Hurlshort

I certainly didn't mean to misconstrue what you were saying, my apologies. I was just using your analogy to point out that a product can still be a quality one even if it isn't as good as another. Particularly when we are talking about entertainment media, which is going to have a lot of variance in terms of audience, demographics, genre, etc. D:OS2 is a game with graphics, sound, and gameplay. It has a story, characters, and it runs well. It doesn't crash. It found an audience and clearly they enjoyed their time with the game. Most other criteria for rating the game are going to be opinion-based. It's the same thing with the Star Wars prequels. Are they as good as the originals? I'd certainly say no. But are they quality movies on their own? Maybe not the 2nd one, that is hard to watch. But that is probably getting more into opinions. I grew up with the originals. My kids grew up with the prequels. They don't really distinguish between the two like I do. That doesn't make them lesser people, that just means they are part of a different audience. The movies themselves are perfectly watchable. They have lots of nice things to look at, and actors acting, and music, and the story has a start and a finish. It is totally understandable that if you don't like DOS2, you probably won't like BG3. That doesn't mean it isn't a quality product, it just means it isn't your type of game.

I get where you are going with this, but I think it breaks down when you try and judge quality on any grounds other than basic functionality. Both VHS and Betamax were quality products. One may be better than the other, but VHS didn't become the dominant product because it was a poor product. D:OS2 is a quality product. It checks all the necessary boxes in order to be deemed as such. It may not be as good as another quality product, but it clearly found an audience and generated sales for a reason. It is extremely rare for a poor product to find an audience and sell well.

It's just the worst. I'm sure it's fine, but it gets all the attention in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley. I graduated from a nearby state school. Some would probably call it envy, but we did beat them in football 3 out of the 4 years I was there. Plus my cousin went there and he is insufferable.

Vocational ed is cut in most schools. Partly expense, partly dumb political focus on keeping up with the Jones in STEAM.

Wow, I share a professional shortcoming here, and you use it to attack me? Low blow! Plus you barely even post anymore. It's like you don't care about our friendship.

Skin, mostly. I will try the benadryl, thanks.

It's like you're writing from a script.

Speaking of dogs, mine has been hit with seasonal allergies and bit himself up good last night. So this morning I gave him a nice early bath in the cold, which neither of us enjoyed. Time to order more allergy supplements.

The last fact about Phillipe seems unnecessary though. I mean, it plays into this whole idea that there is some sort of competition between the two. Honestly I can't really say I know many people with degrees that think people without degrees are stupid. I'd actually say it's more likely that a person with a degree will look down on a person with a degree from a rival school than they are to look down on people who have a tradeskill education. For example, I look down on Stanford grads.

Spenser Confidential was everything I was looking for. Bummed it wasn't a series, but it was great as a movie.

I was a bit of an expert in the Focke-Wulf, back during my Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe days. Memories...

I chuckle at the idea that a revolutionary candidate will actually be able to do anything revolutionary while in office. The executives powers still have limits, and every big move will be challenged heavily until it becomes a smaller move.

I think I've said it before, but two bad people for 4 years is preferable to one for 8 years.

I'm not going to bother trying to predict anything anymore. I tried to explain how the delegate system works to my students today and I think I just made it worse. They now know less than they did at the start of the day.

I decided to back Cyber Knights in the final hours: I've played the heck out of their previous title, Star Traders, so this looks like a pretty safe bet. Not sure why I waited so long, but they are comfortably over their target.

I can't believe Hoonding has been posting for over a decade.

Why call it insurance at all, then? I mean, that is kind of the way it already works. You do pay for visits to the doctor under most insurance plans with a co-pay. You typically have a max deductible of 10k to meet, after which the insurance is supposed to cover the rest. The issue is the insurance companies make their money by declining coverage. Maybe you do have cancer, but that test that you want to take to find out might not be covered. No insurance company says "Come this way and we'll take care of you." You pay them for coverage, then you have to work with a doctor that is hopefully in their network to convince them to cover you. It's a dumb system. I agree ACA was a dumb solution. It just got the government into the insurance business. edit: As the head of a fairly healthy family of 4, I'm on the phone with my medical insurance company regularly. It is always a miserable time on the phone. I'm sure they bank on that fact. I'm curious what types of experiences you guys have had when dealing with your medical insurance companies.

I don't believe Rage is anywhere near the success level on Fallout 3 & 4. They used the name and the universe to get their foot in the door. Yeah, it was a different camera, combat system, etc. But you were still a vault dweller stepping out into a wasteland.

But we are just one health care reform away from the gulags!

That ship kind of sailed when Bethesda took Fallout 3 and made it into a massive hit.

BG2 was great, but it wasn't the combat that made it enjoyable for me. Same with PoE and I've loved actually knowing what is going on with the TB version of Deadfire. I mean, I guess it is just a matter of preference, but I tend to have a lot more engagement and involvement in the systems when a game is turn-based. JA2. Come at me, bro.

Sweet, I really need a new map to explore. I'm on my 3rd character and it isn't quite as thrilling when you know where everything is.

Pretty sure the vast majority of this is just confirmation bias for people already voting one way. It's hard to imagine there are sizable numbers of people on the fence that are swayed by some of the crazy stories you see on the internet.

Nothing Pete Davidson has done on SNL has made me think he would be worth watching as a stand-up. He works best as a foil to other comedians.