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in loving memory of my favorite shirt

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Oh my Godddd. The US Army chorus was told to perform at the White House for Trump and his cronies and they chose to perform One Day More from Les Miserables. What a gutsy move. A giant middle finger to authoritarianism right in front of Trump's face. Good for them.

To every member of the military and every civil servant fighting in big ways and small, public and private, to protect the Constitution and uphold the oaths you swore, thank you for your service. We see you and we love you. We're counting on you and we're all behind you 100%. Hold the line.

This made me actually tear up and feel a little hopeful. Everyone, no matter who they are needs to do their part. The Fascists are dangerous but they are few. Together we can all defeat them and keep the freedoms so many have fought so hard for.

Also I am living for these comments!

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So, prime numbers only have two factors (1 and themself). Except for 2 and 4, even numbers have at least four (1, 2, themself, and half themself). So, 4 is the only even number with three factors (1, 2, and 4). Even numbers with exactly four factors include; 6, 8, 10, 14, 22, 26, 34, 38, 46, 58, 62, 74, etc.

I don't think there's any consistent relation between them, but maybe someone with a better understanding of math could prove me wrong

@2ndgengeek

Okay, you said you were a math dork. The conversation about primes, evens, and the number two has me curious now.

Is there any term at all for even numbers that are almost prime? By which I mean, that can only be divided by themselves, 1, and 2? If so, is there any significance to those numbers?

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It is, and it isn't. My understanding is that Tolkien did a lot of writing during and after the First World War. The Hobbit, I think, was the first book that was actually published, in 1937 when Tolkien was 45, but he had also written most of The Silmarillion, The Lost Tales, several children's books, and the beginning of Lord of The Rings. I don't think he ever intended to get any of his stories published, but a friend convinced him to publish The Hobbit, which was massively successful, and publishers asked for more of his work. 17 years later, in 1954, the Lord of The Rings Trilogy was published. A lot of Tolkien's work, like the Silmillirion, The Lost Tales, and The Unfinished Tales of Middle Earth, was published posthumously by his son Christopher.

So, you could look at it as Tolkien not starting Lord of The Rings until he was 45, but I think a more accurate phrasing would be; he started LOTR when he was 25, it just took him 37 years to finish

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The Jedi catch a lot of flack for agreeing to be generals in a war, despite insisting that they're only meant to be diplomats. What people forget is that, one, the Senate had already declared war on the Separatists, and two, the clones belonged to the Republic, not the Jedi. After the battle of Geonosis, the Jedi essentially had three choices. They could refuse to become generals, which wouldn't stop the war, would lose them quite a bit of political clout, and would essentially lock them out of ever getting meanfully involved in the war. They could secede from the Republic, which wouldn't stop the war, would cost them a lot, if not all, of their resources, would lose the trust of the entire Galaxy, and would quite possibly prevent them from ever doing their jobs again. Or they could become something they weren't in a desperate attempt to minimize collateral damage as they waited for a chance to turn the situation around. Not that they ever got that chance.

They had nothing but bad choices, so they picked the one that let them maintain the most control over the ship until the inevitable fiery crash.

If instead of "keeping peace & justice in the Republic", the Jedi's task was "carrying a couch"...

About 1,000 years prior to The Phantom Menace, the Jedi see the Senate trying to get the couch off the ground and go:

Jedi: "Uh, need some help?" Senate: "Oh God, yes please...!" Jedi: "Cool, what's the plan?" Senate: "You carry the back end, we carry the front and lead the way. It'll go smoothly from here."

And for a solid millennium, this arrangement works and the couch moves forward without ever being dropped.

But by the time of the Prequels, the Senate has stopped carrying their end. Instead, they're sitting on the armrest, on their phone, online gambling or taking selfies for their InstaStories, they're having fun, talking with their buddies. They're being irresponsible and absolutely self-serving.

So the Jedi are in a situation where they have to PUSH the couch alone because if they don't, that's it, the couch is dropped.

