In my utopia, Google would be forced to continue to pay out the current annual contract sum, at a decreasing percentage every year, for some number of years, to all affected companies, giving them the opportunity to divest and pivot.
The root problem doesn't get fixed if the company with enough money to be a monopolist still has the money when this is "resolved."
Completely agree, and will definitely make that change. As soon as Panera Bread starts selling Chunks.
I find that system inconvenient, as it does not inform me of how I should eat any given item. Classification for the purpose of classification is insufficient. However, an alternative that allows me to prepare my ustensils based on the classification is useful, and therefore I propose...
Soup, salad, and sandwich are the three states of food, and they can go through phase transitions. They are closely accompanied by spoon, fork, and knife, respectively.
A soup is any food that requires a spoon, and thus includes soups, drinks, cereal with milk, etc. Tipping a container is merely the use of the container as a large and unwieldy spoon, a straw is similarly a spoon when its topology is combined with suction.
A salad then is anything bite sized that can be forked, and one's hands are little more than fleshy forks, the fingers prehensile tines. Popcorn, salads, cut up steak bites, a handful of cheerios, etc.
A sandwich is anything that requires it to be cut in order to be consumed, and one's incisors are merely built-in knives. A sandwich is thus the vast majority of the cube rule's content, and only because the cube rule focuses on the physical location of the starch. This is, of course, entirely irrelevant when it comes to the consumption of food.
To observe a phase transition, one can cut up a sandwich without consuming it, thereby turning it into a salad; can drown a salad to turn it into a soup; can freeze a soup to turn it into a sandwich, etc.
Shredded cheese is a salad.
AI can draw fingers, Midjourney fixed that in their model over a year ago now.
So I'd say we have a real race on our hands!
Most people hear " bubble" and think "oof, that's not a good thing."
Capitalists (the ones with the actual capital) hear the same thing and think "just imagine how rich I'll be if I get out right before it pops! Blow more hot air into it! Quickly!"
Make dndbeyond good/better, invest in 3rd party VTT integrations, and keep selling books through those channels. Keep partnering with 3rd party content creators to get a cut of their profits selling through dndbeyond.
I'd stop trying to disrupt the industry or chase massive profits, and just be okay with reasonable profits.
They'd oust me in a week.
I enjoyed watching Harmonquest, the episodes of which have parts video of the table and parts animated story. It's a comedy show, for the most part, which genre appeals to me. Past, that, I enjoy a good actual play podcast, sans video, like BomBARDed or NaDDPod, both of which are also comedic stories.
Just watching a group play a game can indeed be boring. But if that game is just a format for the genre of entertainment you already enjoy, that's the appeal.
I've found that the least inspiring behaviors of players, from my perspective as a DM, are when they hack and slash in combat. Whether it's built into the system, or you brew it on, giving players free skill checks alongside (rather than instead of) their normal combat turns can make things significantly more engaging and rewarding (for both them and the DM).
In 5e: Simon the Devious and the Leather Skins (from What We Do In The Shadows) as a Dhampir Hexblade Warlock with Pact of the Chain.
Between the chain familiar (Count Rapula), a zombie from Undying Servitude (Ken the Accountant), Summon Undead (Blagvlad the Exsanguinator, or Desdemona the Shrieker, or Impussa) and an Accursed Specter (Carol), you have a 4-person posse by level 6. It grows situationally or permanently when you gain access to Danse Macabre, Create Undead, and Finger of Death.
Mechanically, you're done by 13, and can either finish off with Bard (probably Whispers) or Paladin (Oathbreaker). Either way, take Inspiring Leader once you've maxed Cha, and then go get yourself that cursed witch's hat!
Give https://ploum.net/2023-06-23-how-to-kill-decentralised-networks.html a read. Might sway you, might not.
If dropping a database scares you, you are either unaware of the disaster recovery process, or there isn't one. Edumacate yourself, or the org, as appropriate, so as to increase your confidence when dropping databases.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice