1. "It was a fine meal after the Calormene fashion. I don't know whether you would have liked it or not, but Shasta did. There were lobsters, and salad, and snipe stuffed with almonds and truffles, and a complicated dish made of chicken-livers and rice and raisins and nuts, and there were cool melons and gooseberry fools and mulberry fools, and every kind of nice thing that can be made with ice. There was also a little flagon of the sort of wine that is called "white" though it is really yellow."

2. "A boy in the street made a beastly joke about Queen Susan," said Prince Corin, "so I knocked him down. He ran howling into a house and his big brother came out. So I knocked the big brother down. Then they all followed me until we ran into three old men with spears who are called the Watch. So I fought with the Watch and they knocked me down. It was getting dark by now. Then the Watch took me along to lock me up somewhere. So I asked them if they'd like a stoup of wine and they said they didn't mind if they did. Then I took them to a wine shop and got them some and they all sat down and drank till they fell asleep. I thought it was time for me to be off so I came out quietly and then I found the first boy—the one who had started all the trouble—still hanging about. So I knocked him down again. After that I climbed up a pipe on to the roof of a house and lay quiet till it began to get light this morning. Ever since that I've been finding my way back. I say, is there anything to drink?"

Both quotes from Chapter V Prince Corin in The Horse and His Boy.

It's very interesting to examine this in light of the whole "Tash = The Other Religion" discussion.

One of the hardest things to swallow about the Rebel Alliance is the sheer economics of it.

I’m not just talking about the upfront sticker price of buying an T-65B X-wing from Incom defectors, either.

If we look at real-world military logistics, the aircraft itself is just the tip of the iceberg.

For every single fighter pilot and airframe in a modern air force, there is a massive tail of logistics: mechanics, specialized diagnostic tools, life support systems, fuel/propellant, ordnance technicians, training pipelines, hidden bases, and supply chains.

In real life, the ratio of support personnel to a single fighter can be staggering. For every pilot there's 50-100 support personnel.

Yet, the Alliance Fleet somehow maintains multiple dedicated starfighter squadrons (Red, Gold, Green, Blue) alongside a capital ship navy of massive Mon Calamari cruisers, CR90 corvettes, and Nebulon-B frigates.

How did a localized, illegal insurgency scrounge up the capital and infrastructure to run a highly technical, galaxy-spanning navy? Where did the money, parts, and deep-space maintenance infrastructure actually come from?

I've been thinking about KOTOR II through the lens of Conan the Barbarian (1982).

One of the most memorable ideas in Conan is the Riddle of Steel.

Early in the film, Conan's father tells him:

"No one—no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts... This you can trust."

...while holding up a sword.

He asks:

"What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?"

This isn't just philosophy.

In Conan's religion, when he enters the afterlife, Crom will ask him the Riddle of Steel.

If he cannot answer, Crom will turn his face from him. It is literally the defining question of Conan's life.

Later, the antagonist, Thulsa Doom, challenges this belief. He explains that steel is ultimately powerless compared to the will that commands people:

"Steel isn't strong, boy. Flesh is stronger."

By the end of the film, Conan has answered the riddle for himself.

The sword was never the source of strength—the person wielding it was.

It got me wondering whether KOTOR II has something similar.

Not the "Riddle of the Force," exactly, but the Riddle of Kreia.

And unlike Conan, Kreia doesn't pose just one riddle.

Throughout the game she presents the player with many "riddles" on different themes—the Nar Shaddaa beggar ("Should you help or not?"), whether charity creates dependence, whether suffering strengthens people, whether power corrupts or reveals character, and countless other situations where there is no obvious moral answer.

Throughout the game, she keeps attacking assumptions the player brings from Star Wars:

• Is selflessness always good?
• Is power always evil?
• Is the Force benevolent?
• Does destiny excuse our choices?
• Can an act still be virtuous if it was inevitable?

She almost never gives straightforward answers. Instead, she keeps forcing the Exile—and the player—to wrestle with questions.

