https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Food_and_Drug_Administration provides some historical context.

You can also read The Jungle by Sinclair

Without the FDA, you’re going to get sawdust in your bread and worse.

Flawlessly clearing Genichiro in Sekiro was deeply satisfying. Parry parry parry, dodge, mikiri counter. Don’t think I got hit once.

“”" And I know you’re going crazy

And I know you’re going broke

And you’re sitting here and laughing like that’s some kind of joke, but I’m not laughing

And I want you to be careful

And I want you to be smart

I don’t want you to romanticize falling the fuck apart

And I want you to remember that you’re better

And I love you and I’ll see you tomorrow “”"

One of the more powerful supportive songs I know.

https://batboymusic.bandcamp.com/track/snyder-ave

If there’s going to be fantasies about murder, can his whole posse go out?

It would never even occur to me to eat at fast food (unless you count like the pizza by the slice place on the corner).

I just feel so alienated from everyone else sometimes. Just… The food isn’t good, isn’t good for you, isn’t cheap, isn’t fast. The org isn’t environmentally or politically friendly. Just stop eating there. Be mildly inconvenienced if you have to.

But I guess that will slam right into the constant problem of “someone feels bad and now they’re not going to listen”

I don’t disagree with anything here, really. As we both said, some responsibility remains on the user.

I do think Match is aggravating the situation. Men aren’t getting traction so they search for why. They find right wing MRA stuff saying that it’s women’s fault blah blah blah, but really part of why they’re not getting hits is because Match is hiding them unless you pay (and even then maybe).

Part of why may also be they’re creeps or bad at dating. It is not wholly the apps’ fault. But I do think they’re making it harder for people to connect, and that can be the top of the funnel for far right ideas.

And I do think a lot of people are on the apps when they aren’t really ready. People of all genders. But that’s a separate topic, probably.

Anyway. Good talk. Amusingly , I’m heading out to meet someone from a dating app. Here’s hoping they don’t think I’m a creep!

There was a meme the other day about how Aragorn from lotr is the kind of male role model men need. Kind, shows his emotions, strong without being cruel.

I was thinking the other day there’s probably a pretty straight line between Match group owning so many dating apps, men’s unhappiness, and violence.

Like the apps create the illusion that you can meet someone and be happy, but their primary goal is to make money. They don’t try very hard to introduce you to good matches. They also haven’t solved the experience from the woman’s point of view. So men feel like they’re just shouting into the void, that people don’t like them, etc etc. Some of those people likely go on to become incels or do violence.

This isn’t to say that violent men are not culpable. They are. They retain agency. But Match group (that’s tinder, okcupid, hinge, match, plenty of fish, and more) is making the problem worse.

It’s like if there was a food shortage, and someone bought up all the grocery stores. Then they made all of them mazes and had half the cereal boxes empty.

Morrowind. Every once in a while I reinstall it, but I can’t get over the “it looks like an action game but it’s a stats game” thing anymore. And I never liked Oblivion or Skyrim. But when I was a kid, Morrowind was so full of wonder and stuff to discover. I also wasn’t playing with a guide, so discovering stuff like “You can enchant an item to have 1-100 strength, duration permanent. It picks the bonus when you put the item on, and it stays that until you take it off. So put it on and off until you get a big number. Much cheaper than trying to enchant it to +100 straight out” felt more personal.

Last game I finished was Veilguard. Pretty close to EoY. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, and the difficulty falls off a cliff as a mage when you get life steal, but it wasn’t bad. The romance with Neve was entirely too… unromantic, and PG-13 though. Very disappointing. No intimacy.

Then I started CrossCode and it’s been good. Feels like a mix of old snes games (Zelda, lufia2) and MMO, without the annoying parts like other players. The puzzles also aren’t very hand holdy, which is nice. I feel like a lot of games are too aggressive with their “HEY IT LOOKS LIKE YOU CAN SLIDE THAT BRICK. HEY I BET FIRE MELTS ICE.”

I like that they did turn based but I didn’t actually like it that much. There are too many trash fights. I think one of the developers suggested a mod to cut HP so they go faster.

I also don’t really like the “one action per turn” model (as in DND) and kind of would have preferred action points (as in divinity).

But overall I’m a big fan of Deadfire, and I’m bummed they’re not making a third one.

I think the most fun I had was with chanter. Just hang out and summon dudes that wreck shit. Slap on the heaviest armor you want and just scream at people until they’re dead.

Usually when I record something like a band playing, I point the camera and then watch the stage with my eyes. I also make sure the camera is not visible to anyone behind me, because that’s annoying.

It’s intimate. It signals interest. Often you get to touch other parts of their body, too. Some people are good kissers and have the appropriate amount of forcefulness/submission for each other.

I remember realizing all the names are science terms and being like “oh that’s clever”

Kind of like it more than the usual “throw darts at a fantasy word board” that produces like Dark Age, Dragon Priest, Eternal Soul, etc

If we’re waving magic wands around, change the tax laws to limit how much you can inherit.

Changing the step up basis thing is actually pretty low hanging fruit.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stepupinbasis.asp

https://smartasset.com/investing/buy-borrow-die-how-the-rich-avoid-taxes

Where would you lay the blame?

And how is that hypothetical response “intellectually dishonest”?

Poe’s law is real. I can’t tell if this is satire.

I thought we had all reached consensus that style is more important than realism. And you can do style without mega hardware.

On the other hand, the fidelity in bg3 I think added something to it. I don’t think it would have been the same experience if they were simple sprites like the original games. Is it worth all the hardware? Maybe.

I WANT SHORTER GAMES

Can I have my cake and eat it too? I want games with a short critical path, but satisfying ways to spend more time with it if it’s fun.

So like interesting NG+ stuff, boss rush modes, different builds, whatever.

They’re fine. I keep some stocked in the fridge because friends like them.