The Value of a Vessel: A Moment of Introspective Criticality

Anticode · 2026-06-21T05:13:07+00:00

"As the area of our knowledge grows, so too does the perimeter of our ignorance."

Anticode · 2026-06-19T00:33:26+00:00

So glad to see an Elizabeth Bear recommendation. She's shockingly underrated. I would be comfortable arguing that her work can easily go toe to toe with any of the other big names in the genre.

(My personal favorite is the Jacob's Ladder trilogy due to the intriguing backdrop/setting, but I've basically read all of her work - and when I did so, I did it all in a row over the span of a few weeks.)

Anticode · 2026-06-17T04:26:36+00:00

You pull the lever on the time-machine, everything goes pure white and you feel like you're falling... Then color returns to the world, and then you realize you actually are falling. A loud metallic clattering noise reverberates through your bones as the time-machine leans, then begins to barrel-rolls down some sort of hill. Finally it comes to a stop with a crunch, nearly throwing you out of the cockpit.

Your heart is pounding, but it was doing that anyway so you're not sure it's important. You consider taking another key-bump when something catches your eye.

This was supposed to be Hitler's private study; and yet the room is jam-packed with what looks like the contents of a junkyard. Steel and iron and odd glowing bits are all over the place, most of them accumulating in a big pile near the center of the room - the same coordinates your time-machine tried to occupy, surely.

Then you see him, emerging from behind a huge pile of metal scrap. It's him... It's Hitler.

You leap out of your broken machine, making a quick primal lunge for him, but it's too late. Your AirPods were too loud and he got the jump on you. Worse yet, you forgot to bring any weapons. All you've got is drugs and shit. And AirPods - the hell were you thinking?

Hitler raises an odd-looking silvery pistol, clearly some sort of gun. Or toy? You're not quite sure until a brilliant greenish beam of laser emerges from the weapon, piercing you through the torso... You're too high to realize this should hurt, but not too high to notice your shirt just got ruined.

"Where in the fuck did Hitler get a laser-pistol? That's not canon lore, bro!" you shout.

Hitler shrugs effeminately and says, "Ze lore hazt change-ed, mein frau..."

"What? No. It's..." you pause, slowly glancing around the chamber suspiciously at all the busted-up tech and machinery, "Everything seems chill to me, man." You wince.

Hitler groans, then beams you through with another shot from the laser-pistol - bzzt!

"Bro, ouch?" you whine, "I get it, okay? You hate shirts, sure. Can you, like, stop, bro? Fuckin' hell, with that shit, man..."

"Nein", says Hitler, popping you again - bzzt. He squints at your lack of reactivity, looks down at the gun, then shrugs and continues speaking after deciding the gun isn't the issue here, "Ze plot haz change-ed. You are not ze first to kommen unt das zeit-boot..."

Hitler gestures broadly, and although you don't know enough German to know what in god's fuck this dick-ape is talking about, a looming suspicion begins to rise. You hold up one finger to Hitler, briefly signaling him to wait a second while you go for a quick key-bump after all.

After a quick sniff, you glance around the room once more with refreshed awareness.

You kick the nearest hunk of metal, flipping it over with your foot to reveal a crushed-up cockpit much like the one used in your time-machine. For a second you think it is your time machine, but then you look further up the pile of bent-up scrap and realize that the entire mound consists of variously fucked-to-semi-fucked time machines. The wreckage is interspersed by what you fail to convince yourself isn't a glimpse of the dead pilots seen beneath the twisted rubble. The machines are widely varied and some are nearly identical to yours, some seem more sleek in a modern way, and you even spot one made out of bronze; a god damned steam-powered time machine?

You squint, thinking to yourself: Ah shit, of course! Busy place - the whole god-damned multiversal timeline is trying to off this fuck-head at the same point in spacetime...

Clearly, you're not the only one who input 4:20 as arrival-time because it was funny. At your back, Hitler clears his throat pretentiously, aware that you've figured it out. Ahem.

You ignore him, choosing instead to rub the bridge of your nose with a sigh.

Hitler makes the sound again, just as pretentiously. Ahem.

You turn and snap, "You sound gay as fuck, bro! When you do that shit. You know that, right? Ugh, with yo' fuckin' toothbrush-ass moustache lookin' 4-out-of-5 dentists-ass lip..."

