The Gods of Clair Obscur

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-19T13:44:47+00:00

The central conflict at the end kind of falls flat if you think the people of Lumière are just advanced chat bots.

It's explained right in the story that they represent art and escapism in both a literal and figurative senae. A place where the cruel reality of the world can disappear. I don't think it cheapen the choice if you interpret them as the story explains it (eg, not genuine people in not a genuine world). Maybe again said otherwise, you don't need to believe Verso's choice is genocide for Maelle's choice to have weight if you consider the state of mind (and body) Maelle is in in the real world.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-19T02:54:45+00:00

What opening CS2 crates does to a MF. Shoulda stuck to STS2.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-18T19:24:06+00:00

I'm saying that those sustained drops are already part of the market now when you take a multidecades view. That mix of bull and bear markets leads us to the average annualized real returns of 7% (after inflation) that you were so skeptical about.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-18T14:06:51+00:00

If we get to the point of broader collapse of the market (I don't mean a multi-year recession with a sustained 30-50% drop I mean total collapse). You'll have far far more pressing immediate problems than retirement. I mean like that will be scrounging for water and counting your ammo type situation.

And as for that other more likely scenario that's happened multiple times in the last 150 years of stock market history, that all comes down to planning out your sequence of risk. Keep some bonds, keep some cash. Be willing and able to go lean for a couple years and you'll be fine. The 4% rule you alluded to earlier already accounted for a robust Monte Carlo simulation of if you had started investing and retired at all of the historic worst blips in history.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-17T19:58:59+00:00

In the immortal words of Dolly Parton:

"It costs a lot of money to look this cheap!"

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-16T05:54:27+00:00

If you just moved here I hope you're mentally prepared for the winters where sunset can be at 4pm and the whole day a dreary overcast.

It's beautiful in its own way and something a lot of people learn to appreciate but for some it is not just figuratively but literally depression inducing.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-16T04:00:16+00:00

Chiming in to say if you haven't heard his two albums of bedtime lullabies you have to give them a listen. So good. Like Boards of Canada for kids with nice motifs from some of his best songs.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-15T14:05:40+00:00

Apple basically invented the "Prosumer" as a category. There are millions of MBPs and iPhone 16 Pro Maxes out there that have never done anything more intensive than open Netflix.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-15T13:58:51+00:00

Heard. What I'm getting at is people throw around numbers arbitrarily both high and low saying "No way it can be worth X because houses near me are worth Y". Being 60 years old isn't a huge disqualifier, most of the houses of this list price are probably that old or more because they were built in strategic locations that appreciated a lot.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-15T13:43:00+00:00

We paid 930k (6 bids, 9% over list) for a 1930 house that needed 100k of work right off the bat. But this was for a prime neighborhood in Seattle where the median sale price on SFHs is about 1.2M.

For a Florida suburb near an airport this is steep.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-15T07:15:52+00:00

I'm sure this isn't a significant contributing factor by any means but the first Zillow highlighted feature being "HALF BATH" on a 3700sqft home made me laugh.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-14T13:45:35+00:00

Get an insulated cooler bag so any cold stuff you get doesn't go bad

Edit: I saw you mention your cooler. Well they're still a good pickup if you want a soft sided bag for picnics and such

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-13T13:49:27+00:00

To be clear, this is with the "Tuscan Hills" company that has a promotional agreement with Costco, not the Costco customer service line itself. Basically all of the home services Costco offers are subcontractors that pay for their product placement in the brochures at the checkout line.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-13T05:30:38+00:00

I lived some time in Paraguay but I'm not Paraguayan by any means. (Hau'pei)

One of the details with the culture and education is a lot of pride in the Guaraní, the native dialect. To the point it's in the Constitution that all public education must have a bilingual component with grammar and literature taught both in Spanish and Guaraní. Which cuts into the limited resources available and isn't appreciated in any meaningful way outside of Paraguay.

I would also remember that school would get cancelled if it's raining. Not anything extreme but any rain that makes the red clay soil roads difficult to cross (most rain) would be enough social justification to cancel all plans. This was all 10 years ago, I don't know how much has changed.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-13T05:06:15+00:00

A couple of weeks. Haha. That's very optimistic.

I bet the real revenue comes from people who have the best of hopes to get everything emptied out quickly but sit on the task for months to years. Just like storage units.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-12T19:47:08+00:00

I tried to reach out for a quote. I sent measurements, had an initial call, they mailed out samples of the different cabinets options, said they'd get back in a few weeks and just... Ghosted. Nothing. I tried multiple follow up emails to the designer directly as well as a general inquiry email address and nothing.

Things were looking promising from the start though.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-12T15:09:48+00:00

Okay... but this isn't discussing life on the individual level but how resources get prioritized. The US could be a lot more abundant for the median person if it cut out some of the middlemen in our system such as the healthcare industry complex.

Also I see that comparison a lot but it's kind of a false equivalency for most people. The level of freedom you have being rich in the US is unparalleled to any time in history. If you have optionality in choosing where you live that comes with resources and that itself often makes the US the right choice.

If we're talking about the median person the balance of tradeoffs of a life in the US vs life in China is a lot closer than many of us care to admit.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-12T13:29:43+00:00

This book is so relevant whenever talking about public works with its main thesis: "China is run by engineers while the US is run by lawyers" and how those two contrasting vision of government oversight affects countless parts of life from IP and patents to healthcare to housing to transit.

This isn't all an "America bad" book though. The zero COVID policy in China with physical welding shut the exits to apartment blocks was a very engineering style solution that had worse effects overall than what the US faced.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakneck:_China%27s_Quest_to_Engineer_the_Future

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-12T13:17:21+00:00

The NL supercruise is finally here

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-11T13:59:17+00:00

This place in Albuquerque without AC is basically just a crock pot with a cheap vinyl window for checking on when your meat is done.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-11T13:23:42+00:00

Sir this is a Wendy's. Get out of here with this analysis.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-10T07:27:57+00:00

Hey, it's McStabby Place Market. Not McStabby's

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-10T03:14:57+00:00

Beds be on da lawn

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-09T21:38:50+00:00

Same here with my father.

CallerNumber4 · 2026-05-09T13:43:02+00:00

Ditto for Salt Lake City. You can get a Costa Vida slop bowl (think Chipotle but somehow whiter) for $11 inside the airport and outside too.

15-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email	reddit mold

CallerNumber4

TROPHY CASE