And it's SUPER difficult, but hey, at least the couch is moving, right? Dunno for how much longer they can keep this up, though.

As this goes on, a Sith Lord sees this entire ordeal and decides to JUMP on the couch, speeding up the clock on the inevitable drop.

Then the Clone War happens, which is the equivalent of the Jedi needing to keep trying to push the couch using only ONE hand, while they use their other limbs to fight off the Separatists and get that Sith Lord off the couch.

Then Order 66 happens, the Jedi are dead and the couch is dropped.

Mission failed, "long live the Empire".

Now, this is just an analogy simplifying the events.

If we go by what George Lucas said on the Jedi's role in the Republic, there's quite a few differences between "carrying a couch" and the Jedi's ordeal.

For instance, it's not just the Jedi carrying the other end of the couch, there's also people like Bail and Padmé (otherwise the couch would've stood still a while ago).

Also, when you're helping someone carry a couch, you can just walk away if the other guy acts like a jerk. But in the case on the Jedi, they can't just walk away because they pledged themselves to the Republic. They made a vow and a system has been built around it, they can't just up and leave or say "no, fuck you Senate, we out". Because the principles of the Republic are worth upholding and the system works when the Senate isn't filled with douchebags, as shown by the fact that there was peace and prosperity up until the Prequels.

Finally, in the analogy, moving the couch only benefits the other guy, right? But in this case, the Jedi's role in the Republic actually helps everyone, which is why the Jedi joined in the first place. If they leave, they'd be abandoning the people of the Republic.

Point is, the Jedi are not meant to be seen as "the elite" or "the establishment" by the audience. They're the underdogs. They're pretty much the only ones still trying to do their jobs right and everyone around them has stopped giving a crap.

So saying "the Jedi failed" is redundant. Who wouldn't fail?

Which is why George Lucas never blames them, in his commentary about the Prequels. When he talks about what the Prequels are about, he never says it's about the Jedi's failure, he always blames:

the Senate for failing their duty to the Republic and giving it over to Palpatine with thunderous applause,

and Anakin, for failing to overcome his own personal flaws and giving in to his greed.

Sure, the Jedi are not perfect, but nobody ever said they were. Because while their failure is a plot element, it's not meant to be a focal point.

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They should remove the age requirement for presidency. Its time for america to enter its despotic boy-king era

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its of utmost importance you have sound on while watching this

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The inexorable march of time that leads to the inevitable heat death of the universe, where all accomplishments will be undone, all dreams will end, and all historical record will be irretrievably erased?

I can connect anything to trains, just watch me, give me a topic and I'll connect it to trains for you

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Erik Lehnsherr is Magneto's given name. I don't know why he listed Magneto twice. Maybe he doesn't know who Ian McKellen is

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In the very first post, OP essentially said that killing is sometimes necessary. There's a difference between defending yourself or others and unilaterally deciding that a group of people doesn't deserve to live.

re: that last post, ive said it before and ill say it again: no one deserves to die (deserving is fake and death is bad) but some people need to be stopped and choose to make death the only way to stop them

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Circe Saga, let's goooooo!

So, having sailed away from a vengeful Posidon, Odysseus and his remaining men land upon yet another island. Eurylochus, Odysseus' other best friend, takes some men to scout the island for danger while Odysseus broods and grieves on the beach. Eurylochus returns alone and tells Odysseus that he and his men found a palace and were invited inside. The palace belonged to the goddess Circe, a powerful sorcereress. Circe, fearing for the nymphs under her protection, turned all of Eurylochus' men into pigs, and Eurylochus only escaped because he hadn't gone into the palace. Odysseus immediately begins planning on how to save his men, and he and Eurylochus get into an argument about how Odysseus can't save everyone, and they ought to just cut their losses and run. Afterward, Hermes, the god of messengers, decides to give Odysseus a hand for reasons that haven't been made entirely clear yet. He gives Odysseus a flower called Holy Moley and tells Odysseus to eat the root of the flower to become immune to Circe's spells. Odysseus does so and goes to challenge Circe. He briefly tries to convince her that he is also a god, but that falls through almost immediately. Circe, realizing that she can't enspell Odysseus, attempts to seduce him so he'll drop his guard and she can kill him. Odysseus says, "No thanks, I'm married," and, apparently, realizing that Circe won't give into threats, decides to beg for mercy instead. Surprisingly, this works, and Circe agrees to change Odysseus' crew back into men. She also tells him that a dead prophet will be able to help him get home and agrees to send him into the Underworld so he can speak to the dead prophet. Presumably, this trip doesn't involve killing him, but I suppose we'll find out next Saga.

