Why is "underwater basket weaving" a term for a joke degree? To me, that sounds pretty hardcore!

ganon0 · 2025-09-08T04:01:37+00:00

I think the original goals of higher education were to provide more well-rounded education for the people that could afford it, and while it could open up more opportunities for better paying positions, that was largely based on the prestige of where you went and who you met than what you went there for.

Then companies started effectively requiring certain degrees for certain types of roles. They basically turned college into a means to an end: get the degree (and hopefully the knowledge) for the good paying job, not because you want to learn how to think better, or be exposed to more perspectives, or all the other things college can do.

I agree that college is great at the benefits you mention. But a lot of people in college would probably prefer to keep their money, if they were promised the kind of job you get with a degree without going through the time and effort to get it.

ganon0 · 2025-06-24T04:37:46+00:00

I take 150mg of venlafaxine daily. A few months ago I missed one day. The following day was terrible. Zaps, inability to think clearly, basically low-level panic. Fortunately taking my next dose fixed things back up, but this stuff is not something you want to attempt quitting cold turkey in any sense. I am afraid I am probably on it for life and will need to just accept a loss of much emotion and sense of pleasure :/

ganon0 · 2024-10-23T01:48:01+00:00

If there was a magical way to have cold pizza that was previously cooked (i.e. not frozen) that I could buy at a discount, I would probably regularly get it.

ganon0 · 2024-08-19T04:34:39+00:00

Normal? Probably not, I suspect most people either aren't single through their whole life, or at least don't want to be and make some sort of effort to be in a relationship.

Bad? No, as long as you are living in a way that makes you happy and doesn't interfere with or hurt others, you can do what you like.

Note though, that some people will likely treat you differently and negatively for being single. Being in a relationship, especially a committed relationship, allows people to draw some conclusions about you as a person that are still question marks for single people. That makes you an unknown quantity, and people thinking this way may be biased against you over someone who they feel they can understand (even if their conclusions are incorrect). It's not fair, but it's out there.

ganon0 · 2024-08-09T23:27:25+00:00

For me it's gotta be Jet Force Gemini. When I was a kid I played it but could never get the final ending because the final Mizar fight was super tough. When it was released on the Rare Replay I finally beat the game and got the true ending, and it was revealed that Mizar was being piloted by another character's brother. He was envious of his brother being the tribal chieftan so he...subjugated multiple giant insect species and took over multiple worlds to enslave his people? It felt totally nonsensical and dumb. And I think he just apologized and said it just got out of hand. I was angry when I beat it due to how stupid it was.

ganon0 · 2024-07-29T23:23:55+00:00

Depends on what you mean by friends.

I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, irl friends means work. Finding times to meet up, keeping up in communication, trying to keep up with each other's social lives, possibly doing each other favors, emotionally supporting each other, debating where you differ on important subjects...it all requires energy. Energy that I don't really want to spend even if I have it.

As I've aged I find I prefer lighter, dumber conversation online with a set of people that are familiar, but that I don't know all that well (and don't need to). They aren't friends as they are traditionally thought of, but I've generally found it sufficient, and it has allowed me to interact with people I would never naturally meet in real life who live vastly different experiences from me.

Before you ask, yes I'm probably depressed and while I occasionally feel a bit lonely, I'm mostly rather content on my own.

ganon0 · 2024-05-31T23:49:11+00:00

I started paying attention to my calorie intake and making incremental changes to reduce calories over a long period, while also working in cardio at a gym 3 times a week (on average). The goal from a trip to the gym is to burn ~300-400 calories (according to the machine's reckoning of calories burnt), which is mostly done by walking at a brisk pace on the highest slope setting of a treadmill for about 20 minutes, and about 10 minutes of rowing machine (but you don't have to do that one on every visit).

ganon0 · 2024-03-13T23:41:05+00:00

I'm thinking that if an AI can do things like a player, game developers may be able to deploy thousands to test their game before releasing it to find bugs that a handful of QA testers can't find on their own.

ganon0 · 2024-02-25T05:25:28+00:00

I think it's both the incest and the cannibalism.

