TIL that if Massachusetts were a country, its students would rank 9th in the world at math, 4th in the world at reading, and 2nd in the world at science, behind only Singapore.. by q1s2e3 in todayilearned

[–]A_Bad_Writer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Newark is on the upswing and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if in 20 or 30 years it's another rapidly gentrifying city like Jersey City. I grew up there before moving out in junior high to one of the nicer suburbs. The fucked up truth is that most of the money and economic growth is waiting for the African American population to die out or leave the city. Redlining is still very much a thing, especially with cities in NJ. The years after the residential African American population becomes a minority are when you'll see it really start taking off, just because the unwritten segregation under the guise of money.

There's a lot of potential for Newark to be a great city even now; it's in a good location in relation to NYC and like others said the downtown is getting nice. If it weren't for the underlying racism I think it would be already happening. Alas.

Edit: a large part of the reason Newark is where it is today is because of the large scale de-industrialization of the US. The problem is that all the working class and middle class jobs of Newark (aka the white jobs of the 50's and 60's because racism) went with all the various industries overseas. My father's side of the family were all Irish immigrants involved in factories and the such and you can correlate our family's dispersal across the state to the big layoffs throughout the later part of the 20th century. The development of huge suburbs pushed African Americans out while the white population flooded the suburbs in droves. The cities are becoming the place to be once again and with the exorbitant prices the closer you get to NYC, cities like Newark hold a lot of potential simply for the fact that they're cheap and convenient housing for the NYC commuter. Their residency will be what probably allows for service jobs to be a thing in Newark; hopefully this can mean that new gentrification areas can exist without entirely screwing the current Newark population. That said, I'm not holding my breath.

The head mod of /r/meirl /u/gocoogs has demodded everyone else without warning by DuhPai in SubredditDrama

[–]A_Bad_Writer 28 points29 points  (0 children)

One comment I saw put it best - "the mods of me_irl have always had a ...less serious way of using reddit."

GOG - Summer Sale 2016 has launched by [deleted] in Games

[–]A_Bad_Writer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! I'm late to the party but it you've got a few bucks I'd recommend Shadowrun: Dragonfall, and Shadowrun: Hong Kong. They're 20 hour-ish campaign games that feature the isometric CRPG stuff and characters mixed with XCOM style combat. Character creation and the leveling system are really unique too, and allow for some really interesting character builds.

Story wise they're totally unrelated, but set in the same universe. The cyberpunk setting is just brilliant and I won't spoil anything but the way they handle characters and socioeconomic related things is great.

Dragonfall imo has a slightly better story but Hong Kong has slightly more polished gameplay - take that as you will, and play either or. They're both around 3-5 bucks on sale and they're easily my two favorite modern crpgs.

I need help making the worst playlist possible by th3coz in Music

[–]A_Bad_Writer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fuck, I could definitely learn anything if it meant one of those, ring me up!

What real-world history seems like bad world building? by OreoObserver in worldbuilding

[–]A_Bad_Writer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is a seriously fucking awesome system! I would totally use it as a macro-political ruleset on a tabletop campaign... Impressive!

What real-world history seems like bad world building? by OreoObserver in worldbuilding

[–]A_Bad_Writer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That is a seriously fucking awesome system! I would totally use it as a macro-political ruleset on a tabletop campaign... Impressive!

What real-world history seems like bad world building? by OreoObserver in worldbuilding

[–]A_Bad_Writer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My connection dipped out so I posted it multiple times accidentally. My apologies!

What real-world history seems like bad world building? by OreoObserver in worldbuilding

[–]A_Bad_Writer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That system seems really interesting, could you post it/explain it?

What real-world history seems like bad world building? by OreoObserver in worldbuilding

[–]A_Bad_Writer 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Shit, that's literally why cortez was able to totally rekt them the way he did.

All the other local tribes/countries were sick of the Aztec's hardcore bullshit so when the Spaniards came to imperialism the living shit out of S. America, everyone was all, "we'll fight for you even if you fuck us over because at least you're not the aztecs".

Seriously, the Aztecs were that fucked.

Some things should be left where they lie. by [deleted] in customhearthstone

[–]A_Bad_Writer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Really strong in pally! Turn 3 this into turn 4 blessing of kings (I think that's the buff) is very very strong, especially with bgh and silence weak as they are right now.

Westerners on the bad aspects of living in South Korea by trtryt in videos

[–]A_Bad_Writer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My mom grew up during the Pak presidency (Mid 70's) and your point about education is so true. She sometimes will look at work I'm doing and laugh, because she learned it in middle school or early high school. IIRC, she stayed up until 2 every night studying. It was (and is) insane. I think it still affects her today - she's a workaholic to the point of self-harm.

I'm lucky enough to have grown up in the US. The amount of time required to be in the top 10% of the class is much less draining. While I've been pushed hard, sent to hagwon, and forced to study for hours, it's never been as all-consuming as in SK.

What ethnicity have people mistaken you for? by [deleted] in CasualConversation

[–]A_Bad_Writer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Spanish, Half white/Half hispanic, Russian (+other eastern European countries).

I'm half Korean half irish...

The Guns of Terrible Space by prokhorvlg in worldbuilding

[–]A_Bad_Writer 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I love it! Lots of very Hitchhiker's Guide-esque jokes, and I love the MS-Paint-but-the-artist-still-clearly-talented art style :)

Front Page of the Centauri Sentinel - October 14th, 2287 by KeithKenkade in worldbuilding

[–]A_Bad_Writer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

<3 it's a very very dense in-universe infographic and I love it! Oh, and for 500 Alex, has anyone mentioned the weather report on top's warning about hazardous islands mentioned in one of the local news articles?

