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andrewrgross Andy @slrpnk.net
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allpoetry.com All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace by Richard Brautigan

Comments & analysis: I like to think (and / the sooner the better!)

All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace by Richard Brautigan

Just a poem someone mentioned that I found touching.

Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to format the line breaks on Lemmy. Oh well.

I like to think (and the sooner the better!) of a cybernetic meadow where mammals and computers live together in mutually programming harmony like pure water touching clear sky.

I like to think (right now, please!) of a cybernetic forest filled with pines and electronics where deer stroll peacefully past computers as if they were flowers with spinning blossoms.

I like to think (it has to be!) of a cybernetic ecology where we are free of our labors and joined back to nature, returned to our mammal brothers and sisters, and all watched over by machines of loving grace.

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My first bookbinding project - a hardcopy of the Fully Automated! TTRPG Rulebook
  • This is just nuts! I dig DIY guides, but bookbinding really is something special.

    I can't believe how effortless you make it look. It looks like you've done this a bunch of times!

  • What is the functional difference between the President having immunity for “official acts” and the powers granted to the German President under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution?
  • Let's be clear, though: judicial review has no enforcement. Compliance is voluntarily, and it can't undo assassinations and coups.

    And impeachment functionally doesn't exist. It's been demonstrated that senators will not impeach a president of their party, regardless of whether they agree with the charges.

  • Now that scotus gave the president immunity Biden can legally assasinate all of the conservative justices
  • Can we agree that he can definitely use his mouth to say "I endorse doing something"?

  • definitely accurate
  • That's the whole theme song. I don't understand this meme.

  • Season 1 Of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Available For Free On YouTube In USA
  • That's great. I wish all this stuff was more accessible to watch.

  • Our starter campaign, Campaign 1: Regulation is done! Check it out!

    With the release of campaign 1, we've now released all the starting content planned within phase 1!

    Check it out, tell your friends. and consider leaving a review!

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    What tools and built environments would enhanced/uplifted wolves use?
  • I really hope to see more of this kind of thing.

    I love when animals are intelligent but still animals. I think people underestimate their resourcefulness. I had a dog that could open the bedroom door at my old apartment. It didn't even have a handle, just a knob. But the house had settled in such a way that if you just turned the knob about 10 degrees or gave it solid jiggle the latch would release, and the door naturally opened an inch or so. So when a firework would go off or something, or it just got late enough that he was tired of napping on the couch, he'd sit up, trot over to the bedroom and stand up, and swipe the knob with a paw, and then just nose his way in and put himself to bed.

    He was like a roommate. He was such a cool guy.

  • What tools and built environments would enhanced/uplifted wolves use?
  • I like technomancy, although I don't know how it would apply to uplifted/enhanced wolves.

    The Beastman thing feels pretty off. They seem to be anthros, and also bad guys. Uplifted wolves are still quadrupedal, and also not bad guys.

  • What tools and built environments would enhanced/uplifted wolves use?
  • "I have to have two houses, one which is shared with Great Grandma (the elderly retired geneticist who did the uplift upbringing), and one which is the PC's Mom's Pack (and she's a forester) so the forest lodge elements make sense. For the Latter definitely going with a great room for mixed species guests and socialization, and two layers of Dens (well within capsule hotel standards) with those rough slopes for the upper levels. After consulting with a forester who trains work dogs, going with a Water shower with a bristle spinner, and giant hot air dryer, for the cleaning oneself when coming inside. He hadn't thought of the giant hamster wheels but laughed when I mentioned it, and says it makes perfect sense."

  • What tools and built environments would enhanced/uplifted wolves use?
  • Some quotes from responses:

    "The mind goes straight to a forest lodge, although that is unfair stereotyping I should move past! (But who doesn't want a forest lodge? College students!)

    Lots of giant hamster wheels! Seriously, they need how many miles a day to keep their bowels working? Maybe a vibration massage plate bed for grandma.

    Some equivalent of a shoe rack - maybe a wax tray you can rub your paws on for protection against hot/cold pavement, and a cleansing tray with bristles to clean your paws on the way back in. More extreme climates might need dog boots secured with velcro straps.

