point where "Originalism", if it has any meaning whatsoever, means that it is constitutionally permissible to laugh in John Roberts face anytime he opens his mouth.

yeah i mean the idea the supreme court is anything other than a blatantly partisan institution at this point is laughable--congress knows it, the white house knows it, circuit judges know it. probably the only people who haven't caught up are the staff of the new york times. the trouble is a lot of democratic politicians are acting like the supreme court has an army to back up its decisions, when they should be laying the ground work for fighting a constitutional crisis (one the US is already in!) when they regain the legislature and/or the presidency.

[waitmyturtles]

(Source) (Source)

[kazoosandfannypacks]

I just read something about countries banning different books and every single comment was like "doesn't this happen in america too we should be talking about that too lots of books get banned in america" Guys. There is a big difference between "this book isn't appropriate for kids and shouldn't be allowed in schools"* and "the government will enforce legal punishments on you if you read this book in the privacy of your own home."

*This user is aware that the discussion on books being banned in public schools is not as much a disagreement about the fact that "there are some books kids should not be reading" as it is a discourse on WHERE that line should be drawn.

[panvani]

@gorps I think that's a pretty reasonable response to the opening of the game and, while not the intended one, fairly obvious. It's a bit difficult to sum up what Signalis is * about * to someone who's never experienced the game (because it's very much a game you experience) but it might be good to start by saying that Signalis is a game about a truth that is too horrifying to comprehend and, to that end, tends to involve a lot of misdirection in its storytelling.

The purpose of using the trappings of East Germany is fairly obvious to me, having played the game multiple times, and it basically comes down to the game wanting to signal a dystopian setting that coincides with Germany and (as mentioned in the tags of a different post) the two aesthetic archetypes for that are East Germany and the Third Reich. Signalis did not choose this latter option for obvious reasons. Beyond aesthetics, however, the setting does not sincerely attempt to imitate East Germany or the USSR, and these aesthetics are inherently farcical, beginning with the assumption that you are dealing with a setting that is overseen by a "government" as opposed to a carceral institution or a family.

A common misinterpretation (or at least I'll confidently call it a misinterpretation) of Signalis is that it's necessarily about a society or an institution rather than an individual. Signalis is a very personal and a very individual story that encompasses a number of themes, notably the alienation of racial minorities in Germany. Yuri Stern has stated that their identity as a Malaysian-Chinese-Austrian person living in Germany affects the themes of their work, and Signalis establishes a pretty extensive library of geometric and linguistic symbols to communicate this idea.

Like I said, I don't think reading the trappings of Signalis as anti-communist is like, wrong, per se, so much as short-sighted or missing the forests for the trees. The game is much more about racist, psychiatric, and domestic violence within modern day Germany and has really no interest in commenting on the USSR or communism as a system.

[mise-eithne]

i know i’m nitpicking but like no. no they dont make their homes there. they get pushed out because sitka spruces aren’t native around here and it really should be scots pine and broad leaved trees in the forests- the reason pine martens and red squirrels are in danger is because their natural habitat and trees are cut down for wood & never replanted because sitka spruce grows faster 😭

[alwaysbewoke]

the fix is in!!

[alyfoxxxen]

NIH scientists go public with criticism over Trump cuts | AP News

[artbyblastweave]

As a fellow Bostonian, just wanted to mention this potential performance space under Harvard Square which seems like a good starting point for the Institute from Fallout 4, and considering the political climate, I’m all for it:

https://mobileapp.bostonglobe.com/06012025_5970d2f2-3e4a-11f0-9072-bd69ad905b5f/content.html

Horrifying! Fun concept. Although I think that the Institute isn't a good answer to the current situation so much as (textually) Just More Of The Same with an intellectual veneer. So let's stop short of that part

[cakebatteronabrickwall]

best season yet but also, you know, kinda missing a cunty blonde court jester who has very little influence on the plot, though i might be biased

[ashes-in-a-jar]

My feeling right now about the cast

[secattention]

P A I D to make you S I C K