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the following likely belongs in the funny thread, but oh well... HA! Good Fun!

I think people buried the lede concerning the Microsoft acquisition of Activision. Call of Doody and Diablo are all fine and well, but Activision owns the Arcanum IP, which is to say that Microsoft now owns the Arcanum IP. Forget about everything else, Arcanum 2 is now possible. This needs to happen. WE HAVE TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

I've bought a few games twice... mostly when they were first on Steam and later became available on GOG. One thing I learned about Steam reviews is to actually *read* the negative reviews. If there is a pattern to the complaints, i.e. not just the usual this dev sucks and is greedy or overpriced stuff, but this game constantly crashes in max resolution, sound stutters constantly or this game has buggy save game feature etc. then I take that into account when I look at the price asked vs. whatever fun I expect(ed) to get out of it. Edit: ...and I stay clear of "early access" games in general (no absolutes), as my life is too short to be a paying beta tester. I'm happy to pay more for the final product instead.

A story as old as time. Or at least as old as Chris Avellone's Arcanum Let's Play.

Fun day at work when a mission critical server is identified as compromised for some reason and blacklisted from network. Then everyone who logged in to check the issue is also blacklisted. Obviously our security team is led by Ripley

once you embrace a narrative, it is tough to change your pov. is another reason to wait before becoming invested in a particular explanation. ‘Stunned and sickened.’ Wexner Foundation cuts ties with Harvard over ‘tiptoeing’ on Hamas “Harvard’s leaders were indeed tiptoeing, equivocating, and we, like former Harvard President Larry Summers cannot ‘fathom the administration’s failure to disassociate the university and condemn the statement’ swiftly issued by 34 student groups holding Israel entirely responsible for the violent terror attack on its own citizens,” the Wexner Foundation letter reads. “That should not have been that hard.” ... not that it is particular relevant from our pov, but while "34 student groups" sounds like many, it ain't, and there is comical overlap 'tween the groups. African American Resistance Organization Bengali Association of Students at Harvard College Harvard Act on a Dream Harvard Arab Medical and Dental Student Association Harvard Chan Muslim Student Association Harvard Chan Students for Health Equity and Justice in Palestine Harvard College Pakistan Student Association Harvard Divinity School Muslim Association Harvard Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association Harvard Graduate School of Education Islamic Society Harvard Graduate Students for Palestine Harvard Islamic Society Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine Harvard Divinity School Students for Justice in Palestine Harvard Jews for Liberation Harvard Kennedy School Bangladesh Caucus Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Caucus Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Women’s Caucus Harvard Kennedy School Palestine Caucus Harvard Muslim Law School Association Harvard Pakistan Forum Harvard Prison Divest Coalition Harvard South Asian Law Students Association Harvard South Asians for Forward-Thinking Advocacy and Research Harvard TPS Coalition Harvard Undergraduate Arab Women's Collective Harvard Undergraduate Ghungroo Harvard Undergraduate Muslim Women’s Medical Alliance Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Students Association Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee Middle East and North African Graduate School of Design Student Society Neighbor Program Cambridge Sikhs and Companions of Harvard Undergraduates Society of Arab Students our understanding is the nepali students association withdrew their signature, so were only 33 groups protesting. additional, the harvard protest letter were posted over the weekend and by monday there were at least one harvard counter protest letter which garnered more than two thousand signatures. maybe, just maybe, this is tempest in a teacup material? a person donating money has zero obligation to continue funding a university whose values do not align with theirs. heck, if harvard changed their colors from crimson, ink and white to emerald and orange, we would not begrudge a philanthropist from deciding harvard no longer deserved millions in free money. sure, we would see a color change rationale for ending donations as kinda petty (even recognizing how vulgar is an emerald and orange color scheme,) but is not as if the contributor owes anything to the university. likewise, am suspecting we would not be shocked if at least a few people current donating money to byu became reluctant to do so if dozens o' student groups protested the misogyny and pedophilia o' john smith w/o any pushback from the university. even so, as a general proposition, the silence from universities regarding student protests o' israel following the hamas attack and kidnappings doesn't bother us and am thinking the taciturn approach is the right move. personal opinion: a university is in the business o' teaching students how to learn, but it should be reluctant to tell those who matriculate what to think. yeah, if students engage in violence, or verbal attack individuals based on race, color, religion, national origin or gender identity (am not sure what is the proper identifier in 2023... and am not being flippant when we says so; am genuine uncertain,) then am thinking a university should step in and condemn clear wrongs o' their students. the byu situation we imagined earlier is a bit murkier for us, but we get it if a religious university decides to take a more vocal stand when defending the reputation o' their prophet. most other situations? well, what is the point o' a university if not to have students expand their world view and perhaps even challenge the dominant paradigm? is a gross oversimplifications, and there will be exceptions, but we do no believe a university should criticize students for speaking their minds. harvard, penn and other schools remaining silent after a small number o' students declared they were more outraged by israel's treatment o' arabs living in the west bank and gaza than they were by hamas' recent attack were to us understandable even if you think it were the wrong choice. we would hope those who believe in a university's capabilities and mission such that they donate millions o' dollars to the school's endowment would be reluctant to stop funding 'cause o' silence regarding students peaceful expressing their opinions. but again, a person could and should donate money to causes in which they believe and if folks no longer believe in harvard and penn 'cause a few university student groups failed to recognize that criticizing israel immediate after the hamas mass attacks and kidnappings was poor timed and less than wise, then am not begrudging the withholding o' donations... even if we disagree with the angry philanthropist's judgement. just our opinion. HA! Good Fun!