    Steep rough slopes (duckboard ramp) rather than stairs. Maybe fixed on half the stairs width if it is shared accommodation with plains apes.

    Western humans still tend to have liminal guest space and kitchens ect on the ground floor with bedrooms placed defensibly above on the next floor.

    There may be a slight tendency among wolves to favour basements/enclosed/bunker like spaces for the bedrooms, and very large open communal rooms up top for guests. No point having seperate kitchen areas when you can smell everything anyway, just lots of flop down futons."

  • What tools and built environments would enhanced/uplifted wolves use?

    This came up on Discord, and I thought it was with sharing more broadly:

    > Anyone have advice on handling a U-wolf PC? Anthropic bias is heavy. > ... > ok, got a coherant backstory from them, Third Generation from initial uplift, not all Aunts/Uncles are in the S5 range, and lifespan improvement is generationally incrementing upwarsd. > All of the pack that raised them are at least S4+, Moms are Foresters/Wilderness managers, Dad is a radio astronomer and hobbiest fisherman. > Walter Brown (the PC parawolf), is an informal coordinator using a BCI to keep connected to networks, and taking advantage of a very high Dunbar Number to maintain lots of distinct relationships.

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    Kevin Feige announces "THE FANTASTIC FOUR" starts filming July 29 and confirms it takes place in the 1960s.
  • Sounds interesting. The FF are characters that I really like in concept, but if you ask me my favorite stories I can't think of one's outside my head. We'll see what they do with them.

  • Your Houseplants Can Think with Zoë Schlanger [Factually podcast with Adam Conover]
  • That's nuts. I was hoping it might explain how, but nope: they're like, "We've got no idea."

    Remarkable. It's nice to be reminded how much about our world still lies undiscovered.

  • Is there any real physical proof that Jesus christ ever existed?
  • I shouldn't bother responding to this, but I have to point out that this weird assumption that scholars of Christianity are all Christian partisans seems pretty similar to people who say that climatologists are all biased in favor of a global warming hoax.

    You don't think anyone goes into studying a field to challenge the orthodoxy? That's the fastest way to get famous. Even if the rest of your field hates you, you can make an incredibly lucrative career out of being "the outsider". I literally linked to a collection of experts who agree with you.

    If you don't believe the experts, I guess it's fine. But it's weird when people use expertise on a subject as proof of bias to discredit expertise. It's just such a silly thing to do.

  • Your Houseplants Can Think with Zoë Schlanger [Factually podcast with Adam Conover]

    Adam's podcast is just straight-up low-key solarpunk at this point. Like half the videos feel relevant.

    Here is the audio-only version, too: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/factually-with-adam-conover/id1463460577

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    Is there any real physical proof that Jesus christ ever existed?
  • I didn't say which side I come down on. I just said that there is lots of information with plenty of high quality citations.

    I'm really happy that everyone is a winner.

  • Is there any real physical proof that Jesus christ ever existed?
  • It's weird how many people in this thread are vaguely debating the validity of the historical research into this question when one person has posted a link to a well cited article on this very very heavily studied subject.

    There's even a link to a well cited article examining the skepticism of the historicity of Jesus: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_myth_theory

    I don't feel compelled to argue an interpretation. The facts are well documented and their interpretations by experts available. What anyone chooses to do with these are of no real concern to me.

  • The Star Trek Adventures first edition Core Rulebook pdf free for Saturday, June 22
  • I agree with that. Looking through, I find understanding the basic rules to be kind of a burden. It took me a while to realize that "Operations" is the rules section.

    I think it makes sense to show players the character sheet early, because that's the nexus through which they really experience the game. I like the demo scene towards the beginning, but I think a quickstart guide to explain basic rules to the players very, VERY clearly is usually a good idea.

    Still, I'm continuously impressed at how well this adapts Star Trek to an RPG. I was initially skeptical that an RPG could take all the nonsense we see in decades of different shows and create a cohesive basis for all of it, but this is really impressive. I'd have to play to see if the rules feel balanced and natural, but at a glance, they make far more sense than plenty of other RPGs I've seen. I think this looks like a really fun game.

