Yes, very much so. I bounce off games quick if I don’t feel like I’m working towards something, even if I think it’s fun. I know many people get ticked off by games nowadays withholding content, but I have to admit I’m part of the problem. I need some sort of progression system, even if it’s a battlepass.

But I prefer something like what modern roguelikes tend to do, where you gradually work towards upgrades that make you stronger like Hades or sidegrades that get added to the pool like Risk of Rain or Slay the Spire. And typically these also unlock higher difficulties to keep the challenge on.

Another good example is Minecraft. I used to fall off of after “solving” the basic problems of building a base and getting better tools/armor, since the sandbox aspect couldn’t hold my interest. But I played a big modpack with friends that gave us all kinds of things to do, and I really liked the progression systems they added. You could build machines that required different fuels but could be used to make ore refinement progressively more efficient, or make a mecha suit with upgrade modules, or learn a spellcasting system, or build a remote-accessed inventory system with upgradable storage, or make a nuclear reactor for massive power. And many things were quality of life improvements that solved problems I wouldn’t have thought of, like adding a crafting table interface to item storage or auto-stepping over small ledges. It felt like there was always something to learn and improve on. It was perfect for someone who chases the sense of satisfaction from a goal being completed.

I would say standardized testing is a way for us to provide transparency about how we are failing our kids. The SAT and ACT stats you used are an example of that. This should motivate us to improve things, but like a lot of modern issues people just don’t care enough to make it happen. Even so, being able to cite worsening outcomes supports people arguing for more investment in education.

I took standardized tests from elementary to college, and I remember their questions being objective, unambiguous, and relevant to learning topics much better than teachers’ custom exams. I actually felt well prepared for the SAT/ACT/college thanks to the way they were used.

Teachers do need some discretion on what they teach, but without good standards you can easily have them just spreading their personal agendas. I don’t want students learning about “the war of northern aggression”, or that native Americans just chose to move to reservations actually, or that evolution is nonsense, or that abstinence is the only way to be safe regarding sex. Having expectations about what students should know at each grade gives a goal without stipulations on how it’s achieved. Standardized tests then just measure it.

Sure, but before that was feudalism, or similar systems where the state owned the means of production with no competition besides foreign powers and sometimes the church. Capitalism doesn’t give much power to workers, but it’s definitely more than serfdom.

What should happen is that some people shift to continued support, and some move to a new project. If a company really needs workers only for a short time, they should hire contractors who can then move to something else afterwards. Treating employees as disposable like this is not just super disrespectful, it’s also a poor use of resources strategically.

It needs more porn to really take off, just like what happened with the internet.

I read it as a young adult after hearing several others online say it was their favorite book or strongly impacted them. I thought Holden was a whiny kid who did need help, but also really lacked personal accountability for someone who dedicated so much time to calling others phonies. That’s ok, of course. Protagonists should be at least somewhat flawed, and it’s especially reasonable if they are in the process of growing up.

But I mainly hated the narrative structure. I’m just going off of what I remember for all this, but it seemed like Holden just wandered between a series of significant encounters for the entire story without anything going anywhere. Other than >!the sister and a second encounter with the nuns,!< the characters were just discarded shortly after being introduced. Any scene could have been a good foundation for the rest of the story’s development, but he just wanders somewhere else before all but the barest of conflict resolution happens. IIRC the furthest we got was at the end where >!he gets the idea to leave society behind, but his sister says she would miss him and asks him not to, so he just says “ok”!<. It felt like the entire story was the author just pranking the audience about potential character development before yoinking it away with a laugh.

As others have said, we can look to other countries for examples of health insurance being done well. Insurance serves an important function for things that would otherwise create large debt unpredictably. It just doesn’t work well as a for-profit non-utility industry.

I would say the main issue for the US is the actual healthcare providers charging so much. Insurance companies do enable that in a sense by allowing people to get healthcare that otherwise would be unaffordable. Members are insulated from the cost and simply want their desired care approved, so hospitals take advantage of this by charging increasingly ludicrous amounts. And since at minimum 80% of health insurance premium revenue must go to paying member services, this means coverage costs inevitably spiral.

Insurance companies disappearing would eventually lead to lower prices since patients would no longer be able to afford healthcare, but that’s obviously not a good solution. Government regulating the price of healthcare more directly would allow insurance to be both cheaper and more optional.

I think every generation sucks in its own special way

It’s been thoroughly trained to interact with people like a person would. I don’t think it’s unusual at all to forget it’s pretend during the conversation. Honestly we probably wouldn’t even be able to tell if it ever goes from acting like it has consciousness to actually having consciousness.

They are liberating creative outlets in the sense that they offer a platform and tools for creative expression (barring some ToS rules) for free. You can post a creative video that may be seen by thousands without needing to sell ownership to some company. They play ads to pay for its associated costs and yes, to turn a profit, while giving a small portion to the creators as an additional incentive. But they are not intended to replace regular income in a meaningful way. I have never heard of anyone suggesting that trying to do so is a good idea, including the big name content creators that by exception do manage to earn a living from it.

If you think it should be a reliable way to make money, I would say you have the unfair expectation for it. I would compare it to complaining that a service that teaches you how to knit is only sufficient for hobbyists and rarely allows one to build a successful company selling clothes. That’s just beyond the scope of what it’s there for.

Yes. He is able to reason as a man does, and so he is held to a similar standard.

In the book, Frankenstein’s monster is a tragic character but also kills several people without real justification or remorse. He shouldn’t be romanticized either. Both he and his creator are villains.

Then again, the movie doesn’t sound like it’s going for a faithful adaptation, so maybe this version is strictly a victim.

I am returning to Hollow Knight thanks to the Silksong hype. I had dropped it before because I was unsure where I needed to go to progress and was getting sick of running around the map trying to figure out which paths were actually available to me and which needed some equipment I didn’t have. Well, I did figure it out and basically have everything important unlocked so now I am enjoying it again.

If you do pick it up again, I have some advice. First, there’s a relic in an area called the Hive that will give you passive health regen if there’s a long enough gap between instances of damage. This means you can keep messing up a platforming section and as long as you don’t rush it you can heal back after messing up without needing new sources of soul. Second, there are some sections that are traversable with minimal equipment but become trivial with more. Deepnest was really annoying to me when I went through it and I frankly would have probably enjoyed it if I had one really helpful item unlocked (or even just a bit more health). Third, don’t worry too much about money. Normal enemies don’t give you much from farming and I think I’ve run out of stuff to spend it on mostly from other sources. So don’t be afraid to let it go. If you’ve unlocked the fast travel thing, just head back to vendors when you’ve noticed you accumulated a decent amount.

Like I said, I’m enjoying the game again after years away, but I really wish they had a better way of letting you know where you should go next and what isn’t available to you. Needing to go through zones again to check if something is now unlocked or not is tiresome. The pins help but they are not enough, and I didn’t think to reserve certain colors for certain types of obstacles the first time.

It implicitly praises Silksong for being popular, but it is also just relevant news for people interested in gaming. Someone who doesn’t know or care about Silksong might still like to know that various store platforms were down recently and why.

You’re getting downvoted, but this is literally the positive use case for it. I don’t buy new games much, but when I do I “pre-order” the day before so I can download it early and get whatever other incentives there are. Reviewers getting early copies means you can have everything you reasonably need to know to make an informed decision about whether a game is worth buying.

It’s of course true that they can change the game between the early copies and release, but then having it downloaded early also means you can refund it sooner if necessary and get on with your life. Some games rely more on multiplayer or live service, but those are the sorts of games it’s worth waiting for community feedback after release anyway.

I think the undo button was Android-only

People despawn when you leave to save resources. It’s dead when you’re not around.

Yeah it’s not supported for my system so I can’t even launch it. But I was watching some friends stream it and it crashed for three out of four of them within two games. I don’t think any of us will be getting it after release.

As bad as things are, most Americans are not living paycheck to paycheck. It looks like that 60% figure comes from a single survey from an online banking company in 2023. The Fed reports the majority of US adults have had at least 3 months of emergency savings every year since 2018.

I’m always surprised to hear people unimpressed with others on dating apps. A couple of my friends have shared their “feeds” and I was struck by how many good-looking people are out there. But they would swipe away from just the smallest turn-offs becoming deal breakers. Like if I saw these people in real life, I would think of them as average looking at worst, many being remarkably attractive. This is in the 20s to mid 30s range like the tweet. I definitely understand deciding you’re incompatible based on politics or religion or culture but most of the time it would be for minor quirks. It felt like they were spoiled for choice in my eyes.

But then again, they’re in serious long term relationships with conventionally attractive and supportive partners now so maybe being picky pays off. At the time, their reluctance to settle was a very frustrating experience for them.