And that is every Saga released so far. This was a lot of fun, I hope it helped!

Look, I’m a bad queer, I don’t know my greek mythology, whoever has EPIC the musical as a hyperfixation please explain to me the whole thing to me if you have the patience cause the songs are bangers but I’m lost

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Okay, I haven't actually read the Odyssey, but this is my understanding of events so far:

Troy Saga

Odysseus is the king of a city called Ithaca, and he's been leading his army against the city of Troy for ten years, while his wife and son (Penelope and Telemechus) remain in Ithaca. During the final battle of the Trojan War, Zeus, King of the Gods, sends Odysseus a prophetic vision of him (Ody) being cut down by a mysterious warrior. When Ody asks Zeus how to avoid this fate, Zeus tells him to kill Astyanax, the infant son of the Trojan Prince. Understandably disturbed by the idea of committing infanticide, Ody asks Zeus if there's any other way, and Zeus says no, adding on that Ody's wife and son will also be killed if Ody doesn't kill Astyanax before he grows up and seeks revenge. So, Astyanax is murdered, Ody is haunted by his decision to kill a toddler, Troy is sacked, and Ody and his army set sail for Ithaca. When they run out of food, Ody and his best friend Polites go to a nearby island to find more. Polites has a lovely song about how being kind solves all the world's problems, and essentially tells Ody that now that the war is over, Ody has a chance to relax and heal (emotionally speaking). Anyway, they find the Lotus Eaters and ask for some food. Unfortunately, the Lotus Eaters only eat magic lotus plants, which either make you fall asleep or not want to leave the island (the song is unclear). Fortunately, the Lotus Eaters point them towards another island, where there is apparently food in a cave. Then Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, has a song about how she's been guiding/mentoring Ody since he was a teenager. And that's the Troy Saga

Okay, i really have to get to sleep now, someone else can do the next Saga, or I'll do it tomorrow. Hope this helped!

Look, I’m a bad queer, I don’t know my greek mythology, whoever has EPIC the musical as a hyperfixation please explain to me the whole thing to me if you have the patience cause the songs are bangers but I’m lost

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Just finished hamlet & had to share THIS

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Humans are born wanderers. Don't tell me you don't wanna veer sharp left off this trail and get lost for 30 days. I fucking know you do, deep down. You love it.

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I see your point. I don't completely agree, but I understand

The problem with Epic for me is that Odysseus’s main struggle is supposed to be whether you can get away with NOT using ruthlessness, and when is a good time to use it. Straight from Jorge himself but the problem is the gods. Zeus, Athena, the Wind God, Poseidon. With their behavior, they REALLY want him to be wrong about mercy.

They have literally cheated and rigged the game against Odysseus so that his perspective on mercy is “wrong.” And from what I’ve seen of glimpses in later sagas, Odysseus starts to give into their attitude.

In a game that is divinely rigged against him.

There is no lesson here. Once again, the gods are fucking up everything 🙄

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hey so we put your morally grey character in a fandom. yeah half the fanbase makes them into a perfect angel who did nothing wrong and the other half depicts them as a cartoonishly evil villain who hurts people for fun. no we dont know how to explain that people can do bad things for good reasons or good things for bad reasons. sorry man