Smuel's good morning extravaganza

That reminds me of a picture called Longcat.

Good morning.

 

I bet there's a concerning amount of black cats called Tacgnol in the world.

On an unrelated note, I'm finding the anti-Weinstein backlash is getting a little tedious. Around the same time the stuff about Weinstein came out, the head of Screen Junkies (who do Honest Trailers, etc.) got sacked for trying to force a dildo on a woman and for threatening to get someone fired if his girlfriend talked about what a sleaze he was. They did a big response video, basically saying it was bad.

However, they've recently posted another video on one of their YouTube channels entitled A Candid Discussion On Sexual Harassment where they cite touching someone's arm or commenting on someone's dress as potentially inappropriate, and say it's wrong to use power to try and attract someone. Additionally a British MP has recently been hassled for touching a journalist's leg, when the journalist herself said she thought it was "absurd and wrong to treat workplace banter and flirting – and even misjudged sexual overtures – between consenting adults as equivalent to serious sexual harassment or assault."

Both men and women have always used wealth and status to attract someone, so I would hardly say use of power is inherently wrong. The bad side is when you're abusing the power, in trying to coerce or threaten someone to do something to your knob, or believing it entitles you to hound someone when they're not interested. Likewise I don't think there's any need to demonise behaviour that shows a sexual interest, like touching someone's arm or saying they look good in a dress. The main thing again is to back off if they're not keen.

In trying to put a finger on why this is annoying me, I guess there's always the nagging feeling that society will start to overcompensate and label things people do to express that they're into someone as sexual harassment. I guess when the BBC starts to make articles on leg-touching as big news it can be hard not to feel like things are trending that way.

I was maybe going to make a thread about this, but I thought another one of those weird threads wasn't really needed.

Good morning.

 

Huh, I had noticed a "Screen Junkies - what happened" video in my YouTubes, but didn't know what it was about. Kudos to them for addressing the issue head on, though in the video I wish they hadn't gone on about how it was a "betrayal of our trust". I get that they are trying to show empathy, but it ends up feeling more like they are trying to make it about them. "Oh, hey it affects me too, so I'm on the side of the good guys!" even though prior to three weeks ago they had no idea it was even happening.

I have a modicum of sympathy for the view that society may be losing something by banning such things as a playful touching of the arm. However, it's still a trade worth making. I don't think any woman who experienced the workplace mores of the 1950's would prefer things to be that way, even if it does mean a miniscule chance of missing out on meeting the love of her life because they're work colleagues and both too afraid to make a move.

On a kind of semi-related note, I was playing a MOBA the other day, and during the team selection process, one of the people on our side criticized the other team's picks by typing "homos". Another player immediately said "Hey, no need for that." I thought that was a great way to handle it. No overreaction like "omg ur betraying our trust", but calmly shutting it down. And if this kind of inclusive atmosphere means I don't get to describe my sexual relations with anyone's mother, then it's a trade worth making.

Though, for the record, we totally pwned those noobs and then later I pwned their moms. With my pwnis.

Good morning.

 

I don't know, it took them a couple of weeks to address the issue (Defy Media originally tweeted about it, and then it took Screen Junkies a couple more weeks after that), and really I think they would have just harmed themselves more by ignoring it by that stage - so I'm not quick to give them a pat on the back for it. I will say that the video makes for a good drinking game, if you drink every time they say "forward" ("Women shouldn't be afraid to come forward", "We're moving forward", "Looking forward", etc.).

I guess I don't really see a need for a trade in the first place. Touching someone's arm really isn't the same as grabbing someone's ass, and while the advance may be unwanted people can just say so - it's not exactly an intimidating gesture. I think the problem is the person who would pursue a man or woman after being told no, not so much the gesture itself.

You could say you are being inclusive, of their mum.

Good morning.

 

The problem is that a system of "some things are okay and some not, and everyone should gauge it appropriately in each individual case" doesn't work, because of people. One person's harmless brush of the leg is another person's gross invasion of personal space. The nice thing about a rule of "no physical contact or sexual conversation in the workplace, ever" is that it's easy to understand and easy to enforce, and it cuts out pretty much all possibility of harassment or uncomfortableness. Furthermore, you don't really lose that much by it, since if two people are attracted to each other they will subtly flirt anyway and gradually up the ante until one of them asks the other out - at which point they're dating and it's fine.

Once we're all living in a VR simulation, where there is no possibility of being physically trapped or intimidated, and you can block unpleasant people with a twitch of an eyebrow, then we can relax the rules a little, but until then I'm on the side of the Social Justice Warriors. I mean, I'm not on their side, but I think they've got it right on this particular issue.

Good morning.