I got a new Star Destroyer Freighter on my main save. Seemingly you must have space combat active (maybe also on Standard, not Minimal) so every 5 system warps or so you get a rescue-freighter when you drop out of warp, which is when these bigger ones may show up. I lucked out and got the biggest version of this Capital style after four reloads/retries, but once again it's only an A-class, not S, but since I suck at the ship combat, I'll take it. Mostly more starting cargo space so less work to max that out (33 vs. 19 starting, in my case) + looks, altho stats/combat abilities do go up a little too. I wish you weren't limited to only having one/your previous goes poof (can't collect them). I suppose you could try to get a different style in multiple saves. Anyhoo, I can now go back to ignoring space combat on this save.

am embarrassed to admit we know there is a pepper with more heat than the carolina reaper. the source o' our knowledge is not scientific, not data driven but rather is based on a a recent episode o' hot ones, hence our embarrassment. ff to 20:14. pepper X maybe/possibly is higher on the scoville scale. am personally not understanding the point o' such heat in a sauce save as part o' a hazing ritual for special forces. edit: from the previous linked story "Pure capsaicin has a measurement of 16 million SHU while bell peppers, which contain no spice, measure at 0 SHU. Pepper X measures in at an average of 2.69 million units, per Guiness World Records. In comparison, standard pepper spray averages 1 million SHU, while bear spray is advertised around 3 million SHU. The Carolina Reaper measures about 1.64 million SHU. " am serious not understanding the motivation to make a hot sauce, meant to be consumed by human beings, that is similar on the scoville scale as bear spray. HA! Good Fun!

0kay, you talking about the funding at the university. Now I understand, I thought you were talking about the ongoing violence in Gaza

Avoids enraging their people further. If you're mad about Gaza, having the US president freshing from fluffing Bibi visit isn't going to enhance your calm. Besides any real work is done by lower level people, I think, before hand. But at least some aid will get in, conditional on Hamas not seizing it. Which will be observed and proven by Israel or the US I suppose. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/19/gaza-aid-rafah-crossing-joe-biden-israel-egypt-agreement

Well, imagine donors refusing monies because a university allowed the students to gather in solidarity of <whatever is the flavor of the day> (BLM, CRT, OPP, etc.).

Asked a friend what they wanted for their birthday. They gave me a look and did a "You've been getting into leather-working lately haven't you?".. and then asked if I could make them a customised collar. Not what I was expecting.

Freedom of speech, its cool right up until it hurts your buttock.

I tried my first non-tutorial brawl ever after 2.0 at level 30-35ish, and got absolutely destroyed. Granted I suck at it mechanically, but even when I got the counter timing right and landed a few punches, I would say they did about 0.25% of the opponent's HP bar per hit. I looked it up just now and welp, looks like I just happened to choose the hardest fighter of the bunch, what with my 4 body and zero relevant skills/cyberware/gear.

Hmm. Watched WoT S2E1 and it was OK. Non spoiler tldr: too many threads as people are in too many places but mostly made sense and introduced a bunch of actually recognisable book characters pretty well. Note: for the spoilers I'll be ignoring any prior knowledge I have of S2, but not prior book knowledge Also: good news! Nynaeve is no longer an assassin/ cleric multiclass.

With Early Access my problem is, that by the time you finally have a finished product, I am burned out on the game. A bit like Age of Wonders 4 at release...

No, it's really easy. You just say it wasn't actually your narrative, it was someone else's and in any case you were just repeating it for the sake of academic discussion. Then they're wrong, they jumped to conclusions and you can keep your ego intact, which is after all the important thing. See "Russia will be bankrupt in 6 months" in 2014 for how that works. Or you can admit you're wrong- when you are wrong- and not be worried about the crushing ignominy of it all because... there isn't any crushing ignominy.

