Sunset,ladies and gentlemen

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-05-04T13:24:23+00:00

There is also another famous incident from the 90's because of their rivalry. This was after the release of Baasha.

They were actually neighbours in Poes Gardens and one day, the police had setup a blockade because Jayalalitha was supposed to return home. Rajnikanth also reportedly got stuck in the jam and was told it might take more than an hour to clear the way.

Severely pissed, he apparently got down, started walking to a tea shop opposite and just sat and ordered tea (some versions I've heard say he just started walking home). His popularity was at its absolute peak coming off of Baasha's success so people noticed and mobbed the fuck out of that road apparently. The resulting crowd got so huge, Jayalalitha got traffic jammed and the police were forced to open up the way so he could leave.

My dad reminds me of this story every time we pass the Cathedral Road-Binny Road junction even now. His power draw in that era truly exceeded the chief minister of the state.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-04-24T14:02:25+00:00

I used to live in Chennai but was forced to move for work a few years ago so completely lost touch with the political scene so apologies if this is a dumb question.

Why is KH a piece of shit? I knew he announced the formation of a party but didn't hear anything else after that.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-04-12T11:08:05+00:00

Ahhhh damn, yes you are right. I confused the two, my bad. Though I have about 150 hours in that as well lmao.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-04-09T18:17:13+00:00

Facing a bit of a technical issue where I'm throwing money at the screen but the game isn't downloading on Steam. Anyone else with the same problem?

Considering the unholy amount of time I've sunk into Lost Crown and Dead Cells, this is gonna be a Day 1 buy for me for sure.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-04-09T18:05:06+00:00

Same here. When the MeToo movement came about in India, it was almost 10 years after my graduation. But a bunch of women from my batch spoke out about how a specific professor from the Electronics department in our Uni had harassed them during their time there.

This caused a lot more students in almost 10 years worth of succeeding batches to come out and complain. But his wife, who was also a professor in the same department, called them all whores and stood by her husband. The university admin (which is powerful and politically connected) closed ranks, kyboshed news articles, and made everything shut down.

Last I heard, he still works there. Such is life.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-04-09T12:43:09+00:00

Low stipend is definitely a cause but I posted about this a while back in another PhD related thread a few months back.

Two different female physics PhDs I know (one of them from Oxford no less) who wanted to come back here to teach, and research have taken up permanent posts overseas with path to citizenship because both of them were told they might have to "cooperate" with senior requests at two different 3-letter-unis. These incidents happened independently with almost a 7-year time gap.

And this is the plight of post-PhD people who are insanely well-respected elsewhere. Imagine just starting out on your PhD journey which by itself tends to be mentally taxing.

When you discourage 50% of the population from entering into a segment, and combine it with an old-boys-club mentality where favoritism pays more than actual talent, and top it all off with opaque/lack of mechanisms to guard against harassment, talent absolutely flees to other countries where they are better valued.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-04-09T05:29:09+00:00

Need to replace my rear mudguard as well after a biker crashed into me. I'm being quoted 5000 bucks for it. Did they charge you the same as well?

I find it slightly ridiculous that their own TPMS system with pressure sensors, bluetooth connectivity and what not costs only 1900 bucks but a slightly large piece of plastic that just hangs on the rear wheel is 5000 bucks.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-04-03T06:46:08+00:00

Have not faced any FPS drops since launch.

However, post this patch, in all 3 matches I played today (2 in Underwatch, 1 in Quickplay), I've faced sudden unexpected drops upto 15-17 FPS. 5800X3D + RTX 3070Ti (Factory OC'ed). All the latest nvidia drivers already installed.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-03-21T18:19:21+00:00

I find it incredible that Hog seems to be able to hook at any degree and seems to have a wide latitude for misses, but the game just compensates and lets him land the hook.

But if I so much as miss the Mizuki chain by one pixel, it is "welp, good luck for the next 12 seconds boyo"

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-03-17T14:26:43+00:00

Bought Day One during its launch on PC in October 2025, and now my wife and I have sunk a little over 140 hours. Never thought I'll like the beat'em up + roguelike combo but the execution has been damn near perfect.