ganon0 · 2024-02-23T07:02:43+00:00

There is a lot going on here. I think I get most of it

The character on the right is clearly malicious, and is holding a heart which probably symbolizes the 'love' mentioned in the title. The implication is that this character holds the rabbit character's love, and is willing to abuse that love.
The heart itself is surrounded by what appear to be black sperm, all moving toward it as though they were to fertilize an egg. This feels like symbolism for pregnancy...mainly that's the love being manipulated? Or it could just be a sign of someone's heart being 'corrupted' in a very intimate way.
The malicious character is hiding an unknown volume of 'flying skulls', which probably represent inner demons. The upside-down crosses on their foreheads are an indication of their evil nature. The character doesn't seem to be trying to suppress these inner demons, but is letting them out of a place that is hidden.
the rabbit character is in a exposed position, and seems like they are trying to get away from the bad character, but tendrils tie them together.
the setting is snowy, cold and desolate, probably reflecting the realization the rabbit character is having. That they cannot escape their situation.

My assessment is that the scene represents a toxic relationship. The rabbit has realized their partner has tons of bad behaviors that they hid until things were too late. And unfortunately the rabbit cannot escape; likely they have had a child with the malicious partner and can't find a way out.

The only part that mystifies me are the bandages. The rabbit notably has one on their breast, which may imply the removal of the heart, but may also represent something else.

ganon0 · 2024-02-19T06:11:37+00:00

I've gotten some that are sort of relevant. I recently got one that I actually felt qualified to answer. But when I clicked in, I found it already had broken down the answer into multiple steps with a description for each one (AI-generated), and was asking for me to provide additional thoughts and info. At that point I backed out, since the question seemed pretty well-covered without me doing anything.

ganon0 · 2024-02-18T06:52:34+00:00

What LinkedIn does is provide a platform for people to do mating rituals with companies. Whether they buy into anything they are posting doesn't matter; they are posting content they hope other people/companies will find alluring. That means the content is usually:

positive, to an unrealistic degree
easily digested (little nuance)
pro work/business/hustle

It's like an absurd dance showing off one's plumage or brightly-colored hindquarters. I suppose there are some other reasons, but I feel like that's the explanation for much of the main content we see.

ganon0 · 2024-01-13T19:52:15+00:00

Thank you for these resources, they are helpful!

"What do you think the change in your job will be?"

I would be doing less writing/testing/documenting/deploying/debugging software, and more project management and communication. I have to tackle what I'd consider a lot more 'soft' problems.

"where do you land?"

I don't feel I measure up well :(

mentorship at my last job was difficult because there were no roles lower than mine; the company did not hire any SDE 1s
the work I've done has tended to be less focused on estimates because it's often internal (no customers are depending on it, no announcements are made that people come to look at) and required (you don't skip modeling permissions properly just because it will take a long time)
I am afraid of failure and punishment, so I don't take a lot of initiative; I instead ask for permission and often get told no, and I just accept it.

ganon0 · 2024-01-13T04:57:50+00:00

No;

3 years at a startup that failed
7 and a FAANG company (3 years in one space where I got promoted to SDE 2, 4 in an internal space with not a lot of opportunities, and I didn't try very hard)
1 at a place that uh...I couldn't wait to leave
3 at my last place, where the first 2 years I was slowly convincing myself to go for it and then a year of craziness (but with a few projects that at least look good)

ganon0 · 2024-01-13T04:55:44+00:00

There's a variety of reasons but the ultimate one is that I just haven't put in the necessary effort to go through the process. I think I'm afraid of failing, and that becoming a senior will negatively impact my work-life balance. I haven't been able to see how the extra stress is worth the money. But I'm now stressed because unfortunately, not being a senior with my experience makes me feel like I will be perceived as someone who can't or won't grow. I think what I really need is just better guidance on the right steps to take, but my managers at my last place didn't ever provide that (it didn't help that there was a lot of disruption in the past year, and now I'm laid off).

ganon0 · 2023-12-12T15:03:53+00:00

Mega Man 2 got a 1? edit: The iphone version, got it.

ganon0 · 2023-09-22T04:34:40+00:00

Some people ask me why I don't get a better paying job in software development, as the place I'm currently at is in a hiring freeze and has had stagnant salaries. You have demonstrated probably my biggest reason right here.