  • ICRC says 22 killed in strike near its Gaza office
  • I really try not to get into litigating each and every instance, but I feel compelled sometimes to point out a few things:

    The claim that Abdallah Aljamal was holding hostages is not credible. This claim was made by the IDF without evidence, and they have a very long history of fabricating post-hoc justifications for killing people they weren't targeting or supposed to target. Examples include the assassination of American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022 and the killing of medic Rouzan al-Najjar in 2018. In both cases, the IDF was caught lying to justify their murders, and I don't think the claims about Abdallah Aljamal hold up at all. From what I read, he lived in the building one of the hostages was recovered from, but he wasn't known as a target before he was killed. He was characterized as one after he was dead.

    Overall, the concept of "valid targets" is bullshit. It is used to assuage our innate understanding that killing people -- particularly the young, the innocent, the defenseless, the elderly -- is WRONG. Israel has, in this particular war, extended the concept in a way that is clearly genocidal. Their target selection, as covered by 972, was wildly more vicious than their own historical limits on collateral damage. An anonymous Israeli intelligence officer called it "a mass assassination factory".

    I'm glad we agree that all the responsible parties for atrocities deserve to be held accountable. I don't intend the above as a provocation to fight, but I want to make sure anyone reading this comment section is aware of this context.

  • The Star Trek Adventures first edition Core Rulebook pdf free for Saturday, June 22

    modiphius.us Star Trek Adventures Core Rulebook - PDF

    Extensive exploration of the United Federation of Planets and its galactic neighbours in the Alpha, Beta and Gamma Quadrants. Guidelines on how to run an adventure of exploration and discovery for the crew of a Federation starship.

    Star Trek Adventures Core Rulebook - PDF

    cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/11678529

    > Happy Free RPG Day!

    I saw this post last night just before the sale ended, and grabbed a free copy of the Star Trek Adventures RPG core rule book.

    If anyone would like a copy, message me and I'll share my copy with you (which I think is acceptable: as a rule, I don't encourage piracy of RPGs because I want to respect the creative work of others, but I got this free on sale yesterday, so it seems reasonable to share copies person-to-person).

    Having spent the morning reading it, I'm very impressed. I've made it a priority to try and learn from other RPGs, especially any that take place in some kind of positive future. And I'm especially interested in ones like Traveler, this, and The Expanse, because eventually I'd like to release a space-based companion to the core manual.

    This is a very cool game book. It's really rich in lore, and does a great job making the world seem intelligible to play in. Contextualizing the technology and making sense of the conflicts and player experiences in such a world is no mean feat, but this RPG does a really good job, imo, demonstrating ways of doing that.

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    The Star Trek Adventures first edition Core Rulebook pdf free for Saturday, June 22
  • I spent a while reading through this, and I gotta say that this is a really good RPG book. It's very thorough, it's well written for suggesting ways to play, it's attractively formatted. This is a cool book.

  • We just released our 3rd adventure in our free, open-source solarpunk setting: it's a cyberpunk-heavy mind control conspiracy called "Piece of Mind"!

    Our indie dev group just released our third playable adventure! This is the climax of a four-part set! It is now available for free on DriveThruRPG!

    It’s for a free, open-source game system/setting we made that’s like cyberpunk in a post-scarcity society. Check it out! Honest feedback is appreciated.

    >A gang of whitehat biohackers suspect they’re being targeted. That threat is about to get very real. > >On a sunny summer day, your help is needed escorting a eccentric researcher to a meeting with their collegues. It’s been six weeks since unknown actors staged a daring armed robbery on their laboratory, and tensions are running high. But when this mysterious adversary puts their plans into action, it’ll take all your skills and judgement to avert a nightmare.

    This story continues to build on the previous two in its scope, complexity, and challenges to give diverse player and character types opportunitites to see more places, meet more characters, and find ways to use their specialities to help their communities in a story with around 8 - 10 hours of content.

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    Adventure 3: "Piece of Mind" is out now!

    Our indie dev group just released our third playable adventure! This is the climax of a four-part set! It is now available for free on DriveThruRPG!

    It’s for a free, open-source game system/setting we made that’s like cyberpunk in a post-scarcity society. Check it out! Honest feedback is appreciated.