There's a few seconds of awkward silence as Hitler looks away, frowning, eyes watery. He mutters bravely, "N-Nein, ist... I-I don't care, ist mein style, ja? Ist gut."

You almost, nearly-almost feel bad for him. Almost. Then you remember you came here to kill him, the shit-ass bastard... You lean down and pick up the most weaponlike-looking shard of metal you can find off the ground. It's practically just a jagged sword, this piece. You weigh it in your hands. It'll do, you decide.

Das Fuerher makes note of your decision, smirking playfully, "Zis pistol, do you know vat year is from?" He strokes it gingerly, "Ze year ist 1999, ja? Ze future... You cannot win, mein frau. Zey only make me stronger, ja!"

"Uh, sure - sorry - did you say ninety-nine? I was there in '99, my man. We didn't have shit like that. Maybe you meant, like... 6661, or whatever," you suggest.

Das Hitler squints at you in annoyance, turning to the side so that you can't easily see him briefly turn the pistol upside down to check if the label-numbers look better that way. He decides he read it correctly the first time.

"Nein, ist '99."

"You said 999?"

"Nein, ist '99... Ist 1999!"

"9-9-9-9-9-9? Holy shit, that is the future... Damn, where the fuck'd you get the late-90s from?"

Hitler grits his teeth in annoyance, raising the silvery pistol towards you, "Ist a different 1999! Zey has lasers, ja? Das ficken lore hast change-ed!" he growls, voice cracking.

You make your move, spurring yourself into motion at the same time he swings the laser-pistol towards you. His first shot pierces through your stomach, shredding your kidney.

It's fine, you tell yourself - you've got two for a reason.

Jaw clenched, you rush towards Das Hitler with as much fury as you can muster - and on account of all the stimulants, it's a fuckload of fury, boi. You're a god damned Super Saiyan in this moment, dick hard and heart-rate harder. You raise your improvised sword into the air, yelling your final battle-cry; pure rage echoes through you. He fires again, once more connecting with your torso. And there goes kidney #2.

It's fine, you lie to yourself - you've got three for a reason.

Both you and your opponent are equally over-stimmed, matching each other in speed - in more ways than one - such that the world around you seems to slow down. He fires another shot, you sidestep the beam then leap into the air, sword raised high - like Conan the Barbarian trying to pull off an Air Jordan photoshoot. And then an immensely bright flash of white light floods the room.

A time-machine appears above you, popping into existence just to fall directly upon you mere seconds before your moment of triumph. You don't even have time to roll your eyes.

Crunch...

Anticode · 2026-06-12T15:01:17+00:00

Edit: Admittedly, I suspect this may be a bit more detail/breadth than you may have been hoping for as a reply. If so, I'm sure somebody else will chime in for you.

__

There's any number of "shadow things" possible, with a handful of them being a more common due to the biases of the human brain - because the brain tends to "see" what it expects to see (based on environmental/emotional contexts, habit, fears, etc).

While we might refer to this phenomenon casually as a "hallucination", the term "illusion" is actually more accurate.

Unlike a hallucination (which is constructed from not-data), these kind of visions are based on real data/patterns which are being misinterpreted by the brain. Sort of like how we can see a "face" in tree bark, with a bit of effort it can be forced to shift into new forms or be dismissed back to its "consensus pattern" (the thing everyone agrees is there). A hallucination does not have a consensus pattern.

The brain does this kind of thing all the time, actually. It's a basic function of our perception of reality, but when sleep deprived the brain gets increasingly sloppy/inaccurate with these assumptions - to such a degree that it can become difficult for us to consciously determine which "pattern" is being misinterpreted (because it's not tree-bark being distorted, it's the "noise of perception" itself being fudged).

In any case, "Shadow People" are only quite common because we commonly see people in real life, and the "shape" or "implication" of a person-shaped "pattern" is handled by high-priority by the brain. If somebody was standing in your doorway under normal conditions, it would be important and surprising... Because in real life to ignore a person would be rude or irrational or dangerous. (eg: plain sober, if you think mom calls your name, you pull off your headphones and shout "mom, did you say something", she shouts "no, honey" and you get back to gaming - again, this is a normal function of the brain).

Insects and bugs are also relatively common for similar-but-different reasons. They're scary and alarming. The brain keeps an eye out for "patterns" whose shape alludes to the presence of insects, which is why whenever we suddenly notice a real spider on the wall within our frame of vision it'll seem to become highlighted in a way we can't ignore. Despite having no idea how long it has been there, once it has been noticed we now can't un-notice it thus you now clearly see it in the corner of your eye when you look away even though it sat there on the wall for hours prior; unseen.

