@afif One of my old professors once told me that Mastika used to be a general non-fiction magazine, until they realised that the supernatural sold much better and pivoted to that in the late 80s.
Old Mastika was apparently quite intelligent, what the 90s generation got was the "New and edgy" Mastika.
But all those covers deserve to be preserved in the National Art Gallery.
@skinnylatte I've lived in the tropics for my whole life, 20°C is cold and 30°C is hot. That's 68°F and 86°F and these unintuitive numbers makes no sense at all to me.
@NBAnthony2k@skinnylatte This is more of a response to the 0 is really cold 100 is really hot comments. Most people don't deal with the temperature ranges that conveniently fall within 0 to 100.
But the point still stands that both systems are arbitrary and one isn't "more human".
Set of insects and spiders stamps released from the US in 1999. Interesting choices here as they included some less appealing ones, which is cool. Cant believe a bee wasnt included though! Props for including a Hemiptera and scorpionfly, which I don't see in media ever. #stamps#insects#bugs#entomology
@atomicpoet that's a very dated view of webcomics. Most have become vertically scrolling webtoons and that's now a very popular medium.
But I do find the new ones too polished and kind of miss the webcomics that were just made by people goofing off on the internet. The lack of any gatekeepers made lots of the aforementioned terrible ones, but there were a few gems as well.
I've been thinking of the social role of the "Druid" class in #DnD , #Pathfinder , and so forth. Historically, "druids" were the priest class of the ancient Celtic tribes - but modern #ttrpg have transformed them into "champions of nature", often in opposition to "civilization" (whatever that means).
But D&D also generally assumes the existence of large tracks of "wilderness", where the druids reside and which they protect. But what is seemingly missing is a population that supports them and where they draw their number from.
Which got me thinking further: In late medieval/Renaissance Europe, peasants who wished to escape their overlords had few options. They could join the vagabonds and other traveling folks who were basically outcasts. And in some times and places, they could flee to the cities where they could become free after "a year and a day". But they would have had difficult to build up a new existence outside of the reach of nobles.
But in #DnD -type world, that might have been an option!
Now I want to consider the maroon settlements in the Americas, where slaves fled from the plantations into the hinterlands and intermingled with the native population - sometimes even fighting back against their oppressors. The colonialists destroyed them wherever they could, but many in remote regions survived to the modern day!
Perhaps something similar is possible in D&D settings. Perhaps serfs would hear the promise of the wild, and flee to remote hidden villages protected by druids who would teach them how to live in harmony with nature. It would not be an easy life, but it would be a free one, and with magical assistance their living standards could certainly be better than what it used to be.
The nobles might sent expedition into the wilds to destroy these "wildling" settlements, but there is always more wilderness to hide in...
@juergen_hubert In a Malaysian context our 'druids' (pawang) were actually part of the establishment and recognised by the nobility. They acted as a community leader and advised the community on agricultural matters and dealt with spirits. They set up rice cults in wild lands and cleared and settled the jungle.
@geraineon For people that are always complaining about not having enough funds, I've always wondered why academics insist on holding conferences in expensive hotels.