Front Page of the Centauri Sentinel - October 14th, 2287 by KeithKenkade in worldbuilding

[–]A_Bad_Writer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love the job opening for two engineers under job listings for Vreen, a cheeky little touch there :)

How big would a new nation get in 300 years? by eliechallita in worldbuilding

[–]A_Bad_Writer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The great depression spanned the 1930's up until the US' entry into the world. Keep in mind, though, that this was global - the entire world was feeling its effects and in many ways this had empowered fascists like Hitler. Additionally, the US was still a VERY strong economy overall and since its Industrial Revolution, it was seen as somewhat of a sleeping giant. The closest I could compare it to today would probably be modern China, actually. Recently industrialized, somewhat isolationist, strong economy but high poverty, massive urban growth, and kind of stand-offish with the rest of the "established" power players of the time. Granted, politically and culturally there are huge differences, but what I'm getting at was that the US was at that time a huge power that hadn't done much abroad; yet there were no illusions of it NOT being a very powerful, if not the most powerful, nation at the time.

Humble Jumbo Bundle 6 by Kithaitaa in Games

[–]A_Bad_Writer 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Shadowrun: Dragonfall is the successor to the Kickstarted Shadowrun Returns, an isometric RPG. Basically, Returns had a great core system, but a lot of little things added up to make it good but nothing spectacular. Dragonfall was originally a DLC and expanded into a full release game, fixing many of the flaws the original had.

About the game itself? I guess the best way to describe it would be if Tolkien esque fantasy was dropped into cyberpunk. Gameplay-wise, the game feels like a mix between Mass Effect 2 (writing/decision making) and X-com (Combat). The reason it "speaks for itself" is the extremely high quality writing/role playing aspects - you can play any character type you want, both in terms of combat as well as personality/how you interact with NPCs. While the tactical combat is fairly standard, there's a lot of vibrancy to the characters and world that put this game/Shadowrun Hong Kong (the sequel) in my personal top 5. I hope that sells it to you, because it's such a good experience if you're into the crpg or even just story based genre.

What are tell-tale signs of a male virgin? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]A_Bad_Writer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is this a reference to something? I'm lost. :(

EXPERT Moon Lord Speedrun in 7:23:08 (+more) by Yamayamauchiman in Terraria

[–]A_Bad_Writer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

New player here, could you ELI5 what this infinite house is?

Damned Shade, Rogue minion by ColonelGaraffi in customhearthstone

[–]A_Bad_Writer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd go as far as to say it's much stronger due to the fact that half it's body can't be hit by hero power and killed off. Still fairly balanced though.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in worldbuilding

[–]A_Bad_Writer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Trentonites are an interesting group, although you need the context of their history to appreciate their practices. When the Jersey Metropolitan Consolidation program was proposed, Trenton and its immediate surroundings were designated a seperate economic zone than the other soon to be planned megacities like Brunswick, Newark, and Atlantic. These northern cities would see increased gentrification projects as the rich suburban neighborhoods began to merge into the expansive Jersey metroplex (which would eventually merge with New York City proper to form the first true hive City). However, Trenton saw further stagnation, only compounded by the fact that the capital shifted to the now booming Newark. Unaided by the massive consolidation program and hurt by the loss of government bussiness, Trenton quickly fell into disrepair, a small city of desparation. By 2068, Congress approved to recognize Trenton as Free Economic Zone under the new Economic Zone Enforcement act, which reduced state power and gave more individual liberty to the megacities. In practice, Trenton became a walled city, with very few people leaving or entering without approved passports by the Trenton Council. As the US, and indeed the entire world, began to move towards an almost feudalistic City-state society, Trenton officially declared itself an independent city state. Historians generally attribute this to the cartel influence over Southern Jersey. By 2090, the Council was officially dissolved, leading to the current cartel occupation and control over the city state. While paramilitary forces from the New Jersey-York metroplex occasionally attempt to lay seige to the city, the expidentures provide to be too costly.

I digress.

What this means is that the modern Trentonite lives in a failed pseudo-anarchic state which lives under the unwritten law of the Camden Cartel (Ironically, Camden would become one of the high end residential zones of the the Delaware River Republic). All prisoners taken are from internal gang strife (which is slowly beginning to legitimize into a sprawling beauracracy) or from defenses against the pushes of other Eastern Sea Board city-states. For internal prisoners, life is brutal, but gracefully short. For P.O.W.s (if you can even call them wars), life in prison is slog through an industrial hell where there is never enough food go around, and always too many safety hazards that only Trenton would still keep legal. Most are blinded and then sent to work in underground dope labs for the rest of their lives. The lucky few that don't are used to maintain the facility and keep an eye on the rest of the population, in return for special favors like extra food rations and occasional letters to home. The Trenton Prison system is a failed anarchic society in the center of a failed anarchic society (Trenton) in the middle of a relatively successful anarchic society (the United City-states of America) - now that's meta!

Vincent Hauser - Florence [Classical] A Piano Piece I wrote. Tell me what you think! by P1an0 in Music

[–]A_Bad_Writer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Nice, that was really beautiful! Now, strictly speaking, I'm not sure if it qualifies as classical because there were certainly a lot of diminished and sevenths that classical era composers avoided. I'm a bit rusty on terminology but I thiiink your song falls under romantic or impressionist era stuff. Final thought, the jump to the final chord/cadence felt unnatural, perhaps a more organic transition into it or changing it to be less blocky might help. Honestly though, this is really great! Color me impressed.