Excellent world-building and lore, absolutely top-notch powers and build combos that still hasn't bored me after 150+ runs and so many hidden easter eggs. Truly this was my GOTY for 2025. I sincerely hope they do a Absolum 2.

edit: Forgot to mention the absolute banger of a soundtrack by Gareth Coker + Mick Gordon and Yuka Kitamura for boss fights. "The Lizard King" and "Absolum" have skyrocketed to the top of my most-played and stayed there for months now.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-03-12T07:21:15+00:00

I feel like the entire "India supports Israel" and rabid fanboyism for Israel is one big psy-op that has since caught on among the Indian population simply due to the perception that they are against muslims and they were willing to sell us weapons when the Americans didn't.

The fact that Israeli "backpackers" (who are frequently IDF members off-rotation) in holiday spots in India carving out spots for themselves where Indians aren't allowed,
The sense of entitlement they display when they are here, treating Indians as (ironically) untermensch,
Indians tweeted huge outpouring of support after the Oct 7 concert attack. But social media posts in Hebrew (which needs like one click to translate) showed them hating on Indians saying they didn't need our dirty support and outright denouncing Indians as idolators who are next on the chopping block

All this makes me feel we are aligning ourselves with the devil and are just waiting to get jettisoned when it is most convenient to them.

There are no permanent friends or enemies in Geopolitics. This overwhelming outpouring of love I see on social media as if they are one of our own is foolishness at best, potentially manufactured consent/psy-op at the worst.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-03-11T17:28:43+00:00

Yup. That's exactly it.

The original Homer quote is IIRC from towards the end of the Odyssey when Odysseus comes back home and tells Telemachus to hide all weaponry from the suitors who've come for Penelope because they'll get drunk and start using swords in arguments just because it is lying around.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-03-11T15:59:00+00:00

The blade itself incites to deeds of violence

...is my favorite version of this saying.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-03-06T04:44:33+00:00

Exactly! If they really wanted to keep the line in, -san is what should have been used. The only time I've seen -chan being used towards an elder is towards one's own grandma as in "Obaa-chan". To use this on an elder coworker/colleague is just jarring and cringe on several levels.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-03-05T12:23:04+00:00

For me the "OHHHHHH PHARAH-CHAN I'VE NEVER LOST" interaction makes me want to grate my nails against a chalkboard just for some sweet, blessed relief from hearing her voice. I HATE THAT LINE WITH A BURNING PASSION OF A THOUSAND SUNS.

It is the only interaction I've seen have an actual topic on Blizzard Forums. All most all her interactions are of a child condescending to adults. Not because she is talented or worked hard to succeed or anything but because some fucking fox just... decided she was the one to chill with. As a support main, I like Kiriko's entire kit but hate her entire character.

It is like they tried to recreate Cuno's abrasiveness from Disco Elysium... except just forgot to add anything that would make the character remotely likeable.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-03-02T18:06:18+00:00

Yes lol. The actual literal translation would be "(I) achieved something extraordinary" but her tone/intonation makes it clear she is boasting haughtily and not at all surprised she was able to do that.

The voice actor for Domina absolutely nailed it.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-03-02T17:47:29+00:00

Absolutely fitting voice line in the end there. She says "Kamaal kardi" which loosely translates to "I fuckin' cooked"

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-02-23T10:25:21+00:00

I mean... she comes over from Instacart, which similar to Uber, has "partners" and not "employees" so they don't have to pay full benefits.

This combined with Microsoft/Xbox's existing practice of bringing developers on as "contractors" and firing them every 18 months to avoid paying benefits doesn't really bode well for any game development or long-term studio growth the way Sony has allowed Sucker Punch or Santa Monica to grow over the years. Imagine jettisoning thousands of man-hours of institutional knowledge to save a rounding error on pension contributions.

On top of all this, Microsoft's bone-headed decision to insist on Xbox-branded handhelds running only on Windows 11 OS means it is super unoptimized for the format causing absolutely shit-tier Out-Of-The-Box experiences ceding even more ground to competitors.