So if Conan's mythic question is:

"What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?"

Then perhaps Kreia's is something like:

"What is the Force compared to the will that chooses?"

Or perhaps even:

"What gives an act meaning: the Force, or the one who chooses?"

Viewed this way, Kreia isn't merely teaching a philosophy.

She's posing a series of mythic riddles to the player.

The point isn't to discover her answer, but to question the assumptions we've inherited from the Jedi, the Sith, and even from Star Wars itself.

I'm curious whether anyone else has thought about KOTOR II this way.

If Conan has the Riddle of Steel, what would you say is Kreia's riddle?

------

Addendum: Looking at KOTOR II through this lens, a lot of the game starts to click into place.

The Nar Shaddaa beggar isn't a morality lesson—it's a riddle.

Viewed this way, many of the companions can also be understood as embodiments of different riddles:

• The Handmaiden — What defines who you are? Birth? Duty? Choice? Identity becomes a riddle.
• Visas Marr — What is devotion? Is surrender an expression of love, faith, weakness, or freedom?
• Atton Rand — Can someone who has done terrible things truly redeem themselves? Guilt and redemption become a riddle.
• Bao-Dur — Can creation atone for destruction? Can one ever make amends for catastrophic harm?
• Mandalore — What is true strength? Is it conquest, leadership, or responsibility?
• The Force — Does it grant freedom, or does it deny it? Ultimately, the Force itself becomes the game's greatest riddle.

Finally, this lens also changes how I see Kreia herself.

It's easy to think: "Why does Kreia keep criticizing everything I do? I hate this old b1tch."

But viewed through the lens of riddles, it becomes:"Oh... because she's not trying to tell me the answer. She's constructing riddles for me to wrestle with."

From this perspective, Kreia isn't simply lecturing the Exile. She's continually placing the player before questions that resist easy answers, forcing us to think for ourselves rather than accept the doctrines of the Jedi, the Sith—or even Kreia herself.

Perhaps that's what the Riddle of Kreia really is.

Not a single question with a single answer, but a way of teaching through questions that force us to arrive at our own understanding.

Hi everyone,

I've noticed there are plenty of resources on how to mod KOTOR, but comparatively fewer focused on storytelling.

I'm thinking of putting together a beginner-friendly guide for people who have an idea for a KOTOR-related project—a quest, companion, mod, fanfic, or original Old Republic story—but aren't sure how to develop that idea into a compelling story.

The guide wouldn't cover grammar, dialogue scripting, or modding tools. Instead, it'd focus on storytelling fundamentals using examples from KOTOR, such as:

• Turning an idea into a clear premise
• Creating compelling protagonists and antagonists
• Goals, conflict, and stakes
• Theme and character growth
• Basic story structure
• Using KOTOR's stories to illustrate storytelling concepts

Before I invest a lot of time into writing it, I'd love to get some feedback from the community.

Are you currently working on (or thinking about) a KOTOR story, quest, mod, or fanfic? If so, what's the biggest storytelling challenge you're facing?

I'm especially interested in the story side of things rather than the technical modding side. Whether it's plot, characters, pacing, themes, or simply knowing where to start, I'd love to hear what you've found most challenging.

Thanks in advance—I really appreciate any thoughts or experiences you're willing to share!

I've been meditating consistently for about 2.5 years, usually 20 minutes every morning, using the sound of a droning fan as my meditation object.

Recently I've realized that I spend far too much time mentally monitoring whether I'm meditating "correctly" instead of simply meditating.

My mind is constantly checking things like:

• Am I really paying attention to the sound?
• Am I distracted?
• Is my mind actually quiet?
• Is my attention wavering?
• Have I stayed with the sound long enough?

It feels like there's a second layer of awareness that's constantly evaluating the first layer, and I suspect this habit is getting in the way more than it's helping.

For those of you who used to do this but no longer do, what actually helped you get past it? Was there a particular insight, instruction, or change in approach that made the difference?

