Burrito of Peace wrote on Jan 24, 2024, 20:39:

cappy wrote on Jan 24, 2024, 19:14:
About 20 years ago I had to do some work in Cincinnati and one of the local colleagues told us (all from Texas): "Cincinnati is famous for our chili and barbecue!"

snip

In the vein of "This is totally like that other thing you like", my bro lives in the Detroit metro area. Went up to visit him pre-pandemic and he was just raving about "Detroit style" pizza. Think of it like inverse pizza with the toppings on the bottom and the sauce on top. Moreover, it was cut in to strips like bread sticks because the thing comes out as a rectangular brick. He kept looking at me like I was going to have some kind of culinary epiphany. I just quietly said "You know, we can make bread sticks back at your place and ladle overly sweet marinara sauce on top of them for way less than what you just paid."

I see you've been to VIA 313 Pizza in Austin. or not, if you're lucky.

Burrito of Peace wrote on Jan 19, 2024, 11:30:
No shit Uvalde was an "unimaginable failure". That was obvious while it was occurring. Yet no substantial repercussions have occurred since then. I have read that two people lost their jobs out of the hundred plus that arrived and stood around while jamming their thumbs up their ass. The thing that has stuck with me the most is the phrase "The sound of children screaming has been removed" from the video releases that came out soon after. That's fucking chilling to me as an outsider. Hearing that live and still standing around with your thumb jammed up your ass is unconscionable to me. Everyone who showed up and stood around doing nothing should be charged as accessories to murder. Fuck off with that "qualified immunity" bullshit. When you have clear evidence that you did nothing in the face of the murder of children, you should have zero legal protections for failing not just at your goddamned job but as an actual human being.

+1 to all of this. The cowardice on display was amazing.

Cutter wrote on Dec 14, 2023, 20:58:

Oh, I'm sure she'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes.

I recall ragequitting this game after entering the one major dungeon - forget if it was DLC - and thing is, you can't leave until you beat it. My party level was too low, and I must have wiped several dozen times, so it was a game restart. I don't know if that was just stupidity in that design or a big middle-finger to the players but I was done with that game after that.

Yeah, both this and Kingmaker I couldn't finish. I think I wasn't minmaxing enough, or doing major buffing before fights or something, so after level 8 or so, my interest waned. Maybe more mods or something.

No. The US is part of the world, and the various statistics were readily at hand, so I used it as an example. Feel free to provide the statistics for say, Bangladesh or somewhere you think more relevant. In fact, you are reinforcing my point that the article appears to intentionally leave out useful context/scope. That's why I said it is poor journalism. I'm not saying the problems don't exist, or even that the stats provided aren't real, just not grounded properly.

This is similar to so many articles about guns in the US, where "annual gun deaths" are rolled out as a statistic to have a big number to scare people, and when you drill down into a particular topic (say murders by long rifles/guns), it's a small percentage of the overall number. Doesn't mean it isn't getting worse, and nothing should be done, but understanding the proportionality correctly leads to more sustainable (politically) solutions.

In the climate conversation, any realistic progress will rely on making mutually acceptable tradeoffs, not "final conquest over those ignorant fools on the other side".

I don't dismiss any of the points you've made. I think a decent article could be constructed from what you wrote, with some interesting facts to highlight it. My main complaint with the article is that obfuscation of the headline fact seems done to just drive unreasoning terror and not persuade anyone.

IMO, this is exactly how to grow the ranks of people that dismiss it all as hysteria.

2 comments about the very poor journalism in the "Extreme Heat" article:

Did you notice they didn't state how many people actually died? They talked a great deal about 85% this, and 5x that, 370% increase and 520 million more under threat, but didn't actually state a number? Is it 100k, 1 million more? 500 million?

From this website, it was 1650 heat deaths in the US last year. So 5x=8250. Last year 3.27 million Americans died from all causes.

Also, according to this website, the world population between now and 2050 will increase by 2 billion. So, not quite an existential threat to the human race.

