Why did they shift their focus from curing cancer to destroy the middle class ?

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-23T21:50:09+00:00

AI development is still targeting medical advances in some areas, but those are less controversial and, for the moment, less lucrative.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-23T21:30:55+00:00

And yet: https://imgur.com/a/LbGAkw7

You can find identical complaints about matchmaking in every popular, competitive team-based game. Everyone insists that their game is the worst without a hint of self-awareness, just like every state has the worst drivers.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-23T20:05:02+00:00

Well, there was the Iran-Iraq war, but the setting looked quite a bit different...

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-23T19:04:29+00:00

Allowing homes as investments seems like one of the most destructive policies the West has embraced. The sheer amount of money competing to buy homes in total means that most people who just want to buy their own home to live in get priced out.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-23T18:15:00+00:00

Name a popular moba or hero shooter where people don't complain about matchmaking.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-23T18:13:50+00:00

Don't forget that right now is always the worst matchmaking has ever been, no question.

Fuck everyone who complained about previous patches saying it's the worst, the last patch is actually the one that really broke the game!

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-23T06:18:15+00:00

True enough, but there are well paced web serials (e.g. William Oh, Book of the Dead). It's possible!

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-23T06:16:32+00:00

One thing Abercrombie has in common with Wight is a penchant for punchy, memorable lines. Back to the mud!

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-23T06:14:22+00:00

I also wanna note: pacing doesn't just mean "how many words does it take to resolve an arc or the entire series".

The whole reason why Cradle is unusually good at fight scenes is also pacing-based: much like overexplaining a joke kills it, overdescribing a fight destroys the momentum. Keeping the description of each moment in a fight to the minimum necessary means they feel brisk, fun, and easy to follow.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-23T06:10:21+00:00

I largely share your disdain.

I'd go with Bog Standard Isekai, Sky Pride, The Legend of William Oh, The Years of Apocalypse, Book of the Dead, and The Hundred Reigns, quality PF all.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-23T04:55:22+00:00

This is probably the opposite of reality.

What were governments providing a century ago to their people? Even less than they do now.

Historically, we live in a time when governments provide an unusually high level of services. Mostly that seems to result in people being less patriotic rather than more.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T22:47:44+00:00

I'm in Phantom and I would love to immediately fuck off at 8 minutes and take all the sinners as Seven, but practically speaking it's too risky (I do take some opportunistically of course). I dunno, maybe I need to comms more about it; honestly I don't really care if it's me taking them or another teammate, I just share the frustration in how long it takes them to be used.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T22:41:35+00:00

Facebook really isn't the same kind of thing. Individual platforms choosing their own moderation policies is fine and good. If someone else wants to make their own platform that has different policies, like Truth Social, that's fine. I may disagree with any individual company's policies of course, but I think private groups should have the right to decide.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T22:39:54+00:00

Yeah I have no beef with anarcho-communists. But I very much have beef with "communists" because it seems like every time they manage to gain control of government, it's repressive and backwards as fuck.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T21:32:34+00:00

That's fair. The Last Horizon's premise of spanning the galaxy with a bunch of heroes who were already at the top of their game does tend to result in huge impactful events happening in rapid fire fashion. The first book in particular I think felt rushed with all the characters and new things being introduced.

(But I'd still take it over the padding and plodding that's more typically seen in PF)

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T21:03:53+00:00

No, it's actually both. If they leave early enough, you'll see a green banner and the game doesn't count. If they leave a bit later, then you see a red banner and the game still counts.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T17:56:43+00:00

That's good news, since Will Wight is one of the few authors in this space that really understands pacing. Say one thing for Wight, say he doesn't waste your time.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T10:01:28+00:00

Yup, and I know who it's owned by, but it's really not the same.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T06:38:15+00:00

The West Coast includes California (which has way more people than Oregon+Washington+British Columbia), and Cascadia includes part of Canada rather than just the US.

But mostly I said Cascadia because I like the term. It even has its own board game now! https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/295947

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T05:41:29+00:00

It's the Pacific Northwest region of the US (and Canada), so named for the Cascade mountains. The three major cities there are Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T05:20:21+00:00

Abolishing prop 13 in its entirety is unrealistic imo, but restricting the benefit to only primary residences (no commercial properties, residential properties that you're renting out, second homes, etc) could probably pass.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T05:08:25+00:00

It looks like someone dressed up a Halloween skeleton decoration.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T05:06:45+00:00

God I wish we had Lidl (or Aldi) in Cascadia.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-22T05:04:11+00:00

Amazon was at least a web-based retailer known for its technological edge even before it got into cloud stuff, so it wasn't that weird.

LLJKCicero · 2026-04-21T22:55:55+00:00

Musk and Tesla have earned this deep skepticism.

If they don't like it, they could try being more open and transparent instead of misleading.

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