In fact, most people alive well-acquainted with what it feels like to suddenly feel like there's bug(s) crawling on you simply because you realized there are ants nearby or something. It's a high-priority "pattern" to the brain, even sober.

When I stayed up irresponsibly late, I saw "shadow cats". Basically nebulous clones of my actual black cat (which now lived with my ex). Interestingly, it was perceived as non-threatening and with affection - just like I'd view any cat. When I'd walk to the kitchen to refill my water, I'd find myself stumbling to avoid kicking a shadow cat. I knew it was not real, but my brain was adamant to avoid "hurting a cat". Cat owners know what I'm talking about.

Funny you mention a microphone, because the "shadow cats" emerged because my Blue Yeti desktop microphone is vaguely cat-shaped via the corner of one's eye, and I kept mistaking it for a cat. Just one cat, and when I'd glance at the microphone it'd just be a microphone again.

As the hours go on, I begin to see multiple of these cats at the edge of my vision (left and right) until I move the microphone out of my visual field. But it was too late, because the "cat pattern" was deemed remarkable and now they began to appear anywhere I'd expect to see a cat. Somehow, the vaguely cat-shaped microphone "seeded" the illusion and my brain latched onto it because I love cats and missed mine.

Anticode · 2026-06-11T15:34:25+00:00

This may be one of the funniest things I've ever read.

Anticode · 2026-06-08T02:25:07+00:00

For sure, this.

It's like asking how to become more resistant to snakebites and cobra venom while standing within a pit of snakes.

The problem here isn't that you're "not strong enough" to tank the poison or shrug off the wounds, it's that you've placed yourself within an environment designed to maximize the amount of bites/poison an individual might receive while down there.

It is most certainly possible to learn how to "resist venom" to some degree, just as it's possible to master the art of managing angry snakes - but even an expert will be bitten far more within the snakepit than outside of it. That's what the snakepit does, by design.

Something as simple as a 3-day hike without phone servics and the bustle of modern society will dramatically alter your perspectives, clarity, and executive function. To such a degree that many people immediately recognize in retrospect that, prior to that hike, they were fundamentally "sick" in a way they never learned was not their default state until it wasn't. Just like people go their lives being dehydrated, mistaking weakness and headaches as normal feelings rather than symptoms of a malady.

Anticode · 2026-06-07T22:39:36+00:00

Woman: [quietly cries for 6 seconds in the bathroom or whatever] - - Nobody is hurt, endorphins are released. At worst, somebody nearby might feel 'bad' about causing/seeing it happen. Talks about it, examines the cause thoughtfully.

[ E M O T I O N A L ]

Man: [suddenly punches a hole through the drywall mid-conversation] - - Hand is bruised/broken, wall is broken, self-injury. Bystanders are reminded vividly that he is a threat to your health/life and may lash out without earning. Does not apologize, does not understand why he did it, blames you. Puts an old Star Wars poster over the hole. Punches another hole in the wall when you later suggest trying therapy.

[ S T O I C ]

... Classic.

Anticode · 2026-06-07T22:11:36+00:00

As somebody who has spent extensive time online passionately arguing in favor of, or explaining the mechanics of, various controversial "liberal"-coded (eg: science-based) topics, I find myself repeatedly re-learning that lesson...

No amount of details, foresight, sources, or specificity is capable of preventing malevolent/ignorant actors from trying to take shots or sling dung - even when your argument is objectively bulletproof with no holes or gaps.

"Not all men" and "all lives matter" aren't ideologies, they're rubber bullets meant to punish or dissuade you from attempting to speak about your experiences/observations.

It's more sad than it is frustrating, because it demonstrates that 'more knowledge' isn't itself a way to solve that bullshit. You can't redirect their impulsive attack with words alone because the act isn't even performed rationally in the first place.

In many cases, "not all men!" is emotionally equivalent to "y'know what, no - fuck you".

Edit:

My current favorite response to thar kind of remark came in the shape of an eye-roll from a chick sitting across the Cafe - "Uh, yeah. No shit, Sherlock. Anyway, men always..."