I'm mainly looking for advice from people who personally went through this and eventually overcame it.

Hi guys,

Just wanted to share.

This is a really great example of starting from a really general place on a troublesome subject and building momentum on it by making general statements.

Summary:

A person is about to launch a new company with partners. The decision is already made — they are not seeking advice about whether to start the company. They want to align their mindset/energy with the path they have chosen.

The issue:

• They feel good about the business itself.
• But when they think about the other partners and whether they are "lining up" or moving fast enough, they introduce doubt/resistance.
• They believe they need to maintain a positive state so their energy influences the situation.

The speaker (Abraham Hicks) reframes the work:

• The goal right now is not to create the business.
• The goal is not to solve partner issues.
• The goal is to find a state of no resistance and let momentum build.

The person is encouraged to focus first on the general feeling of the enterprise, because that feels good and has no resistance.

The Rampage:

The general progression: general love of business → specific excitement → resources/support → team → market/timing.

Business / Enterprise:

I love business.
I love Enterprise.
I love the concept of supply and demand.
I love economy.
I love expansion.
I love progress.
I love startups.
I love applying myself.
I love focusing.
I love engaging.
I love interfacing.
I love co-creating.
I really like inspiring.
I'm good at inspiring.
I like self-employment.
I like business.
I like free market.
I like inspiration.

This Business / The Unfolding

I feel that this business was inspired to us.
I can feel the right track of this.
I can feel the unfolding of this.
I can feel the expansion of this.
I can feel the bigness of this.
I can feel the fun of this.
I can feel the unfolding of this.
I'm eager about this.
I really like this.
I really relish this.
I'm really happy about this.

Resources / Support / Expansion

I love the attraction of dollars.
I love the attraction of co-creator financiers.
I love the attraction of all necessary moving parts.
I love attracting the technology.
I love being a part of something that I feel invested in.
I love adding in a positive way to this universe.
I love the benefit that it brings individually to those who participate.
I love my part in this process.
I love creating control of my own life experience.
I love being in control of my own financial well-being.
I love knowing that I have the universe at my back and that all Universal forces are assisting me.
I love the feeling of invincibility.
I'm going to so enjoy the unfolding of this.
I can feel the power and the perfection of these decisions.
I can feel that all necessary components are being swept into this equation.
I love knowing it when I see it.
I recognize that feeling within me.
I'm really good about that.

Partners / Team

We are a magnificent team.
There are not three better people on the planet for this endeavor.
I can feel the wholeness of what we are collectively.
We are so much more than any one of us is individually.
We enhance the experience of one another.
We are perfect for one another.
This is going to be such a wonderful unfolding.
Each of us perfect as we are and expanding continually.
Each of us influencing the expansion from one another.
So easy for me to find positive aspects of these people.
So easy for me to focus upon their positive aspects.
And then stand in a place where Law of Attraction shows me even more positive aspects.
We are all more right now than any of us were individually.
And there is so much more coming.
What a perfect co-creative experience this is being.

Market / Timing

Momentum.
Market is ready for us.
Environment is ready for us.
Mass Consciousness is ready for us.
All of that was in our Vortex before we even knew that it was.
I've been following the path along my physical trail.
The non-resistant path.
Because I'm really good at finding that non-resistant path.
I can feel the rightness of the timing of this introduction of this by us into the marketplace.

Realistically, he wouldn't have stood much chance, being a non-Jedi and all.

I think Trask, being an experienced warrior, wouldn't try to win.

He knew he had no chance of winning. So, his goal would be to hold Bandon off by buying as much time as possible for PC to escape, by fighting in such a way that he occupied Bandon as long as possible. And hopefully delay him long enough that he couldn't get to the escape pods (or whatever ship he came on in) in time.

I guess he would probably count on Darth Bandon's sadism and deliberately fight in such a way as to stoke him on and maximise his eagerness to torture or demoralize and kill Trask, maybe by making Bandon toy with him or such.