Beamer, that was the simplified version. If you have never read the source material, "byzantine" doesn't even begin to cover it. Dune, as a series, is insanely complex. Layers upon layers of story threads where some are laid down but not pulled on until two or three books later. You've got politics, religion, sex, death, power, psychology, and all of them have a deep part to play in the story.

I like the audio and visuals of Villeneuve's version but I think it was too simplified. It misses a lot of the subtle context that makes Herbert's works so rich

+1 to this. if you liked any version of the movies, the book is awesome. They do get progressively worse, so stop after 3 or so. and NEVER read anything Dune not written by Frank Herbert.

What should really happen is that copyright for software should be 25 years max, and to get copyright, the source code should be held by a 3rd party and released (I think this would improve movies, books, etc. also).

Then everyone can do whatever they want, mods, remakes, remixes, etc.

People can get it wrong, even scientists ( & even me!).

What is most lacking is humility.

Remember The Population Bomb?. Everyone was convinced it was all over, we'd all starve to death by 1990? Remember peak oil? It was all going to lead to terrible collapse, global wars and starvation, etc. None of that happened; in fact the exact reverse.

I'm not a climate "denier", but I'm also incredibly skeptical of people making concrete statements about things that are really, really difficult to measure over long periods of time, and then projecting all that into the future. Are climate things getting worse? Sure, I can accept that pretty easily, for some definitions of worse.

We also have had millennia of doomsayers and prophets - read more here. So far, it's been people that are so filled with their own self-importance they just keep redefining dates/events/whatever until they die, or something like the prediction occurs and they declare victory, even though it's not what they originally claimed.

Wrong thread.

FloodAnxiety wrote on Dec 12, 2022, 16:24:
It has been a number of PC builds since I've had an AMD (ATI?) card. Back then, the drivers and software experience were horrible compared to nvidia. While my latest system isn't getting any upgrade any time soon, I am curious if anyone has experience with both recently and knows if AMD drivers and software have improved much.

Had a 6800XT for a bit over 2 years, and it's been at least as good as the 1080 that I had for years. I just don't have any game breaking bugs or weirdness.

Which mods are the best? I've played it forever, but I don't think I've tried any mods.

Yes, I think Uncle Frank is that guy.

We dug coal together.

most famous person you've ever spoken with

Sat next to Adam Sandler at a bar in Tucson AZ during his SNL days. Had a brief chat before we were swarmed with college girls.

Also shaken hands with 3 multi-billionaires - and not all in the same place/time. Sadly, they didn't drop their wallets or share good stock tips.

Why gear up?

I'm guessing it was frozen or mechanical failure? Could also be a hydraulics, but I expect a DC3 might have a handcrank.

I think Mad Max is a terrific driving game. The story is mostly trite drivel, but the game play is good. The best 7/10 game ever.

Rage 2 lasted about 30 minutes for me. Perhaps I didn't play long enough, but it really wasn't that great.

Cases - IMO, just get a cheaper phone or the insurance, and go for it.

Had smart phones from the Sidekick all the way through to Pixel 4a, with no case and no broken screens. I just don't drop them very much. my SO, on the other hand, drops them frequently. The last one had a cracked screen in less than 3 days (waiting for the case). YMMV, of course, but with 3 years of unclaimed insurance, haven't you paid for a new one already?

Live a little, man. You've been punished enough dragging that big ugly thing around. Trust yourself; it'll be great.

If you want awesome pants, these are the ones. Tough, stretchy but still look good.

get them on sale, either direct or from REI.

JTW wrote on Oct 9, 2020, 23:47:

Cutter wrote on Oct 9, 2020, 22:58:
I recommend strongly against. Wasn't terrible, just really meh. Quit about halfway through. Go play it on XGP if you're curious.

I actually agree with this. It isn't awful, but nothing about it was particularly good, either. The combat was dull. The dialog was uninspired. The quests weren't enticing. The NPCs had no personality. It was just... dull.

I'll 3rd this - though it was good enough for me to complete (yes, I have a problem). Just not very memorable in any way, though generally bug-free. Glad I did it on XGP, as I'll never play it again (or care about DLC, etc.).