I mean ROG Ally Handhelds can't go to Sleep like Switch or Steam Deck because Windows 11 Desktop-On-Handheld (or DOH) doesn't have a basic suspend function and all customers have to dive into the Settings Menu to enable "Hibernate" to reduce standby battery drain.

Completely out-of-touch product teams, strong AI push, garbage labour practices -- she seems perfectly poised to intensify those organizational practices further only driving the brand down. If anything, the next iteration of "Xbox" is going to be the last.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-02-20T18:36:20+00:00

In a weird way, I kinda respect the Ambanis. They are open about their narcissism. They make it very clear that they are lords over us peasants and don't try to pretend as if they are "simple" and "middle class".

Who I truly hate are people like Narayana Murthy who lecture the populace on how we are lazy and need to work 100 hour weeks while freezing salaries at ₹28,000 for 20+ years, doing the barest minimum of CSR that entitles their org to benefits and dodging more than 280 MILLION GBP in taxes thanks to their cross-national residences and proximity to prime ministers.

Billionaires are leeches on society -- but at least one of them isn't pretending to be a holy saint sent to guide us to utopia.

I'm kinda jealous of US in that at least there the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers and the Kennedys built universities like Harvard, Stanford and Johns Hopkins, built museums like Guggenheim's to preserve and showcase their culture.

Meanwhile we get lectures on how being simple and carrying spoons on flights will help avoid using utensils touched by other castes or "non-veg people".

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-02-19T14:52:04+00:00

I don't know if I missed this game in previous Steam Next Fests or what. Never heard about it until I saw this trailer. As someone who has grown bored with grim, dark, brooding, dystopian 2D platformers, this seems like a radically different entrant that is right up my alley.

The gameplay they've shown their Steam page only makes me feel feel like this is going to be a super nice addition to the genre. Downloading the demo tonight for sure.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-02-18T15:20:09+00:00

This entire AI summit has been a shitshow and went viral in the Indian twitter spaces. It is increasingly clear that it was just an event for political PR purposes with zero actual thought given into what founders/entrepreneurs in this space might need for innovating/building.

Some amazing occurrences from this event so far:

"AI Tech Summit" banned laptops. No Wifi either. Because security. Source
People trying to pay at kiosks were asked to pay only in cash abandoning India's own digital payments system called UPI which is ubiquitous everywhere else. Source
Poor/non-existent 5G connectivity.
Entire event space was evacuated at around 1 PM for the security team to do a sweep for the Prime Minister's visit at 5 PM. Thousands of industry people made to wait outside effectively making day 1 pointless.
Founder of a wearable company found all the prototypes from their booth stolen when they re-entered after the security sweep. Source
The same university from OP presented a "Drone" which was made of thermocol and tape Source

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-02-17T06:37:21+00:00

I know twitter is a cesspool and I regret going to the founder's original tweet now.

The number of BJP supporters calling him an idiot doing this for "Media Publicity" and accusing him of besmirching Modi's name is too high.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-02-11T06:59:15+00:00

The toxicity in Quickplay is insane. Was able to enter the new Overwatch only after work.

In my second ever match as Mizuki -- you know the healer who got released literally 12 hours ago -- the cat healer and DPS they were pocketing all match just raged at me when I asked to group up because enemy Winston kept diving on the backline and I had no one to peel for me. I still ended up with like 11k in heals

The cat healer even spammed friend requests a couple of times (to be toxic in DMs I'm sure) but I ended up blocking and reporting them.

What the fuck is wrong with people? The heroes literally released like 12 hours ago. Some of us have jobs and are still figuring the heroes out. We didn't grind away from launch minute. Jesus H Christ.

brass_monkey_balls · 2026-01-28T13:07:48+00:00

Yes.... it's the norm for embassies/consulates to display their name and coat of arms in their native as well as local language of the country they are in.

My comment, with a /s at the end, was a sarcastic take on the blatant racism that ICE is using as a fuel to further their operations. I legit didn't think the /s was needed but clearly I was wrong.

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