That would lengthen the time Bandon took to finish him off, and would probably be his best strategy.

As to how exactly, I have no idea. Definitely melee fighting, maybe try to provoke him verbally. Maybe activate a grenade or two or something but keep the trigger depressed. Say some sh*t to make Bandon want to spend longer tormenting him, rather than finishing him off quickly.
----------

I'll just paste some interesting ideas suggested by ChatGPT here:

Physical tactics

• Fight defensively instead of aggressively.
• Constantly retreat while forcing Bandon to pursue.
• Lead him through narrow corridors.
• Knock over burning wreckage.
• Seal blast doors behind him.
• Trigger emergency lockdowns.
• Shoot control panels to create sparks or steam.
• Destroy overhead pipes to flood the corridor.
• Throw grenades to force Bandon to dodge.
• Use flash grenades to momentarily blind him.
• Fire suppressive blaster shots instead of aiming to kill.
• Duck behind cover repeatedly.
• Keep changing positions.
• Pretend to guard an important location.
• Bluff that reinforcements are arriving.
• Activate a thermal detonator as a last resort.
• Force Bandon to carefully disarm or evade traps.
• Make Bandon chase him room by room.
• Use every obstacle on the Endar Spire as a delay.

Things Trask could say

Bandon is a Sith apprentice, so his weaknesses are likely pride, ambition, anger, and the desire to prove himself. Trask's goal would be to make Bandon want the kill to be personal instead of efficient.

Here are some ways he could do that:

• Question his strength.
• Mock his skill.
• Challenge his pride.
• Call him Malak's errand boy.
• Compare him unfavorably to Malak.
• Remind him he's "just the apprentice."
• Suggest he's failing his mission.
• Point out the target is escaping.
• Stay fearless and refuse to beg.
• Dare him to prove himself.
• Insult the Sith as a whole.
• Mock his authority.
• Bluff that Trask knows something important.
• Pretend he's protecting something valuable.
• Laugh off his attacks.
• Waste his time with constant defiance.
• Force him to choose between a quick kill and satisfying his ego.

Now Bandon may stop to punish Trask instead of simply cutting him down immediately.

The trick is to attack Bandon's ego, not his intelligence. Trask isn't trying to convince him of anything—he's trying to make Bandon think, "I'm going to make this insolent Republic soldier suffer before I kill him." That's the kind of reaction that could realistically buy a few extra seconds.

---------

Personally, I find the psychological aspect of what Trask could say pretty intriguing—how he could exploit Bandon's ego and psychology to make a vastly superior opponent play into his own goals by dragging the fight out instead of ending it quickly.

What do you think?

I'm abundant in mobile data. My data plan has 588 GB of data per month... and it covers FIVE countries. And it's the cheapest plan on the market - single digit price per month. Like holy flying f**k man. I can't even use 10% of it per month. It's so much data I think I can take an entire year to use up one month's capacity. I'm simply awash in it.

So what are you abundant in?

I've often heard people describe successful people as being "very focused" at work, and I'm realising I may have misunderstood what that actually means.

When I try to "be focused", this is what usually happens:

• I try to focus harder.
• My forehead and face tense up.
• My mind keeps saying, "Stay focused. Don't lose it."
• Whenever my attention starts to wander, I force it back.
• I try to hold the focus for as long as possible and intensify it even more.
• After a while it becomes mentally exhausting and unpleasant, and I can't sustain it.
• Training myself to hold longer does work somewhat, but it sucks and feels horrible.
• Ironically, I don't even feel more focused. I don't become clearer, more productive or more effective.

This makes me suspect that what I'm experiencing isn't actually focus, but effort or mental strain.

It also reminds me of samatha meditation, where attention repeatedly returns to an object. However, experienced meditators often describe concentration as becoming more effortless over time, whereas what I'm doing feels like I'm mentally clenching.

So my question is: what does genuine focus actually mean, and what does it actually feel like?

