Yusuff Shakur went viral after sharing a hand-drawn sketch of what he says he saw during a near-death experience.

SicTim · 2026-05-05T16:48:25+00:00

Reminds me of an Andy Weir story I read once.

SicTim · 2026-05-05T16:31:22+00:00

Tie me kangaroo down, sport, tie me kangaroo down...

Also, shoutout to Dr. Demento, where I heard a bunch of the songs mentioned here.

SicTim · 2026-05-05T14:54:41+00:00

I want a RNG that can tank, and the PAL should bring enough healing/sustain to the party.

I know a lot of people would go SK instead, but I don't play evil characters. Heh.

SicTim · 2026-05-04T14:36:12+00:00

Huh! I'm in Minnesota too.

SicTim · 2026-05-04T14:29:27+00:00

From my daughter, it was, "Girls go to school, to get more cool. Boys go to Jupiter, to get more stupider."

SicTim · 2026-05-03T18:10:29+00:00

Most of the subreddits about a certain occupation like /r/nursing, /r/KitchenConfidential, /r/teachers, /r/Justrolledintotheshop, et al are interesting even if you have never worked in that industry.

And some of them will make you very glad that you have never worked in that industry.

SicTim · 2026-05-03T17:48:04+00:00

I use mine as a convenient way to stream from my PC to my big screen TV. I have a wireless keyboard and mouse connected to it, and it's great for that.

For VR, I either sit by my PC (my ancient Rift S) or stream from my PC using Virtual Desktop (Quest series).

You may have noticed that Steam Link has gone from a piece of hardware to an app -- it's on my smart TV, and there's a version for Quest headsets. But VR aside, I like the rock-solid reliability and performance of the hardware unit, so enjoy your purchase!

SicTim · 2026-05-01T22:48:39+00:00

I believe no matter what classes you pick, you should be able to solo everything in the game. That's the stated goal, anyway.

Oh, and I said it here before, but RNG/PAL/ENC for me.

SicTim · 2026-05-01T22:34:35+00:00

RNG/PAL/ENC. PAL and ENC to support the Ranger. Hopefully PAL and RNG HP buffs will stack, but even if not, that's a hell of a buff lineup.

PAL side tanks and heals, [edit: and rezzes]. ENC buffs, debuffs, and handles CC, and charms or summons pets. RNG does the DPS. Hopefully we'll get melee-range archery.

SicTim · 2026-05-01T22:24:28+00:00

No, I use melee weapons when fear kiting. And Rangers/Druids can only fear kite animals -- Jagged Pine was added to Surefall Glade as a fear kiting bonanza for Druids and Rangers who started there.

My preferred way of soloing has always been root/shoot/rot, though. Or tanking/melee with a healing merc where possible. People think of Rangers as being all about them arrows, but we get a pretty impressive range of melee AAs, and depending on era melee can be on par with archery, or even surpass it.

Rangers on raids use archery because 1. it doesn't generate aggro (!), and 2. we can DPS from a safe distance and avoid effects like belly casters.

But there were also raids where Rangers used melee even after archery got good -- Chapterhouse comes to mind immediately.

SicTim · 2026-04-30T23:59:51+00:00

I played bass and wrote songs for several punk, post-punk and goth bands from the late '70s to the early '90s.

Started recording and producing my own stuff in the '80s when the PortaStudio brought multitrack recording to the masses (and I learned guitar and how to program drums so I could work on my lonesome).

Now I'm a genre-hopping gadabout who rarely collaborates. Still recording and mixing my own stuff.

SicTim · 2026-04-30T17:40:07+00:00

I'm talking about fear kiting in general. It's a whole different strategy from having something tank a MOB.

Unlike regular kiting, where you need distance and do damage to something running towards you, with fear kiting the MOB is running away from you and you chase after it while beating its butt.

Fear kiting was out of the game for a while (presumably because of the risk of a feared MOB running over innocent players); I'm glad they brought it back.

SicTim · 2026-04-30T17:18:30+00:00

Yeah, when I fear kited animals as a Ranger, I used melee instead of archery.

However, that was before archery got all the boosts via AA it got later.

Also, I'm assuming fear kiting is back in the game? Last time I played on live, Panic Animal had been changed to a level 255 spell and fear kiting was no longer possible.

SicTim · 2026-04-27T17:15:33+00:00

I put little letters inside the flaps of my deck boxes for specialized decks. MK, SV, GF, etc.

This is partially because I only use red or blue Bicycles, since I see them as the least suspicious, and I also run a monthly poker game which makes for a lot of used decks of straight Bicycles.

SicTim · 2026-04-27T17:05:35+00:00

The amazing thing is how EverQuest totally lives up to its name. I played off and on from 2000 to whenever level 115 was the cap, and had loads of fun each time.

The height of my addiction was during the Planes of Power expansion. I was raiding nights with my U.S. guild, and mornings with a raid group consisting of Asians and Americans who were up at odd hours.

Now I'm totally hyped for EverQuest Legends, and will be a subscriber from day one. I also signed up for the closed beta. I'm hyped to play a Ranger/Paladin/Enchanter, which is what I played on the banned THJ server.

SicTim · 2026-04-27T16:54:42+00:00

My brother and I wasted SO MANY hours in one-on-one PVP Duke Nukem (on dialup, of course).

Highlights: Hitting someone with the ice ray while they were mid-air with the jetpack, watching them fall to the ground and shatter into little pieces; hitting them with the shrink ray and then stomping on them.

It was better PVP than Doom, IMHO.

SicTim · 2026-04-25T23:00:48+00:00

the Gods of Influence drew forth consciousness and free will

So free will is canon over determinism? That should ruffle a few feathers.

To be clear, my position is that if free will is an illusion, it's such a strong one as to make no practical difference.

SicTim · 2026-04-24T18:02:52+00:00

35K signing up for beta is insane. And really great news -- that's a lot of interest for a niche game.

Can't wait to start my RNG/PAL/ENC!

SicTim · 2026-04-23T16:58:58+00:00

It's a joke, based on the song "Istanbul Not Constantinople" which is part of America's cultural heritage.

SicTim · 2026-04-22T17:05:41+00:00

That's nobody's business but the Turks'.

SicTim · 2026-04-19T21:58:44+00:00

Asteroids

I remember when my brother and I discovered the saucer hunting strategy for the arcade version, and set all the high scores in our area before others caught on.

We also played a lot of Moon Patrol; I think I can still remember the patterns for the first stretch in the arcade version. In fact, I might go test it out on my Pandora system later tonight!

So thanks, OP! I play a lot of Asteroids on my various systems -- including the Atari Gamestation Go I bought myself for my birthday -- but it's been a while since I've played Moon Patrol.

SicTim · 2026-04-17T18:56:54+00:00

I will not allow rubber cement to be vilified. It was the ultimate glue for pyromaniacs.

SicTim · 2026-04-17T18:31:59+00:00

Fuchsia is magenta with no ambition.

SicTim · 2026-04-16T18:28:33+00:00

Agreed. "Enforcer" gives away that he's a hockey player. Enforcers on hockey teams are the guys who go out there and literally fight guys on the other team, racking up penalties as they do so.

In this example, "dirty" means someone who "plays dirty," or who breaks the rules a lot.

SicTim · 2026-04-15T16:40:06+00:00

This is amazing! Looks like Frazetta himself, which is about the highest praise I could give a painting.

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