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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 27th, 2023

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  • Zizek’s take on 300 is so good, here’s an excerpt:

    it is the story a small and poor country (Greece) invaded by the army of a much larges state (Persia), at that point much more developed, and with a much more developed military technology - are the Persian elephants, giants and large fire arrows not the ancient version of high-tech arms? When the last surviving group of the Spartans and their king Leonidas are killed by the thousands of arrows, are they not in a way bombed to death by techno-soldiers operating sophisticated weapons from a safe distance, like today’s US soldiers who push the rocket buttons from the warships safely away in the Persian Gulf? Furthermore, Xerxes’s words when he attempts to convince Leonidas to accept the Persian domination, definitely do not sound as the words of a fanatic Muslim fundamentalist: he tries to seduce Leonidas into subjection by promising him peace and sensual pleasures if he rejoins the Persian global empire. All he asks from him is a formal gesture of kneeling down, of recognizing the Persian supremacy - if the Spartans do this, they will be given supreme authority over the entire Greece. Is this not the same as what President Reagan demanded from Nicaraguan Sandinista government? They should just say “Hey uncle!” to the US…











  • Being a jerk in Obsidian games is fun. I used to do every small errand to please everyone, mainly for the rewards, but then found out as long as you can figure out the main mechanism, most tasks are optional.

    Being more assertive really amps up the role playing aspect. Sadly not every RPG is this open and well-written.





  • There’s indeed a cake called Napoleon, which is not invented by Napoleon. I know at least in Russia and China, this cake is known by the name of Napoleon cake.

    Legend has it that the name originates from the Napoleonic war with Russia and since people have to throw the cake to the ground (table?) to break the sugar layer on top of it and thus the Russian people call it Napoleon so that they are breaking Napoleon.

    I see no mention of this etymology elsewhere, so take this with a grain of salt.



  • The original “agile” is a reaction to the overly rigid planning and emphasizes worker self-management. It makes sense since the people who are closest to the work (the workers) know best how to plan and implement the work.

    It immediately breaks down when a specialized management tier emerges and tries to push their own agenda, i.e. to sell themselves rather than do something meaningful.

    At this point, whichever form is used doesn’t matter. The management, endowed with the power from above, will exploit the weakness of any agile-shmagile methodology to push their own agenda.