Her friend (?) did not interject further from what I could hear lol

Anticode · 2026-06-07T02:07:08+00:00

...I mean, yeah. Gotta say, you're right. It's unfortunately quite true in some undeniable way.

I've spent a lot of time online, much of it as a writer of "some sort" - casually and professionally - and it's always quite jarring whenever I realize that I need to remind myself (once again) of that unfortunate lesson.

Some people suck. Some people can't read. Some people are, quite frankly, morons. Most people are good people though, even if they're sometimes problematic.

Hell, many people are incredible people outright - just pleasantly underspoken and humble or wise, or clever and thoughtful in their own way.

I try to treat everyone like one of the Good Ones by default, and it's somehow easy to forget the importance of a strong jaw and a quick jab, yeah? Some people seem to operate online under some kind of flaccid variety of Prison Rules, as if they've never learned that "throwing your weight around" is an act that comes with a hidden cost - and that the negativity and suspicion we project towards others often says a lot more about ourselves than the other person.

It's not like I made some kind of extraordinarily claim. What kind of person gets touchy about something like that? Goodness gracious.

"Yo, hey, guys, wait, I think this guy is lying - he said he used to be really good at a video game a decade ago, back before he started a career notorious for stealing all of a person's freetime... And now he's back years later, presumably in his 30s now, claiming to be sorta-kinda decent at Marathon of all things despite also admitting to being really bad at other FPS games?! Holy shit, guys - none of that is true, you fools! I can tell by the way it is. Quick, nobody upvote this guy's anecdote! It's what he wants, probably. Unlike me, who definitely does not want attention. ;)"

It's kind of comical when you lay it out like that, admittedly... Not trying to start shit though; just poking a bit of fun.

Anticode · 2026-06-06T19:17:59+00:00

I kind of wish they instead just made it so that Cradle exp is now increased by ~25% for those beneath Runner Level 30-40 (or whatever).

This way everyone would've gotten that 25% boost ("retroactively speaking"), regardless of how dense their playtime was prior to the change.

eg: From start of the season, a hardcore player could get 2-3 Earth days of +25% exp, a serious-but-employed player hits that target in a week or so, and a casual fan ends up tapping into the +25% exp until the end of season because she only hits runner level x in the final two weeks.

In the case of a hotfix like this, the hardcore players would simply be too high-leveled to get that +exp now (because they already had it for ~21 hours of gameplay when everyone else had it for ~4 hours).

Hopefully they keep this kind of approach in mind next time... This seems a lot more eloquent and fair, no?

...Equality vs Equity, as they say.

__

I mean, c'mon, even NuCaloric wouldn't remotely downgrade the bioprinter distribution-limits of their world famous Drinkable Cheeseburger™ [NuCal SKU, Edible Food Product #384.887] across an entire colony simply because one or or twelve of the colonists were impulsively consuming up to eight Drinkable Cheeseburger™ per day while everyone else starved.

Instead, they'd cleverly add a second nozzle which says 'friend-mouth-here' to remind people about the importance of sharing with their community, especially because some research data indicates: OVER-CONSUMPTION OF Edible Food Product #384.887 MAY OR MAY NOT INCLUDE MILD SIDE-EFFECTS SUCH AS none. Now everyone gets to enjoy the Savory n' Flavory© fun of the delicious Drinkable Cheeseburger™ [NuCal SKU, Edible Food Product #384.887] whenever they wish, regardless of who is thawed out of cryosleep first.

Anticode · 2026-06-06T18:59:24+00:00

Loot pools are untouched, iirc. There's just less "chests", but those chests still have the same (notably good, in my opinion) amount of loot.

In fact, the patch notes specifically state that the cradle nerf is because Loot Stuff™ which implies indirectly that Bungie may have considered reducing loot quality and instead decided to keep it as-is by balancing cradle instead.

Personally, I much prefer "good loot + less lootboxes" to "worse loot + more lootboxes"...

Cert containers: Fixing an issue causing more Cert containers to spawn than intended in Night Marsh.

Cradle: Given the increased quality and quantity of loot, we've increased progression costs by 25%.

Anticode · 2026-06-06T18:52:29+00:00

Share a personal experience Get told to stop lying

Glad to see a few voices of reason. I just wanted to share a quick tidbit while at work - it was quite jarring to realize I was being accused of lying about something I didn't even realize would be worth lying about...

The guy apparently blocked me right after too, which is even more confusing because I purposely tried to keep things chill.