 

Yeah I guess barring it from the workplace is completely fine, but though they only talk about the workplace once or twice in the video I mentioned, a lot of it seems to be implying these things should just never happen really at all between two people who don't know each other too well in any setting. I'd say only touching each other arms is just as easy to enforce as no-touching, but I suppose you might get people who consider a long squeezy stroke to be appropriate - so I don't know.

I guess I would probably never be touching people's arms in the first place, instead I would rely on my, er.. "winning personality" to attract the opposite sex, but damnit if I don't want to defend a man's right to touch as many arms as he pleases!

I'll be the guy with my virtual dong out.

Good morning.

 

Today I slightly over-toasted my toast. Not enough to make it burnt, but slightly more toasty than I would have ideally liked.

Fucking Brexit.

Good morning.

 

You're saying your toaster, connected to the Internet of Things, is secretly programmed to slightly overheat in response to received data on the lack of progress in the Brexit negotiations? I would call you a liar, but they've already got to my kettle.

On an unrelated note, I'm finding the anti-Weinstein backlash is getting a little tedious... just kidding! No, on an unrelated note I found something incredible about Arcanum yesterday...

You can legitimately keep Vollinger on your team without doing something weird like making him wait outside T'sen-Ang. I'll let that bombshell sink in.

Good morning!

 

Looks like the Tamriel Vault are tweeting about something new I uncovered in Skyrim.

I guess I'll have to pat myself on the back while simultaneously high-fiving myself, a skill I've mastered through a lifetime of being a smug cretin.

Good morning!

 

Well, I'm not sure if it can get more steampunk than shooting steam from your mouth.

Good morning.

 

Talking of patting yourself on the back, a couple of days ago I was with some semi-friends/semi-work-colleagues, and we were discussing options for take-out for lunch, and decided on Thai food. Two of the guys started trying to pronounce the food names from the menu in a "proper" Thai way, and, well, they got a little over-enthusiastic about their impressions of an East Asian person talking, so I said "Okay guys that's going too far now." And they laughed and stopped.

Now as I understand it, I'm due some kind of reward from the universe for my heroism.

Good morning.

 

Too right you should have told them off, it's not a proper asian impersonation unless you do the eyes as well.

Of course I'm joking, racism is bad, and Smuel is the saviour of humanity as we know it.

Good morning.

 

Happy October Revolution!

 

Here is how to make you and Vollinger BFFs with pretty pictures for anyone interested.

I don't know about any of you, but I'd never heard of a legitimate means of keeping him loyal. It was only through me wanting to make a gunner party that I read one or two 10 year old threads that claimed you could keep him onside without using the exploit where you make him wait outside T'sen-Ang.

I also cross-posted it on the reddit, GOG forum and in a thread on Codex, so hopefully we'll rake in the crucial $0.001 from advertising.

Good morning!

 

Not to be rude or anything but I thought you were joking in your earlier post. Especially since you've got a history of uncovering lots of interesting tidbits when digging through the game (the scavenger hunt and so forth).

Because this is really old news. I'm talking pre-UAP stuff. I'm certain you can find threads about it from 2001-02 if you care to go looking. I ran across it during my second or third playthrough.

There is a fairly extensive LP which goes into detail on the subject.

I'd say good morning, but it seems as if you've been asleep the last sixteen years!



EDIT:

Aww, come on! You're making us look bad

 

Well you were rude, and now I'm sad...

I think the thing is with it being such old news is that it has now more or less officially fallen off the radar. As mentioned, the LP you posted is 10 years old, and all the other threads talking about it are from there or earlier (I can find only one thread mentioning it on here from 2006, there's probably a couple more but not many) - it's hard to find anything new and definitive about it. The wiki made no mention of it (I just gave it an edit), saying you had to bypass his post-T'sen-Ang conversation to keep him on your team, as does the Gamebanshee walkthrough.

I don't think that either the reddit or GOG will have much knowledge of it (and besides, it's nice to see the pictures of it in action), as for Codex I'm not really sure. In any case I've not tried to package it as brand new information, and more footfall through the site is hardly a bad thing, neither is a reminder elsewhere that this site still discusses Arcanum from time to time.

Good morning to everyone but Ruda. There, how do you like that?! Weren't prepared for that, were you?!?!

EDIT: Well seeing as my previous post wasn't good enough for Ruda's supreme standards, I found something else that seems to be a rarity, though also not entirely unknown. Turns out, you can have sex with horny widow Misk, after you find out who sold her family out - and so long as you have high Persuasion (or possibly Charisma).

I suppose Ruda will say, "Oh Jojobobo, I've been having a go on widow Misk since before you were born! People in the noughties were queueing up round to block to molest Misk." However, I shan't believe it!