Rimworld! Probably my favorite game ever actually.

I use Ansible playbooks to keep my config in sync. It’s great but there is a bit of a learning curve. Makes it easy to deploy config changes.

Zsh on workstations. Bash on servers.

ineligible for promotion

This seems like an empty threat to me. Every promotion I’ve ever gotten internally has come with a negligible pay increase (~4%). The best promotions I’ve gotten have been leaving to take a new job somewhere else (~20-50%).

Here is a bit of information on how Lemmy’s “Hot” sorting works.

I’m not going to argue about how addictive any specific feed or sorting method is, but this method is content neutral, does not adjust based on user behavior (besides which communities you subscribe to) and is completely transparent as all post interactions are public. With this type of sorting users can be sure that certain content is not prioritized over others (outside of mod actions which are also public). Having a more neutral straightforward ranking system that isn’t based on user behavior reduces addictiveness and is less likely to form echo chambers. This makes it easier to see more diverse content, reduces the spread of misinformation and is much more difficult to manipulate.

The problem is algorithmically driven content feeds and the lack of transparency around them. These algorithms drive engagement which prioritizes content that makes people angry, not content that make people happy. These feeds are full of misinformation, conspiratorial thinking, rage bait, and other negativity with very little user control to protect themselves, curate the feed or to have neutral access to news and politics.

Lemmy sorts content very simply based on user upvotes. If you want to know why you’re seeing a post you can see exactly who upvoted it and what instances that traffic came from. It’s not immune to being manipulated but it can’t be done secretly or in a centralized way.

Yet based on their actions we already know that Facebook has levers they can pull to directly affect the amount of news people see about a specific topic, let alone the source of information on that topic. These big social media companies guard these proprietary algorithms that are directly determining what news people see on a massive scale. Sure they claim to be a neutral arbiter of content that just gives people what they want but why would anyone believe them?

Lemmy is not the same thing, though it’s not without its own problems.

GOG is fantastic but Steam keeps getting my business because of all the extras I really depend on like cloud saves, game library sharing, proton, Big picture and controller mapping.

My dog will listen but my cat starts eating faster.

I played this but I’m not sure why.

This is not true. The interior of a car gets extremely hot. This is good for the dog however and will give them strong bones.

Slightly less good for the people of Taiwan.

Oh it’s definitely a reflection of the makeup of the industry too. No disagreement there.

10 Cloverfield Lane is definitely an overall better film. Man I should watch that one again.

Also I just remembered that The Cloverfield Paradox exists which I had completely forgotten about. That one was a total mess which is a bummer because the overall premise is in my wheelhouse and I love me some good space horror. I’ll just watch Event Horizon instead.

I think you’re spot on.

Part of the reason I think it’s a little easier to render women is that they typically have smoother less textured skin than men (video game women look like they are wearing makeup even if it makes no sense), and we’re only just now getting the graphical fidelity to render realistic looking facial hair or fine stubble in realtime.

Not that long ago making stubble on a male character usually just involved putting an irregular brown shadow on their cheeks which can be pretty indistinguishable from dirt.

For most 3d games you spend 99% of the time looking at the backside of the character anyway. Lady butts are just better to look at generally.

Additionally in most character creation it seems easier to get a decent looking female character than a decent looking male character. I’m not entirely sure why but most male characters in games look like blocky fuzzy potatoes. When you start getting weird with fashion choices on top of that it just looks like a potato dressed like a goofball. With female characters you can go nuts with crazy hair colors, piercings, and wild fashion choices and it looks more deliberate somehow.

Was just going to say I thought the motion comic was great.

They still are.

Bitcoin mining may be our last line of defense against a CBDC [Central Bank Digital Currency],” Trump said in a Truth Social post Tuesday

Don’t use the imaginary digital currency made by the deep state. Use this specific digital currency that I have a huge financial interest in!

GET OUTTA MY HEAD CHARLES!

I think on a global scale we are all dealing with unresolved trauma from the pandemic, related catastrophes and the general economic roller coaster that we all live in every day. The severity of the pandemic lessened over time but there was no definite point where it ended and we all got to go “Wasn’t that nuts? Is everyone doing okay?” Instead it was just a slow crawl back to business as usual. We feel like we shouldn’t complain because it could be a lot worse but all of the other non-pandemic problems still exist and nothing seems to indicate that things will ever get better.

It’s not just you that feels this way, but that doesn’t mean things are hopeless. There are a lot of people out there fighting tooth and nail to build a better future in spite of all the challenges. Try to find a way to improve the world in your own small way. It really goes a long way to quieting those feelings of helplessness and despair.

I said “Ave Maria”

My wife said “Jolene” which is a better answer.