Hurlshort

I've hit level 35 in Dune. That seems like a lot, but I still feel like I suck a bit. I soloed a research station today and died about 5 times. But now I have a shield generator and I think that might help. Or it might make me worm food. Who knows? Anyways, my base is gorgeous and I have a nice little terrarium with Muad'ib in it.

I don't post about politics very often, but I will say I love my state of California. The Trump administration has been lashing out at my state for the better part of a decade. It doesn't bother me, because I'm very comfortable in what California is. It's the 4th largest economy in the world. We have amazing cities, national parks, beaches, and mountains. We have incredible diversity. I can find a good restaurant/food truck for every imaginable cuisine. We have all the schools. I mean, just incredible universities that cover every possible field of study. So watching a sitting President attempt to wage war against my state is sickening. This is the same President that had no problem pardoning the people who stormed the Capitol building. He is actively working against the Governor. I'm at a loss. On Saturday Trump is staging a birthday parade that is going to look like North Korea.

It finally happened. I got eaten ny a sandworm. I was moving a bunch of stuff to a new base, and I was motorbiking across a big swath of desert. I had to swerve wide to avoid quicksand, and it put me on a bad path with a worm. He ate me whole. I woke up naked and back at my new base. Now I'm running around trying to rebuild me life. 10/10 - would become worm food again

"illegal migrants" is such a loaded term. Immigration in the US is a mess because we change the laws and procedures all the time. It's a broken system, and instead of fixing the system, the Trump administration is going after the victims of the broken system. So yeah, ICE is in the wrong.

Imperial IPA's should taste almost like a scotch. Bit of a burn, but also sweet.

I've been watching Angel Reese on this Reebok show on Netflix. Shaq and AI bought Reebok, and she is the new star. It is awesome.

Huh. I don't know that I trust Owlcat to write a good Expanse game. But the gameplay looks interesting as a departure for them.

I mean it doesn't really matter, unless you are a Tesla shareholder or something. It is, of course, super newsworthy because everybody loves a reality TV spat. Our lives are not actually going to be affected by a lover's spat between the richest guy in the world and the POTUS. The recent jobs report is more important, of course. It's just not as entertaining. Meanwhile we are already watching the Trump administration walk back stuff. Sure, they aren't going to admit it. They'll spin it as if they are always winning. But they did finally bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the US. There are a bunch of transgender soldiers opting to fight the ban on them in the military. There seems to be about a million court cases moving forward against all of this. That doesn't actually happen in a real oligarchy. Justice may move slow, and it may suck for a few years as all of this dust settles, but I'm pretty confident in the courts and institutions like Harvard holding their ground. I'll also back career soldiers against a temporary ****stirrer like Hegseth.

My daughter graduated from High School and is heading of to SFSU in the fall. It has gone by way too fast!

Speaking of which, Xenonauts 2 is super close to being done.

Considering what a monster BG3 was, I don't think Obsidian is interested in such a massive game. It seems like they are sticking to mid-sized games to minimize risks. They want to be open for another 100 years, they said.

Tyranny 2 is off the table because believe it is owned by Paradox. PoE3 seems unlikely because of sales numbers of PoE2, although it could be a small team working on it. A NWN product would be interesting. I'm not sure how much name recognition the IP still has. Also I'm not sure what the relationship with WotC and Microsoft is at this point. They own a lot of IP's already, so I doubt they want to deal with rights they don't own. I'm also not sure that Obsidian is really an isometric developer anymore. I think anything they do will be FPS or 3rd person. Unless it is a smaller team, aka Pentiment and Tyranny.

Dune: Awakening - I built a cozy starter home on a desert bluff. My swordmaster kneed some folks and is off to a good start. Although I've almost died a few times, which is more than I did in the beta. Got super close to getting eaten by a worm and then almost dehydrated to death. I think I'm probably just rushing more, since I've done this part already. Game is running well and my server isn't too crowded. Full release will be interesting.

I'd buy a Tony Hawk Obsidian game for sure.

My guess is it is not a unique IP. With Grounded, Avowed, and TOW, they are pretty set on their own IP's. So I'm guessing they are tackling something in the MIcrosoft library.

That looks a bit different than the Mel Brooks version.

Yeah, I love the setting of Starfield. I like the ship designer. There is some good exploration moments. But no argument for me on the majority of the quests. Bethesda has always struggled with story and characterization. I thought the corp storyline was fun. It was the only one where you didnt end up just killing a bunch of people.

Did everyone skip the lesson on balance of power in 8th grade?

Enshrouded updated their graphics, and it looks pretty good. I started a new world on the lighter difficulty, because I think I just like to wander around and rebuild all the cool stuff. The game has come a long way.

It was a trainwreck from the moment Perrin killed his wife in the first episode. I mean, they departed from the book on so many levels, why did they even bother calling it Wheel of Time? The characters were all a mess. I understand that the book gets messy as well, but the first one is a pretty solid introduction to the world, and they didn't need to manufacture a bunch of other garbage to make it engaging. Plus the Trollocs looked dumb. edit: I think the real shame is that Amazon has been hitting it out of the park on so many other IP's. Reacher, The Boys, Good Omens, Jack Ryan...all of them did a good job with the source material. Meanwhile WoT was basically my High School reading list, and they butchered it out of the gate.

And nothing of value was lost...

Today I reviewed habeas corpus with my students so they don't look like Kristi Noem if they end up in front of congress. I played the clip. It was fun to watch a senator ask a question that is on my unit exams every year.

My 7th graders know what habeas corpus is. It is a foundational part of my curriculum. We run through scenarios regularly in almost every unit that relate to the precedent.

I also like mature melons.

Havoc - Tom Hardy plays a detective in the new Max Payne movie. Wait, this isn't based on Max Payne? Huh. You could have fooled me. It had some good bits. Very crime noir and graphic novel-ish.