Is it supposed to feel like the intense effort I've described, or is real concentration something different? If what I'm describing is just effort rather than focus, could someone explain the difference from their own experience?

Edit: Actually I'm just thinking: You know sometimes when you are really interested in an activity, like say your hobby, or even porn, your attention is just naturally captivated by it and you want to keep focusing on it and doing it more and more? Seems like in those cases there is zero effort and your attention is captivated by it. You're not trying to make, fix or hold your attention there.

"For what stood in the doorway was Aslan himself, the Lion, the highest of all High Kings. And he was solid and real and warm, and he let her kiss him and bury herself in his shining mane. And from the low, earthquake-like sound that came from inside him, Lucy even dared to think that he was purring."

-Chapter X, The Magician's Book, Voyage of the Dawn Treader

One tiny detail I love in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is that Aslan purrs.

It's such a small observation, but I think it's incredibly significant.

A lesser writer might simply have said that Aslan smiled, or that Lucy felt safe. Instead, Lewis gives us something deeply physical. The purring makes Aslan feel embodied—solid, warm, alive. He's not just a distant symbol or an abstract representation of goodness; he's a lion, behaving like a lion.

Earlier, Lewis has already emphasised that Aslan is "solid and real and warm." The purring continues that thread. It gives him a kind of "lion-ness" that paradoxically makes him feel more personal and relatable.

I also think this touches on a much broader spiritual intuition.

Across many religious traditions, the Divine is often imagined as something distant, abstract, impersonal, or even cold. People hear descriptions of concepts such as the Hindu Self (Ātman or Brahman) or Buddhist enlightenment and can come away with the impression that ultimate reality is somehow less personal than ordinary life.

Yet those who write about profound spiritual experience often describe something quite different. Whether in Christianity or other traditions, the encounter is frequently described as deeply alive, immediate, intimate, and more real than everyday experience—not a cold abstraction, but a presence.

Christianity makes this point in a particularly striking way through the Incarnation. Rather than remaining an abstract philosophical principle, God becomes flesh. The risen Christ invites his disciples to touch him: "See my hands." The Christian tradition has also placed immense emphasis on Christ's bodily suffering—his wounds, his scourging, his crucifixion—underscoring that God does not merely appear human but fully enters embodied human experience.

Seen in that light, Aslan's purring feels entirely appropriate. Lewis doesn't merely tell us that the Divine is loving. He imagines what divine love would feel like if it came to meet you as a great lion: warm enough to embrace, real enough to bury your face in his mane, powerful enough to shake the room with a purr. I wonder if this is also part of what Christians mean when they speak of having a "personal relationship with Jesus"—not merely believing certain propositions about God, but encountering someone who is living, immediate, and intimately present.

It's one tiny detail, but it reminds us that, if the Divine exists, perhaps we shouldn't imagine it as less personal or less alive than the world we know. Lewis suggests the opposite: ultimate reality is not colder than ordinary life—it is warmer, more solid, and more intimate.

"Reaching for relief moment by moment, thought by thought, and subject by

subject will bring you increasingly closer to your Source of Well-Being. When you care about how

you feel, and you deliberately try to look at things in ways that feel better and better to you, making

the best of things instead of the worst of things, you will allow more and resist less. And the

circumstances and events of your life will begin to reflect those changes immediately. Relief

indicates the releasing of resistance, which is the same thing as moving toward more allowing. It is

an effective use of your emotional guidance system."

-Chapter 22, The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent

I'm curious about the different ways money can come into someone's life besides their regular paycheck.

I'm not talking about winning the lottery. I'm interested in real-life examples of money arriving through avenues you never expected.

It can be big or small, for example:

• Tax refunds you didn't expect
• Finding money or valuables
• Winning a scratch card
• Class action settlements
• Insurance payouts
• Forgotten investments
• Selling something you later discovered was valuable
• Gifts, inheritances, or anything else

What happened, and how did it come about?