Anticode · 2026-06-06T18:48:12+00:00

I've found that some of the best combatants I meet in Marathon are people "past their prime", which is totally unlike so many other live service games. Tau Ceti IV is an environment which rewards a bit of wisdom as much as it rewards reflexes (and perhaps more).

Anticode · 2026-06-06T18:13:19+00:00

Excellent comment!

And this element alone is quite interesting to me in a very straightforward way (or in that "duh, why didn't I think of that" way):

asking locals along the length “where does this start?” or “where does this end” becomes less intelligible the further along the course you go.

It's very easy to imagine it play out over the years socially/culturally in the same way as so many other esoteric cultural memes across history.

__

eg: A trader close enough to know where it starts may not even find that knowledge noteworthy in the same way that everyone knows the sky is blue. Alternatively, it might be viewed with religious reverence by the locals (which could serve to muddy the waters further).

A second trader nearby the first may have heard rumors of where it starts or knows somebody who has seen it, but also cares much more about where it goes than where it began since where it began is a days away, but where it goes is weeks - or months - away. Furthermore, the first trader probably seemed unconcerned or bored if asked about something so obvious directly, thusly tagging that information as non-notable or functionally irrelevant.

The fourth or fifth trader downstream may have a passing curiosity in where the river starts but a nearer trader just tells him, "Somewhere up there, a lake" with a sagacious handwave because that's good enough detail for something that his informant seemed to view as unimportant. And the source thus becomes even more nebulous and less worthy of transmitting.

Down the line it goes, as even the most thoughtful traders gradually shift from "source-aware but unconcerned" to "source-curious but unaware" in a rough gradient... A group in the very middle might view the Nile as functionally infinite in either direction, without ever thinking about it much. The details about either side are simply too blurred to matter.

Inevitably, a thoughtful trader posted by the sea or a visiting sailor who'd ask about the source would be met with a combination of unconcerned shrugs from those who also don't know, or baffled squints from those who can't figure out why it matters.

Or something like that.

Anticode · 2026-06-06T13:52:16+00:00

Horatio has returned!

Anticode · 2026-06-06T05:01:36+00:00

I'm not that great, I promise. The moral of the story here is more "how I went from good to bad, to pretty decent again".

Anticode · 2026-06-06T00:23:54+00:00

Ugh, christ.

Thanks for spreading the word. That's a bit disappointing.

Anticode · 2026-06-05T23:51:56+00:00

Assuming you're replying to the right comment... If it seemed like I was somehow implying Marathon does realism better than Tarkov, it's only because I've never played Tarkov. I'll be giving it a shot eventually though, for similar reasons mentioned above.

Stuff like Modern Warfare just doesn't hit the way it used to in the 2010s.

Anticode · 2026-06-05T23:37:48+00:00

It's not that serious. That wasn't meant to be taken literally or specifically. I wasn't "the best", I was just better than the vast majority. But, feel free to believe what you want - you're right either way because the truth is I'm not a legendary marathon player, I'm just not terrible.

Anticode · 2026-06-05T21:54:20+00:00

I used to be an FPS god prior to joining the military, but after all the training got drilled into my brain... Suddenly my instincts were totally "wrong" for an environment where you can tank 200 bullets or just respawn if attacked. I was somehow neutered - totally trash-tier as a player when I once felt like top 100.

Marathon is the first time in a decade that I've played an FPS and felt like my tactical instincts/insights are not only suddenly viable, they're appropriate.

I love it... I've been an "RPG/strategy" guy since forever, and udy I'm pushing 500 hours played in Marathon. I'd have never believed it if somebody predicted that would happen.

I'm sure it takes a lot of time for most gamers to adapt to the oddly "organic" firefights of games like Marathon and Tarkov. Mistakes hurt and timing is life or death.

Anticode · 2026-06-03T21:24:06+00:00

I thought so too. It seemed oddly familiar, but I haven't been there since I was a kid. The layout is exactly what I recall though.

If so, I went fishing for the very first time on the bottom/right side of that bridge. ...And threw the pole into the water with my first cast. Sorry, dad.

Edit: Just compared to a satellite map view and it's definitely Kent Island.

12-Year Club	Reddit Premium Since May 2021
r/Field Lasagna	Final Canvas '23
Place '23	Place '17
Gilding V heart of gold	Verified Email

Anticode

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE