Ah, my bad; I don’t know it either.

The suffix -(i)s(e)tan in Classical Persian and descendants means roughly “place of $noun”. While you see it often being attached to human groups, that isn’t the only way to use it. Like,

• flower garden: ⟨بستان⟩ bostân = place of fragrance[s]
• hospital: ⟨بیمارستان⟩ bimârestân = place of [the] ill
• summer: ⟨تابستان⟩ tâbestân = place of heat
• rural district: ⟨دهستان⟩ dehestân = place of village[s]
• etc.

So you could theoretically name some place after the local fauna with -stan.

It helps if you remember that suffix is cognate to “stand”, “status” (see status quo), “stay”.

This map is the gift that keeps giving:

• Obodo Oyibo Belfast, Polar Obodo Oyibo — Obodo oyibo is “white man land” in Igbo. See RL Niger and Nigeria.
• Big Wota — colonisers often picked some random word/expression the locals mention and assumed it was the name of the place. See RL Yucatán, probably from Maya ma’anaatik ka t’ann (I don’t understand you)
• Baris, Rom, Nedelan, Phrans, Deutshland, Doisrikondre, Caucasia — Paris, Rome, Netherlands, France, Germany [Deutschland], Germany (again) Caucasus. It’s all somewhere there anyway.
• Cabo Cinza — geographical feature + adjective. See RL Cabo Verde (Green Cape).
• Duckstan — it’s basically “place of the ducks”; most of the time you see -(i)stan being associated with a local people but that isn’t obligatory, see Persian ⟨گلستان⟩ (gulistān “rose garden”). See RL Lagoa dos Patos (Ducks Lagoon).
• Lithium Coast, Cheese Coast — after some local resource. See RL Argentina, Brazil, Ivory Coast
• Qhadafia — after some random political big shot. (From the colonising side, of course.) See: RL Philippines, Victoria
• Kemetic Ocean — Kemet is the old name of Egypt, both the pre-Roman kingdom and the region around the Nile. I think it’s being modelled after the RL Atlantic Ocean vs. Atlas.

Surprised to not see any place being called “Big River” or “Day of Arafah Island”.

The show was great. Faithful to the manga, in both events and spirit: it’s a short story and not-too-deep story about love. I really enjoyed the ride.

I think it’s both because I’ve seen people also dissing Ascendance of a Bookworm, simply for being an isekai. Even if its worldbuilding is extremely detailed and well-thought, like:

• magic being seen as a resource, and its ties to the class system
• poor and rich people having completely different mindsets
• Myne’s mindset being alien to both, as an Earthling
• poor people being close-knit communities and suspicious of outsiders
• temples being basically an “out of sight, out of mind” bin for children
• “I have ties to that powerful person!” corruption
• the impact of tech over the social structure
• etc.

And it does those really well IMO.

That said, I do agree with you that Mushoku Tensei also puts people off because of the main character; probably more than for being an isekai.

I’m quoting the LN but the anime does follow fashion.

At least for me it’s clear why Mushoku Tensei does this: it goes out of its way to represent the main character’s start as the rock bottom, because it helps to deliver the theme. MT’s theme is *“persevere and try to become a better person, regardless of your failures; it pays off” — and if even scum like Rudeus can do it, the reader (who’s likely better as a person than Rudeus, it’s hard to not be) can do it too.

His attitude towards his family in the LN volume 12 (second half of the second season) shows that rather well IMO. In no moment the reader is told “Rudeus has changed! He is not the same as that Earthling, he’s a better man!11one”. But his actions show he cares about his isekai family in a way he never did about his Earthling one, and yet they feel natural because he has been becoming a better person over the course of the years.

From that, you can go two ways, I think. The first one is to accept the MC is shit trying to become less shit, and enjoy the story and worldbuilding. The second one is to skip it; I don’t blame anyone for doing it, if they want a more relatable main character, I think different people want different stuff and that’s completely fine.

Additionally there’s a third way: some people instead lie / bullshit / assume that the work defends NEET-dom, or paedophilia, or not caring about your parents. I think it’s lack of basic media literacy.

Sorry for the wall of text!

People look down on the idea Mushoku Tensei and Ascendance of a Bookworm would have good worldbuilding, because both are isekais, but unlike a lot of later series they aren’t simply copypasting stuff from earlier series, and they got a lot of original ideas.

I didn’t even scratch the surface of MT’s worldbuilding with the spoilers above, by the way. I could’ve talked about politics of the kingdom of Asura; or what exactly was the Mana Calamity; or the role of Nanahoshi into the story. The more you dig, the more you find, it’s frankly addictive.

Grandma I don’t think you know what LOL means… = “I assume you’re an ignorant”

Shitlet deserved it.

I think it’s a good signal for us users, but for game devs it’s still a problem. Indie games get less reviews, and a negative review means less exposure — the number might not mean anything, but plenty people still act like it did.