I think I have to watch and report back about S2 now, should be tremendous outrage bait at least.

Takeaways from AP’s reporting on who gets hurt by RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine work In June 2019, Kennedy and his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, visited Samoa, a trip Kennedy later wrote was arranged by a local anti-vaccine influencer. Vaccine rates had plummeted after two children died in 2018 from a measles vaccine that a nurse had incorrectly mixed with a muscle relaxant. The government suspended the vaccine program for months. By the time Kennedy arrived, health authorities were trying to get back on track. Kennedy was treated as a distinguished guest and met with the prime minister and other officials. He also met with anti-vaccine activists, one of whom wrote on Instagram that the meeting was “profoundly monumental ... for this movement.” A few months later, a measles epidemic broke out in Samoa, killing 83 people, mostly infants and children. Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccinologist from New Zealand who worked on the response, told AP that local and regional anti-vaccine activists took their cues from Kennedy. “They amplified the fear and mistrust, which resulted in the amplification of the epidemic and an increased number of children dying. Children were being brought for care too late,” she said. In an interview for a forthcoming documentary, “Shot in the Arm,” Kennedy said he bears no responsibility for the outcome. ... on the downside, adopting a code is mostly theatre as each Justice would need voluntarily interpret and follow whatever ethics rules were adopted by the Court. HA! Good Fun!

Delivery is on December 2023? I'm planning on playing this after I finish BG3 and Solasta (Lost Valley and Palace of Ice). Hopefully still this year, but now I prefer to wait for the dlc. It's already 75% funded. And there are 22 days to go yet.

Nah, wait for the 14600K review, that one will show zero difference from the prior generation. Originally thought I'd be upgrading to a better mainboard with this release, but that is going to be a , the 14700K isn't worth spending any money on, and that goes doubly so for the others. I'll just wait for Arrow Lake and see how that will turn out. There's a marginal chance that the lower tier CPUs will be interesting. Leaked benchmarks show more of an improvement between the 13400 and 14400. I don't know if the 14100 is going to be just another Alder Lake with slightly higher clocks (IIRC, the 13100F just had four Alder Lake cores, making it wholly uninteresting for budget use compared to the 12100F), or if it will have actual Raptor Lake cores, which would come with a decent boost in cache size. Still don't quite get what Intel is doing there. Granted, for 13th gen, it was about catching up to Zen 4 and surpassing the 5800X3D in gaming, which made some sense at the time, and an all core workload on a 13900K does not draw that much more power than that of a 7950X (30 watts, according to Steve's charts - which is 10%, yes, but it's nowhere near the ludicrous difference between the gaming power draw of a 7800X3D and a 13900K). Dropping 100mV makes all core workloads on a 13900K cap out at roughly 250w. Still nuts, but on par with the 7950X. Should have just collected the parts that undervolt the best, slap an E at the end of the CPU, undervolt them by default and call it the Raptor Lake Efficiency refresh. Jayz2Cents recently showed off an undervolted 13900KS that reached 42k points on Cinebench R23 without ever surpassing 80° core temperatures (hat was his Thermal Grizzly KryoSheet test). 'Course, that would have made the more expensive mainboards fairly pointless. Which... oh, right, which answers that. Well, let it never be said that Intel's marketing is any better than AMD's.

Been a rough few days but things are getting better. Surgery was a success and the patient lived, 2 for 2.

am a bit jealous although not o' the great ape surgeon mind you. we had our appendix removed a few years past and it were s'posed to be laparoscopic-- tiny incision. surgery were six am during summer. we mention the time 'cause when we regained full consciousness in a hospital room, our first reaction were to note it were pitch black outside. dark. nighttime. huh. then we realized we were in some considerable discomfort and we clear had a much larger surgical wound than had been described to us. oopsies. HA! Good Fun!

At least they didnt request a gimp mask.

I probably have but nothing springs immediately into my mind. And now Im gonna play the whatabout card...could you imagine the pants crapping that would happen if any ethnic group other than the jews, did the same thing to any other ethnic group?

https://www.theonion.com/the-onion-stands-with-israel-because-it-seems-like-yo-1850922505

Maybe, people are on media for reporting "Hamas claims.." as if that doesn't already make people skeptical. I guess they should have said "Explosion in Gaza.." just to be extra clear, as everyone are morons. Given the IAF working over Gaza, and they did hit the same hospital on Oct 14, people suspecting an Israeli strike weren't out to lunch as well. Speaking of media my mom likes watching MSNBC, coverage was having a good wank over Biden's visit, was pretty funny. Although I guess not really sure what the point of it was, Blinken already fluffed up Israel plenty.