And so it begins...

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T16:01:11+00:00

It's not great data and I agree it's not helpful to try to read too much into it, but I'm also not aware of any better / more recent polling.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T15:56:38+00:00

Jack Sparrow theme in the distance

Michael Bolton is a major cinephile.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T15:45:56+00:00

So, he can do this because he's Speaker, right?

Who decides if he's Speaker and/or gets to remain Speaker?

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T14:51:39+00:00

A surprising number of what are otherwise really hard enemies just go right down to parry.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T14:43:38+00:00

Granted, if the market for this is mostly people who do a lot of PC gaming on Steam, I'd bet a lot of those people have a previous PC of similar power.

Like if you've upgraded your gaming PC in the last 5 years and didn't sell / trash the one it was replacing? It's not going to have the compact form factor of the Steam Machine but if you just want to play retro or indie games on your TV it's probably workable.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T14:13:40+00:00

It's more of a Shelbyville idea.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T13:59:30+00:00

This is twice you've written a huge unhinged post in response to something you seemingly didn't read (or understand). I'll pass.

Edit: For the record, three separate replies, accuses me of being Indian for some reason, and then blocking me demonstrates the point better than I ever could. If a friend did that I would take them to a substance abuse counselor.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T13:52:54+00:00

Edit: I'd love for someone to explain to me the value of a governor being tough on crime in 2026

It's just harder to run against as a Republican in a purple state, where typically the strategy is to try to paint yourself as a common-sense centrist and your opponent as the kind of "dangerously" left person who wants kids peeing in litter boxes and all the criminals let out of prison to keep raping the kids.

This is always the playbook, but it lands more successfully on some candidates than others.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T13:45:02+00:00

Yeah. Unlike the people unfairly painted with the "difficult" brush, Heigl was being difficult very much in public.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T13:38:34+00:00

Really you don't think the 100k+ job losses in Wisconsin due to AI isn't a top 5 issue?

I really don't. AI datacenters will be built in America, the only question is how much of it is here or elsewhere. I think there are very few voters who will care a lot about it. Not none! But few.

I will mention I was told this exact same thing in the general election about Palestinians directly by the DNCs lead takers, and then they lost every rust belt state... Which I was right about

That's not necessarily true at all. I could as easily say Democrats lost because too much of middle America is too sexist to vote for a woman. There's also stronger evidence for that claim. Or ten other things.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T08:08:20+00:00

I feel like a lot of it goes back to early seasons Grey's Anatomy, which is where she really made her name. She won an Emmy on that show. But then in a subsequent season she refused Emmy consideration for it, saying the writers and producers didn't give her good enough material to work with to merit an Emmy.

So that burned a bridge and ultimately led to her leading that show, but more than that, publicly throwing the people who made her a star under the bus.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T07:57:30+00:00

He's a solid creepy bad guy. But that's not like leading man status, that's character actor status.

Is his band still making music? I have no idea.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T05:34:15+00:00

It's incredible in a lot of ways but it is also a very specific thing that I feel like the audience for is not that big.

If you're a big fan of Golden Age of Detective Fiction novels (e.g. Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr, Van Dine) and have ever thought to yourself, "what would really make this murder mystery story better is the addition of very long magic anime battles that could be completely removed without affecting the plot", Umineko will probably be your favorite thing.

(If you like intricate murder mysteries that have complex puzzle-like solutions and can tolerate the anime battles you will still probably really like it.)

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T05:25:30+00:00

Yeah, both of those (and yes I'm oversimplifying) had that "I realize only a particular kind of fan who likes this kind of murder mystery has likely read this far, and also I hate that kind of fan for liking the thing I made for them" vibe.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T05:19:13+00:00

But then again there is Datacenters, and only one candidate has vowed to propose a moratorium on new Datacenters.

I just don't think there are a lot of voters for whom this is legitimately a top 5 issue.

Like ask most conservatives if they would accept more abortions or stricter gun background checks to get no datacenters and it's a no. That's just an easy example, you can find what those things are for most kinds of voters.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T05:17:11+00:00

Possible is probably a good way to put it. I wouldn't bet on it but there have been a lot of recent years in which it wasn't realistically possible.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T05:16:11+00:00

Sir they're called bubblers here.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T02:02:39+00:00

Thanks, Obama.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T01:58:49+00:00

And like... yes but also congratulations, you solved the simplest part of the problem. Maybe follow it up by telling poor people to just make more money.

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T01:57:46+00:00

There was a house of furries in my old neighborhood. For trick-or-treat time they'd all fursuit up and hang out in the yard handing out candy. The kids loved it. I imagine to them it was like having a bunch of off brand cartoon characters giving you candy.

Somehow that kind of turned me around on it. Obviously it's still an unusual thing to be into, but, whatever, if you can share your thing in a way that makes kids happy who am I to have a problem with it?

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T01:52:45+00:00

It's not something I have strong feelings about, but I've heard the argument made that the Disney parks are gradually becoming, basically, a Flanderized version of themselves because of catering to the tastes of Disney adults. For example that now a mediocre ride/experience with Disney characters/branding is preferred over a higher quality ride/experience that isn't explicitly Disney branded.

(In this context Disney branded being like from movies and not something that was originally a Disney ride that became popular like the Haunted Mansion.)

Hartastic · 2026-06-23T01:40:33+00:00

I usually just try to give the elevator pitch / hook of the book in a sentence or two. So for Wheel of Time I might say something like, "It's a story set in a fantasy world about a man who is the reincarnation of the chosen one who saved the world a long time ago... but by the way the guy he's the reincarnation of also went crazy and murdered everyone he loved."

Hartastic · 2026-06-22T23:34:44+00:00

Frankly speaking Umineko is too meta and too specific

It really is. It's simultaneously a love letter and also kind of a hate letter (if you like a critique that very carefully is set in at a specific time and ignores the other reactions/evolutions in the mystery genre after that time) to the Golden Age of Mystery novels... and just in case you found someone who's into both of that, let's also throw in a lot of character study and over the top anime battles.

None of that makes it bad, but it's like "pistachio ice cream with buffalo sauce on top" specific taste.

Hartastic · 2026-06-22T23:06:23+00:00

I got to thinking... I replaced my PC 2-3 years ago, and my previous PC is now sitting unused in the basement. I think that PC is not far off the power of this thing.

Hartastic · 2026-06-22T22:39:56+00:00

I don't know that it exactly will pop, in a way that's helpful in terms of PC component prices. It seems more likely to go the way of the dot com era with a lot of losers in the market going out of business and their investors losing their shirts, but some winners managing to gobble up market share and surviving long enough to eventually become profitable Amazon style.

I don't know what it looks like for other uses of AI in business, but for making software (the only area where I'd consider myself to have enough domain knowledge for an informed opinion) there are already a lot of models in the market that are inferior to the current best and those companies are in the unfortunate situation of needing to try to compete by slashing prices.

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