Plus game devving is artistic expression, and if there’s something that pisses plenty creators off, it’s when their creations get misunderstood.

Every indie dev at some point gets supermad about Steam reviews. However, 99 times out of 100, skimming the reviews on the game’s front page will tell you everything you need to know.

I think I get both sides of the matter. Some devs seem to be mad simply because the review is not under their control, and the player isn’t shy saying what’s wrong with the game. But some reviews are like, “2/10 Chinese restaurant, there were no burgers”.

Good catch on the minerals. Potatoes also have vitamin C, but I think chuño loses it (vitamin C is rather fragile, odds are it doesn’t survive the process). Protein-wise I just checked it; 3% in potatoes, 8~12% in wheat.

I suppose if I ever go back, I might try chicha again. Was really unimpressed the last couple times I tried it, heh.

It’s a lot like grain beer, in the sense taste varies wildly, depending on a thousand things. For example, I had a friend from the region sharing his homemade chicha with me once; it was quite sweet and sour, but barely any alcohol. But when I tried my hand at it, the result was way sharper, and way stronger than grain beer.

And now we got the Shitennou of weird Linux distros!

Plus the freezing — you need ice crystals to form so they rupture the cell walls, and let the water flow out. That’s why chuño was originally made around those times (June, July) and in high altitude fields, to increase the odds the taters would freeze through the night and thaw back in the morning.

Even better than bread and beer storage of grains, and potatoes are more nutritious than either, to boot.

Yup. At least in raw calories. I think potatoes have a lower protein content, but that (and fat) can be supplemented with some dried meat, legumes, fresh veggies and fruits.

That said they did have maize beer; called chicha de jora (Spanish) / aqa (Quechua). But it was more for the booze during festivals than as calorie storage.

While we’re at it, can someone resurrect Ubuntu Satanic Edition and Justin Bieber Linux?

You know, when people say the Nile is not the jewel of Egypt, but Egypt is the jewel of the Nile?

So. The Inca Empire did not create chuño; chuño created the Inca Empire. It was what allowed the relatively small kingdom of Cuzco to feed its troops for long-term war, and eventual conquest of neighbouring peoples, forming the Inca Empire.

The technique is probably way older than the chuño they found, from the 13th century or so.

Even after the fall of the Inca, chuño remained a staple food.

Even today. Here’s an example (chuño puthi, i.e. chuño with a peanut sauce). Interesting enough the folks in that region seem to treat it as an ingredient completely apart from potatoes, they aren’t interchangeable and some recipes call for both in specific amounts.

You’ll also see ground chuño being used in plenty soups as a thickener.

alongside other important Indigenous staples, such as dried meats.

Specially ch’arki. Originally made from llama meat and similar, but with the introduction of cows I bet it’s mostly bovine nowadays. Sun-dried and salted, it doesn’t get all the fancy processing as the above, but it was damn important regardless, you can’t live just off potatoes.

Small context on the Arzawa/Assuwa, that she glosses over. [Note: there are a lot of conjectures from my part here, so take it with a grain of salt.]

Arzawa started as a confederation of 22 cities in Western Anatolia. I believe the locals weren’t Hittite speakers, but a clusterfuck of speakers of other Anatolian languages (such as Luwian/Lydian) and plus Pre-Indo-European languages (i.e. languages that were already in Anatolia before Hittites and other Indo-Europeans started settling in it.)

What united them wasn’t culture, but politics: they ganged up to fight against the Hittite dominance over the region. But this likely failed and by 1300 BCE the confederation was already some sort of vassal of the Hittites.

Then as plague devastated the Hittites I think the vassal saw an opportunity to regain its independence. Or perhaps the inverse, if they indeed caused the plague. But as they were revolting against the East, the Achaeans in the West started attacking them and besieging their cities. One of them being Wilusa aka Troy VI.

Now, she doesn’t talk about this because it’s outside the scope of her video, but I really, really need to soapbox about this.

You know, the Etruscans in Italy? At least language-wise, I think they’re descendants of diaspora of the Trojan War from 1300 BCE, either from Troy itself or another Arzawan city. It’s why I mentioned I believe the confederation included pre-Indo-European peoples from Anatolia.

I’m saying this based on multiple pieces of info:

1. The existence of the Lemnian language, related to Etruscan, right in the sea between Greece and Arzawa. Given the general pattern of invasions and migrations in the region, it hints a common origin near Lemnos, not Etruria.

2. Etruscan, Lemnian and Rhaetic are clearly related to each other. But they’re also unrelated to the Indo-European languages (Hittite, Greek, Latin etc.) or the Vasconic languages (Basque) spoken further West. And the general distribution of Etruscan and Rhaetic hints invasion through the ports, as if the language was a latecomer to Italy invading through sea.

3. Herodotus mentions some people from Lydia emigrating to Central Italy, led by their king Tyrrhenus, as the origin story for the Etruscans (note Etruscan is called Τυρρηνικός / Tyrrhēnikós in Greek). Lydia was a kingdom in Western Anatolia, that rose in power after the fall of the Hittites, but the centre of its power was pretty much where Arzawa used to be.

In the meantime, Hellanicus of Lesbos claims the same Tyrrhenians/Etruscans were descendants of Pelasgians. “Pelasgian” is a catch-all Classical Greek word for “pre-Greek”, i.e. “native to the southern Balkans before the Greeks invaded it”.

Both narratives conflict with each other in time and place, but look at the common ground: both claim the Etruscans migrated from the East, into Central Italy.

4. The Aeneid. A Roman spin-off fanfic of the Iliad, published by Virgil in 19 BCE. It tells the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas, who’d flee the Trojan war and settle in Italy. Eventually becoming the ancestor of “those” Romulus and Remus who would found Rome.

We know the Aeneid is bullshit when it comes to Roman history; odds are the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages reached Italy through the Alps. And it was politically motivated bullshit, to justify Roman control over Greece. But where did Virgil get this story from?

Note how it makes a lot of sense, if Virgil “creatively borrowed” the story from some nearby people. Such as the Etruscans; the Romans loved to grab bits and bobs of the mythologies of conquered peoples, it’s just that this bit of Etruscan mythology would’ve been loosely based on RL events.

I am not deciding shit for anyone. I’m concluding your kid is most likely MtF, based on the info you provided — “in my simple brain he has a dick he’s a boy” + usage of the word “trans”.

And, even in the chance my conclusion is incorrect (the kid is actually genderfluid, or non-binary, et cetera), my point still stands, even if you pretend it doesn’t dammit. You highlighted you use “he/him” because the kid has a dick, regardless of the kid’s identity, that’s an arsehole move, doubly so coming from a parent. The right approach would be to use the ones the kid chose.

You’re the one assuming shit here

Not really.

I’m laughing […] I find that funny.

Said Egnatius the Celtiberian.

EDIT: I usually don’t bring shit from the modlog up, because it’s often a diversion tactic. However, in this case, it’s 100% relevant: the user above defends physical violence against children. In his own words, “I’m saying this with all the honesty. We need to start beating our kids again.”

It explains a lot, doesn’t it? If a person doesn’t get why physical abuse against kids is bad, the idea of respecting someone else’s choices is a bit too complex for that person.

Summer? See you guys in December… okay, sorry for the dumb joke. Here’s what I’m planning to pick up, roughly by order of how much I want to see it:

1. Mushoku Tensei III
2. Youjo Senki II
3. Otomege Sekai wa Mob […] 2
4. Black Torch
5. Ryoumin 0-Nin Start no Henkyou Ryoushu-sama
6. Tsuihou Sareta Tensei Juukishi wa Game […]
7. Koko wa Ore ni Makesete Saki […]
8. Hell Mode […] 2
9. Sekai Saikyou no Kouei
10. Reiwa no Dara-san
11. Suterare Seijo no Isekai Gohantabi
12. Rakudai Kenja no Gakuin Musou

I’ll also keep watching: Re:Zero, Iruma-kun, TenSura, Ascendance of a Bookworm. Then there’s the older stuff I’m only watching now, like Mahoutsukai no Yome and Highschool of the Dead.

So a total of 18 series, 12 being new ones. Two~three episodes per day.

She’s Ram’s palette swap from the Re:Zero fighting game. People bullshit she’s a maid in Roswaal’s mansion, but that is not true — there’s Ram and Frederica, no REM sleep or Rem sleeping or whatever.

…I’ll be honest.

You’re saying you’ll defend whatever she decides to be, but I don’t think you accept it yourself; that’s why you’re still treating your daughter as if she was a boy. It’s perfectly possible this actually hurts her, but she doesn’t complain because it’s complicated to do so with your parents before adulthood, like it or not you’re still a figure of authority.

EDIT: to be clear. I’m saying it’s preferable to treat a trans child by the gender they identify themself with, than by the gender assigned to them by birth. Doubly so if you’re in a position of power over them, like a parent is.

My trouble is always ending up with too much leftover whey.

Add some fruit juice to it, and sugar to taste. IMO it’s delicious. (Note: this works better with sour fruits. Lemon, orange, passion fruit, cashew, pineapple, this sort of stuff.)

I’ve never made paneer, but I have made a lot of ricotta (well, this type of ricotta, there’s also leftover whey ricotta, which I haven’t made). I had no clue paneer was basically just pressed ricotta.

It’s possible what you made is paneer.

At least traditionally, ricotta is the one made from leftover whey; that’s why it gets this name (ricotto = recooked). You make some low temp cheese like pecorino, re-heat the leftover whey to ~80°C, add some white vinegar (and probably salt), transfer the curds outside of the liquid and here you go.