Hi everyone,

Thorin Oakenshield's dying words in The Hobbit are:

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."

The anti-greed message seems fairly clear. Thorin's obsession with the treasure is portrayed as the result of dragon-sickness, and his repentance comes at the end of that arc.

But I'm interested in Tolkien's own views rather than just the moral of the story.

From my long-forgotten Sunday school teachings, I remember the basic Christian message being that one should not love money above God. At the same time, Scripture also seems to portray wealth as a blessing in some contexts. Since Tolkien was such a deep thinker and devout Catholic, I'm curious whether he wrote anywhere about how these ideas fit together.

As an analogy, some religious traditions (e.g. Buddhism) distinguish between wholesome and unwholesome desires. For example, the desire to cultivate wisdom or help others is considered wholesome, whereas craving driven by attachment, greed, or ego is considered unwholesome. I'm wondering whether Tolkien's Catholic worldview had a similar distinction regarding wealth.

Did Tolkien believe that wanting wealth itself was morally problematic, or was it specifically the love of wealth, greed, and hoarding that he condemned?

From his Catholic perspective, wealth clearly has legitimate uses—it can support families, enable generosity, create beauty, and accomplish good in the world. So I'm wondering where Tolkien would have drawn the line.

• Is it morally good, neutral, or undesirable to desire wealth?
• Under what circumstances would the pursuit of wealth be considered permissible or even virtuous in Tolkien's worldview?
• Are there any of Tolkien's letters or essays where he discusses wealth, property, prosperity, or material goods more directly?

I'm less interested in interpreting Thorin's character, and more interested in Tolkien's own theological and philosophical views on wealth.

I've been watching videos on how technologically advanced Chinese shipbuilding was around the time of Zheng He in comparison to Europe's fleets.

However, it made me wonder: If China was so technologically advanced, why did it lose its naval might? Why did Europe eventually surpass it technologically and crush it in the Opium Wars?

I'd love to hear informed historians' opinions.

Hi guys,

I'm suggesting a daily or weekly appreciation thread sticky.

As an example, the Neville Goddard subreddit has a Community Highlights section where they have weekly FAQ threads, success stories threads.

Maybe we can do the same.

I think a lot of folks could benefit from having a place to express and practice appreciation.

I can't find any extensions that specifically allow me to select more than 20 stored photos or documents in the library. ChatGPT only lets me delete 20 at a time and the deletion process is slow too.

Any workarounds?

Tablet III on the path up to High Hrothgar in Skyrim says:

The fledgling spirits of Men were strong in Old Times

Unafraid to war with Dragons and their Voices

But the Dragons only shouted them down and broke their hearts

The use of "hearts" is a very interesting choice of words.

Why "hearts"?

Why not "spirits", "resolve", "will" or "courage"?

What's the significance?

Hi guys,

I'm feeling a bit of nostalgia and wish to play RCT2 on my Mac. I understand I can buy the Windows version from GOG or Steam and use OpenRCT to play it on Mac. (And maybe the RCT 1 Deluxe also.)

I'm considering buying the Steam RCT 2 Triple Thrill version for Windows (no Mac) cos it's cheaper than GOG. So according to my understanding I would need to download the game files by using the console to force Steam to download it, and launch it with OpenRCT.

Can I get a confirmation that this still works today? Like Steam hasn't blocked the console download thing. I don't want to waste my money.

Thanks.

Edit: Double Pack featuring 1 + 2 and expansions is on sale now on Steam, it's slightly under USD 3 now, if you're wanting to get it just buy it it's dirt cheap.

Hi folks,

I'm just wondering:

How many young people nowadays still eat old school food items? Those preserved Chines stuff like kiam chai, those dried sugared persimmons or ginger snack thingies, century eggs, etc. Stuff that you would find in TCM shops.

Amongst my friend circle I think only 1 guy actually eats and likes those kind of stuff.

Also what about the equivalent for Malay and Indian food?