• 48 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: March 12th, 2024

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  • I really like sci fi settings where there is one major leap of physics that has ramifications across the rest of the setting.

    Mass Effect is my prime example with the discovery of mass effect fields that allow the manipulation of how much mass things have. This is the basis for local interstellar travel after using a mass relay, as the mass of the ship is reduced for acceleration greater than the speed of light. Artificial gravity is created by increasing the mass of the floor. Guns work by electromagnetically accelerating bullets through a reduced mass field for greater acceleration, while shields work by emitting repulsive mass effect fields.

    In The Expanse, the only technological breakthrough that doesn’t feel like a natural extension of modern technology is the Epstein Drive. The only thing it does is make propulsion engines fuel efficient enough that they can burn nonstop between destinations, which allows a ship to constantly accelerate to its destination instead of reaching a maximum velocity then floating the rest of the way there. It cuts down travel times between planets from months/years to weeks, and allows the society presented to exist.


  • He had the most subscribed and most viewed youtube channel in the world between 2013 and 2017. I think it’s fair to call the most popular person on one of the most popular online platforms one of the most influential people, and if you were online in any mainstream capacity during those four years I think it’s a fair assumption that you have heard of him, even if that’s not the case here.

    Looking over this list of books (https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/121751.Pewdiepie_s_Literature_Club_) he has discussed, it seems most of the philosophy he has discussed is pretty standard stuff. Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche. At a glance the only problematic thing I see is Jordan Peterson’s book, 12 Rules for Life. If you were worried that he was discussing problematic ideas, why not look it up instead of just casting doubt?

    Frankly, disagreement is not the basis for philosophy. The basis for philosophy is a love (philo) of knowing (sophy). Being critical of your own thoughts and the thoughts of others can be a valuable tool toward improving or refining one’s knowledge, but things like practice, observation, and curiosity are arguably even more important for learning new knowledge.



  • If you know your exit is coming up from memory why would you not already be in the correct lane? You’ve learned the route, you should be able to recognize when an exit is getting close. My concern with a gps is that it’s easy to get caught up in keeping track of traffic immediately around you, then get surprised when the gps says to take the next exit in half a mile because you didn’t know the road well enough to recognize the buildings/markers that it’s getting close, and you have gps so why bother looking at the actual signs.

    If taking the next exit is an issue because it might take a while, then how does a gps figure out a shorter route? It’s literally the next exit, there is nowhere else to go before that exit, and if it’s taken a while to get there then the main road is almost certainly the fastest route back.

    If I’m going somewhere for the first time in a while I will often check the gps before I leave to see if there’s construction or road closures because it can be helpful, but once I’ve confirmed there isn’t I close the gps and run off memory. One time a couple months ago I was driving down the freeway in the boonies and construction closed down a chunk of it. I started following the detour and got out of cell service range. Eventually there was another detour sign that directed my back toward the main road after the construction area. It was very helpful and also the norm when there is construction or events taking place, at least in my neck of the US.

    I think gps can be a useful tool in the short term or to learn routes, but when I start talking about driving westbound on one of the largest freeways in the metro or point “that way” and my friend gives me a dull look because all they know is “turn left here” and “exit here,” it’s become a crutch. But I almost definitely put a higher value on knowing where I am and how to navigate than the average person does, and I don’t expect that to change, so it’s something I’ve come to (begrudgingly) accept.




  • Day 720?! We’re in HD now!

    I got most of the way through Survivor recently before coming to similar conclusions as you. I remember the first game feeling really tight in its level design while Survivor feels a lot looser. I waited a few years before playing Survivor to let them work out the performance issues, but even on my 5080 and 9950x3D it was still chugging half the time no matter how low I moved the settings. It’s a real shame because I went back and played the opening section (which granted get’s a lot more work put into it) of the first game and I think it looked and ran better.




  • The Xbox 360 release of PvZ is the most feature complete version. It has the zen garden, the mini games, and a co-op mode where you and a friend each control a cursor to go around planting and digging while sharing resources. You can also butter the zombies to buy a little more time. It’s a great deal of fun and I don’t know that any other version has the co-op. I may have my physical copy floating around somewhere but I bought it digitally for my Xbox One since it’s backwards compatible.




  • I agree with both of you, I think it comes down to the scope and type of DLC. An expansion size DLC like Shivering Isles tends to fit in nicely with the rest of a game because the developer needs to plan out when and where you can start to access the new stuff, but a lot of smaller DLC like bonus weapons can be integrated pretty poorly because they want you to get the cool little thing you paid money for and it’s easier to put it in a hard to miss chest or just give it to you early on.


  • Yeah, I did not plan on that. At first I was going to just put the first sentence, “It is not the critic who counts,” but then I started reading, and on the third sentence I kept reading and not finding a period, which I thought was funny so I shared that.

    I’m also now realizing that, while I typically read it, this quote was originally from a speech and not a piece of writing, therefore not technically qualifying for this post at all!

    But you know what, it’s what I thought of, and at least I hopped in the comment arena and gave something.


  • “ The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -Teddy Roosevelt




  • Self-forgiveness, practicing thankfulness, and incremental growth.

    I tend to ruminate on my failures and shortcomings. Guilt can be a powerful motivator/teacher for positive change, but dwelling on it for too long or too much prevents you from following through on those lessons. At some point before that happens you need to forgive yourself and give yourself permission to move forward past that guilt. I found myself doing this so many times I eventually put together a playlist of songs to help me reset, forgive myself, and restart. I recommend you do something similar. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeC2eNJHSGPcKuKjBAMN8sS7F_Vt9gqsN

    There is no point in working on a life that has no joy or good in it. When I ruminate I tend to lose sight of the good things that are already present. Acknowledging those good things, even if they feel sparse or small, may help you feel the potential for more good things or inspire new goals and things you want to achieve.

    Incremental growth is the hardest but most powerful thing of these three. When I first acknowledged that I was cycling between short highs and long lows, my goal was simple; during the few times I felt good, instead of basking in feeling good before the crash invest that good feeling into either making future good times longer or bad times shorter. It took many slow years before I started hitting a tipping point where the good started to outweigh the bad, and even then one bad thing happening out of my control threw me back several steps. It takes a lot of patience with yourself to grow, but the other two things I mentioned makes it easier.