That should be a tip for your reception, not the wedding itself.

These days it’s reasonably common to replace the disposable cameras with a QR code or link to where people can upload photos they took on their phone.

hahaha, as a non-American, I have no idea what the red herring you fell for even was. Even knowing what it’s apparently about, I can’t see which words would go in it.

The other option (my preferred option) is to have every line end with two spaces instead of no spaces, but a blank line between paragraphs. The difference is:

Connections
Puzzle #739
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟨🟨🟨

That’s two spaces. This is the triple backtick method:

Connections
Puzzle #739
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟨🟨🟨

Connections
Puzzle #739
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟨🟨🟨

Skill 96/99
Uniqueness 1 in 262

Ahh! I can’t believe I didn’t get purple properly.

Happy cake day!

I’d be happy for the Australian government to take them to task over this one. But I’m afraid you’ve fallen for Murdoch propaganda with the journalism thing.

They weren’t “using our journalism”. They provide a direct benefit to the news organisations. It’s a mostly symbiotic relationship, with people going to Google and Facebook because it’s a good way to find news that interests them, and news organisations being funnelled traffic directly to them for free. But honestly, if money should be flowing in any direction, it’s to Google and Meta. The financial benefit for news organisations of the existing relationship is far greater for news organisations than it is for Google and Meta. People would still be Googling things and sharing on Facebook even if news didn’t make up part of that.

Jeff Jarvis is a great thinker and communicator in this space, and he moderates a great discussion on the topic here. About 34 minutes into the video they hear from a QUT professor who is pretty scathing towards the NMBC.

deleted by creator

Fuck I hate all these “AI-detecting” advice I’m seeing going around. So much of it is literally just good writing—use of em dashes, use of the rule of three, and parallel sentence structures. There are other things, of course, like the general vibe of being generic without saying much, but I feel like people are really grabbing onto the grammar and syntax points. I’ve been accused of using AI before, and the person even doubled and tripled down when called out—I have never used AI for any social media comments—all, presumably, just because I know a few alt-codes and really, really basic rhetoric.

they’re looking for typo-O in particular

They’re always looking for type-O, because O is the most able to donate. O- especially, which is the universal donor, though even O+ is great because it can donate to everyone with any positive type, which IIRC is like 80% of people. Other types are also important to donate because it lets them use the more specific blood type when possible, leaving the O-type blood for emergencies where determining blood type isn’t feasible.

edit: 86%, apparently

I remember spending hours tinkering with Linux in my bedroom as a kid

I feel like the environment of subject-specific forums and IRC chat that Millennial geeks grew up with is very different from the centralised, generic, algorithm-driven social media that Gen Z grew up with, and non-geeky Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers adopted in the late aughts & '10s. That was really the best of what social media could do, with far fewer of the unhealthy downsides.

Late last year Australia passed a ban for the use of social media of under-16s. In principle I think this is a really good idea.

Unfortunately they rushed it through without any thought as to how it would actually work in terms of age verification. It’s now been 6 months, which means we’re 6 months away from when it’s supposed to come into effect, and we still don’t have any idea how it’s actually supposed to work. But the principle behind it: the idea that social media is actually really not healthy for our brains, especially at a young and vulnerable age, is a sound one. And there’s only more and more research coming out to support that.

I’mma be honest, I’ve used disposable cameras, but not in a long time. I’d appreciate the reminder if I were handed one. Something about winding after (or before?) each photo?

even with literally using the threat of death forcing the character to work with the party, there is ALWAYS that one dipshit who wants to bitch and moan about how I’m “railroading them/preventing them from roleplaying their character” by doing so

This is an out of character problem that should be addressed by talking to your players at session 0 (and at any other time it arises). The manner in which you create characters is irrelevant here because it’s an interpersonal issue, not a mechanical or narrative one.

either you have been incredibly lucky with groups or have let Critical Roll give you rosey glasses about the role-play capabilities of the average player

I don’t watch actual plays. Never have. Tried Critical Role for a few episodes and didn’t see the appeal. I don’t think it takes an awful lot of roleplay skill to accomplish. Because I’ve seen it work many times with very ordinary players. Ordinary, but participating in good faith, which is the bare minimum. If you don’t have good faith, you shouldn’t be playing.

But it’s pretty clear from a lot of your tone and actions here that you are not participating in this conversation in good faith. Unless that changes, I’m out.

Sometimes assembling the group in session 0 is what’s right for the story, and sometimes it really, really isn’t. Think about how many movies literally have “Assembling the team” as almost their entire plot. The Avengers hangs two hours of non-stop action on “We need to put a party together.”

Oh, that reminds me of a 4th way campaigns can start (in addition to the 3 I said in a different reply) that I’ve been in before and quite enjoyed—though wouldn’t want to be overused. The MCU method. Where each player individually gets a 1 session (maybe 2 at most) solo session introducing them and getting them to the right place to start the campaign.

it’s the same thing, effectively

I strongly disagree. The first two are substantively the same, I agree. But the third is a wholly separate category. I see 3 basic categories we’re talking about here: you choose to work together at the start; you know each other already; you’re forced into working together by circumstances. The key difference between the 1st and the 3rd is that choice. “We have the same patron” is still a choice to work for that patron, and gives room for someone to say “nah, I’m not working with these people”. When the circumstances themselves directly force you to work together, there’s no ability to turn around and say “I’m going my own way”. Being kidnapped and having brain slugs put in your head is one way. Everyone arriving in the same town at the time the town is unexpectedly invaded is another one I’ve been in as a player.

The other key thing about in media res is that you don’t have that “inevitable round of introductions that feels like that time at the start of school when everyone had to stand up to say their name and one interesting fact about them”. You’re thrown into doing things before there’s any chance for that. You get to know each other not beforehand, as in case 2, but as the adventure is going.

To be clear, I’m pointing to BG3 as an example that I’ve only very recently (the last two–four weeks) started, and which serves as a good well-known example of something that demonstrates a good example of something I already know works well. It’s not a game that made me realise I completely new way of doing things. In media res will require players be cooperative enough to care to act, but it doesn’t require they trust each other or know each other immediately. It definitely doesn’t require pre-written specifically-designed characters.

There are options besides “strangers meet in a tavern and awkwardly introduce themselves” and pre-made perfectly-tailored party. I’m a fan of starting in media res, with the characters all in a location for their own reasons, when shit happens that forces them to act as a group. I’ve just recently started the video game Baldur’s Gate 3, and it’s not a bad example of what I mean.

Probably for the best. If you’d let him onboard it might have ended up like this story.

Might be interesting, but I’m not taking conspiracy theories (to be clear: this is a conspiracy theory. Even if it’s true, it’s a theory about a conspiracy.) from the Nazi blogging website seriously.

they should not meet in session 1.

Strongly disagree. Nothing wrong with doing that, but nothing wrong with having them meet in session 1 too, as long as you have built characters who will be willing to go along with the GM’s hooks.

And even that part is flexible, depending on the nature of the hook. If the hook is “you see an ad look for rat exterminators”, then you better have a character who wants to be an adventurer and will cooperate with other would-be adventurers. If the hook is “you’re prisoners being ordered to go explore this dungeon by order of the vizier”, there’s room for slightly less cooperative PCs, as long as you PC is cooperative enough to go along with that order, even if (at first) reluctantly.

Let me guess, you also tried

Connections
Puzzle #737
🟨🟩🟨🟩
🟩🟨🟦🟪
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩

Skill 83/99
Uniqueness 1 in a Million