Good taste in art, though.

"I was enjoying solitude," you complain to Sobek and Frigga over mugs of honeydew. "I didn't have... obligations. You know, the boons. The smiting."

"I always did enjoy a good smiting," Frigga chuckles.

Sobek hisses amusedly, mead running down his snout. "There are only threeee of them! Sssso it could be worssssse. Low expectationssss. I like the axolotllll though. Nicccce fellow."

"This whole setup seems... familiar somehow, though," you ponder. "A teenager girl? Summoning a deity? Quirky siblings with a cute animal sidekick? Come on guys... you know I'm not one of those omniscient deities."

"Ohhhhhhh..." Frigga suddenly looks hugely awkward; it's a slightly terrifying sight on a senior deity. The crocodile's tail twitches in confusion. You both look at her expectantly as she snaps her fingers. "Benzaiten! You around? Got a minute?"

A sudden vapour coalesces into a beautiful woman: Benzaiten, the Japanese goddess of creativity and art. "Frigga! What a pleasure! What can I offer you?"

Frigga explains your situation. "... and there is a cute pet. An axolotl."

Benzaiten laughs, the sound of a thousand silver bells in perfect unison. "Ah, I see. So amusing! The girl, manifesting power at her age of adolescence. You see, it is an anime!"

"How about both?" - fascism

Wja wja....

Incredibly vague spacey cover art is an SF staple, unfortunately. Even if it's a painting by one of the great SF illustrators, you get something like this:

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/32/86/44/32864474fb29909054ec3ff128bb4f65.jpg

That does not tell me much, no.

"Saturn's Children" by Charles Stross. The cover isn't totally non-topical, but it really does not do the book justice. Stross himself has expressed frustration about it.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/298976/saturns-children-by-charles-stross/9780441017317

"My son is also named Moop!"

> It’s bait. Not google acting out of the kindness of their heart.

IMO it's also free ongoing testing. They get to see how users interact with their software, as a LARGE aggregate. Very useful information.

"Break as many planks as possible all at once".

I'm sure there was a whole technique to it, and I believe you beers or no.

Probably attached with large nails. They don't look like they'd get "stuck" - no barbs or protrusions. The other hull would cave in and be too fragmented to bind the ramming vessel.

The ol' Hatchet Harry treatment.

Best horror movie chair since the creepy old wheelchair in "The Changeling". 😏

> most have children at home

About 60% iirc.

She's also like four pixels, what can you even see?

> Pence has been very consistent in his views

A lot of Republicans, as far as I can tell, believe in nothing except power. But Mike Pence, I think he really is a true believer. I think he's the real deal. It's just that what he truly believes in is Christian hegemony.

Oh dear I'm sorry.

I remember my GF in college buying me one of these. Cute, too bad I lost it long before I had kids.

Wow, grotesque! Reminds me a bit of Jake and Dinos Chapman's hellish installations of model figures.

> that place wasn't holy to begin with.

Churches become de-consecrated the moment a clergy member first commits a mortal sin in them. Almost no churches actually provide refuge from demonic entities, for this reason.

The Giving Tree said "OK, take this apple. I can spare it, and it will nourish you. But that's all. I'm setting a hard boundary."

And the tree was happy.

Please get out more.

> stealing footwear wearing a fake beard in London for no fucking reason

The answer is "because Doyle was an author who wrote about potboiler shit like fake spectral dogs and fake-beard-wearing shoe thieves (and people pretending to be scabby beggars and geese eating jewels), not guys who just flat out gank their enemies"... a notable exception being Col. Moran who just ganked his enemies.

He fucked a Daemonette of Slaanesh in the Warp, now they co-parent... Daemonettes aren't really the marrying kind.

We all float down here, buddy.