    >A gang of whitehat biohackers suspect they're being targeted. That threat is about to get very real. > >On a sunny summer day, your help is needed escorting a eccentric researcher to a meeting with their collegues. It's been six weeks since unknown actors staged a daring armed robbery on their laboratory, and tensions are running high. But when this mysterious adversary puts their plans into action, it'll take all your skills and judgement to avert a nightmare.

    This story continues to build on the previous two in its scope, complexity, and challenges to give diverse player and character types opportunitites to see more places, meet more characters, and find ways to use their specialities to help their communities in a story with around 8 - 10 hours of content.

    0

    The "xylo" is greek for wood

    A lone figure at a party reflects that the rest of the revelers don't know that "xylophones" with metal bars are actually glockenspiels.

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    My game group just release a new adventure set in the world of Fully Automated!

    Our indie dev group just released our second playable adventure! It is now available for free on DriveThruRPG!

    It's for a free, open-source game system/setting we made that's like cyberpunk in a post-scarcity society. Check it out! Honest feedback is appreciated.

    >An adventurer is facing a mind-bending medical crisis. Are you prepard to join the rescue party? > >Psychonaut Psilosybe Vulgaris has fallen into a catonic state while testing a new psychadelic. Now her doctor and friends need the aid of some daring and capable first responders ready to do whatever it takes to find a cure, before her mind dissolves away to nothing! > >As the second published adventure within the Fully Automated! solarpunk game catalog, Psychonautica is written for new players who are ready for a more free-form adventure. Unlike the short and simple demo mission, this one has twists, turns, and opportunities for GMs and players to tell stories with a bit more freedom. > >Respond to a medical emergency! Explore the wild mental dimension of neurospace! Meet a wilder, wider world of characters in a story that stands on its own while planting the seeds for an even more climactic sequel!

    4

    guys the NSA put me on a list :'(

    Before you get mad at me, relax: I live under an electoral system in which my vote isn't counted.

    4

    Adventure 2: Psychonautica! Is now live on DriveThruRPG!

    Our second playable adventure is now available for free on DriveThruRPG!

    >An adventurer is facing a mind-bending medical crisis. Are you prepard to join the rescue party? > >Psychonaut Psilosybe Vulgaris has fallen into a catonic state while testing a new psychadelic. Now her doctor and friends need the aid of some daring and capable first responders ready to do whatever it takes to find a cure, before her mind dissolves away to nothing! > >As the second published adventure within the Fully Automated! solarpunk game catalog, Psychonautica is written for new players who are ready for a more free-form adventure. Unlike the short and simple demo mission, this one has twists, turns, and opportunities for GMs and players to tell stories with a bit more freedom. > >Respond to a medical emergency! Explore the wild mental dimension of neurospace! Meet a wilder, wider world of characters in a story that stands on its own while planting the seeds for an even more climactic sequel!

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    The sport "Firebreak" was proposed in Discord, and I wanted to save it publicly

    Firebreak! A game of directable fire. With it's origins in the burning years and needing to train children to handle PPE for smoke, it's gradually evolved into a more playful mode. Over several days the competitors build quickwood structures and an artificial forest. The teams have "home trees" to protect and defend, and a limited supply of water to extinguish it. The central artificial forest is ignited and let spread before the teams can leave (leaf) their home trees. The sport supports a variable amount of teams. In some rural areas It's also considered a coming of age ritual in forested areas, which imparts valuable lessons about life and rescue work.

    4

    The other big solarpunk RPG (Solarpunk 2050) just released new content!

    dice.camp Solarpunk 2050 (@[email protected])

    I have just released the #Free #Solarpunk #TTRPG #Quickstart: The World Destroying Machine from the #Solarpunk2050 Sourcebook as a standalone product. Get it here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/483769/Solarpunk-2050--Quickstart-The-world-destroying-machine Just add #Fate condensed and players...

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    This meme was inspired by the response to a meme I posted on r/worldjerking

    cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/10351845

    > This is the post: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldjerking/comments/1d92dkp/rate_the_political_factions_in_my_totally/

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    This meme was inspired by the response to a meme I posted about this game on r/worldjerking

    This is the post: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldjerking/comments/1d92dkp/rate_the_political_factions_in_my_totally/

    1