When your kid runs at you to give you the most enthusiastic hug of your life just because.

Toxic Magic fuckery could fill this entire thread. Hell, just toxic blue deck fuckery could fill this entire thread.

I have an irrational dislike of her voice and the way she talks but nothing against her as a person or a professional.

Not necessarily, people don’t travel through time in Dune but they do see through time, and Spice specifically enables humans to see the past and future. I can theorize that actually traveling into the past is something only intelligent machines were able to facilitate. It could also be a situation where the high tech solution (lasers) has already been countered (shields) so the low tech solution (swords) becomes the better weapon. It could also be by a mutual agreement, or simply lost tech.

Terminator, the Matrix and Dune are all the same universe at different points in time.

Timothy Dalton’s James Bond died deep under double cover in Hollywood in a tragic airship related rocket pack accident.

Who would find throat warbler mangrove hard to pronounce?

Your grandmother’s sister is your grandaunt, and you use grand and great the same way you do for mother/father but with aunt/uncle.

So I think your fourth cousin twice removed was on the Thresher but someone may correct me.

They use some rather consumer unfriendly chemicals, like formaldehyde as others said, but also things like flame retardants, pest deterrents, anti molding agents etc to preserve the clothes if they’re stored improperly. You should ALWAYS wash new clothes before wearing them, even ignoring the possibility of others having tried them on. Maybe consider another scent for your clothes.

Haven’t seen anyone here recommend The Woman in Black (2012) which fits the atmospheric horror genre perfectly. Stars Daniel Radcliffe and I remember it as being quite good, with no gore and minimal cheap jump scares. I don’t think the trailer is a good representation of it so that would be one to go into blind.

Dance, and music. It could probably be argued that dolphins already dance and don’t need any extra encouragement. I bet a dolphin would love to play with a sound board that could play tones when buttons are pushed. Object arrangement, like someone else said. Sand patterns maybe. They can also interact with things out of the water too so painting isn’t so ridiculous, they just don’t have the dexterous appendages that elephants or chimps do.

Dark chocolate (75%+) has a non-insignificant amount of caffeine in it, an ounce can have as much as a cup of black tea, so that may be why.

There have been downturns in the industry before, but it always seems to bounce back.

Princess Cimorene from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Came here to say Avasarala.

Every kid is different, but if you’re not able to ask the parents then a safe bet is a duplo set. Bristle blocks are also great. My kid is currently 2 1/2 so these are what I know would be hits with him and his friends.

You could also get one of the following books:

Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site
Don’t Worry Little Crab
The Little Blue Truck (it’s a whole series, the Halloween one would be appropriate)
Bear Snores On or any other book in that series.

I love Ranking of Kings. The art style really threw me off but I stuck with it. I appreciate how everyone has their own stories and motivations and all of the characters that enter the stage where you say “well that person is clearly the bad guy” becomes someone you understand and even admire later. The theme of the show is definitely that things aren’t always what they seem, so err on the side of kindness. It’s a good lesson.

Do you use fabric softener with your towels? Fabric softener conditions fibers with oils making them less absorbent. A good quality, plush cotton towel that has never seen fabric softener can be extremely absorbent, and if you do the two towel method someone else mentioned I bet that would really cut your drying time. If you used two good, absorbent towels in your hair, then blow dried, I bet it would only take a minute or so which is a lot easier to sit through.

I like Walz so it was frustrating to hear him tripping over his words and misspeaking. I think I heard him say he was friends with a school shooter, when I know he meant to say people effected by shootings. I felt that unfortunately Vance sounded clear and authoritative which will sway some people, despite being full of shit. One question Walz handled excellently was the one on abortion and reproductive rights. I just wish he had been that solid and aggressive and confident throughout the whole debate.

This is one is genre specific, but Caesar 3. I love city builders and have played them for as long as they’ve existed. I’ve learned all the little tricks and systems of the ones I’ve played, exploiting esoteric mechanics and optimizing my little utopias and creating epic, sprawling empires that far exceed every metric asked of me. That said, Caesar 3 is a challenge I still relish after (oh wow, has it really been) 25 years. It’s the only city builder where the “peaceful” branch in the story is harder than the “wartime” scenarios. I revisited it recently wondering if I was just missing something back when I was younger, but nope. On the harder levels it asks you to sustain larger and larger populations with increasingly limited resources, and reaching the level of getting patrician housing (only achieved with sustained, stable access to literally every amenity) is extremely difficult but oh so satisfying. Every other city builder I’ve played, I barely have to think about every house becoming the top tier, but in Caesar 3 it’s impressive if even a single block achieves it. It stands out even now after so many new entrants into the genre. Hell, it’s still worth playing haha.