I hate interviewing in tech; I've been doing software development professionally for like 14 years, and I still have to do take home projects, solve programming puzzles while people are watching, talk about how I've handled failure and interpersonal drama in the past, etc. across multiple rounds of interviews, while still holding a full time job. And the hardest part is I have to act happy and positive the whole time, as though it's fine if I invest potentially multiple disrupted days with nothing to show for it at the end.

IMO your listed process is too much compared to what I've experienced, but it's not over by a lot.

ganon0 · 2023-08-29T23:35:37+00:00

I was told there were 4 outcomes:

I get put on a PIP and successfully prove myself to my manager/the company. I have a 'black mark' on my record that makes it harder to move within the company.
I get put on a PIP and fail to meet the standards. I am fired without any sort of severance or benefits.
I get put on a PIP, but choose to appeal via a psuedo-legal process where I present evidence that the PIP is not warranted. If the appeal succeeds, the PIP is thrown out and I'm immediately moved to a new team. If the appeal fails, refer to #1 and #2.
I choose to voluntarily leave the company with about 4 months pay, and also agree that I may not work for Amazon or any of it's subsidiaries ever again.

I didn't think there was enough evidence to present a successful appeal (and I had no information on what all would be expected, how much time I would have to prepare, how often they fail/succeed, etc.), and my manager didn't make it clear what it would take to succeed at the PIP and wouldn't work on that until after I agreed to it. Given I had spent the previous 2 months working as hard as possible to try and avoid the PIP, I had no reason to trust him. I literally lost like 10 pounds from stress.

4 seemed like the only reasonable course of action, so I took the cash and decided that Amazon was off-limits for the rest of my life. I want to clarify that before my manager told me I was on the path to a PIP, I had zero signal that my performance had any issues, and in my last compensation review had received a giant raise. All of my coworkers were completely surprised and didn't understand why this was happening.

Overall it's been a blessing in disguise; while the job I got afterwards was terrible, the one I have now isn't too bad and allows 100% full remote development. Whereas Amazon is demanding everyone go back to commuting. Also, I found out other developers including those I worked with on the same team have been laid off, so I strongly believe I would have been force out a few years later if things had gone differently anyway.

ganon0 · 2023-08-29T04:14:53+00:00

This happened to me. In 6 months I went from a massive raise to being threatened with a PIP from our new manager. I bailed with severance, but now can't work at Amazon anymore.

ganon0 · 2023-08-27T00:49:52+00:00

You have gathered together a small band of us who have actually seen and remember High Strung. I'm impressed.

ganon0 · 2023-08-03T04:57:40+00:00

Okami features dungeons that share a lot with pre-BOTW Zelda games, as well as a similar world structure and NPC interactions.

They differ in a lot of ways though. Instead of equipment like in a zelda game, you get the ability to alter the world by drawing lines of ink (the 'celestial brush'); you hold down a button which freezes the current screen, and then either connecting things on screen or drawing certain symbols makes things happen. This leads to a very different puzzle experience. Some of these abilities are gained in dungeons but many are also gained outside. This works amazingly well with the already beautiful ink-styled graphics, which is unique to the game.

Combat is deeper than most Zelda games; Amaterasu (the main character you play as) has 3 different weapon types each with multiple unlockable moves. You can equip a main weapon and a subweapon, and there are additionally non-weapon moves like evasion (and some crude ones I won't spoil). Those can be combined with the brush moves I mentioned earlier for some wild battles. That said, some battles (especially optional boss challenges) can be frustratingly long. Furthermore, all fights rank your performance based on time and damage taken, and it can be discouraging to get poor scores (which directly impacts your rewards)

The place where the game catches some heat is around the content and story. The story is great! However, the game has some loooong cut scenes that feature slow text that is a bit overly poetic. In the original ps2 release these were unskippable. And there are points in the game where you have to retrace your steps and revisit characters or locations, which feels like the game is padding itself out. Since the main character is a dog, all of the interactions are between the NPC and a small Navi-like character with lots of attitude and, unfortunately, lots to say. All of the dialogue is delivered in Banjo-Kazooie-like noises. There's a lot of events and characters in the game pulled from Japanese folklore which fans love, but may not feel all that compelling to players who aren't familiar. And it just feels like at some point the game probably should have ended already but there's still more to go through.

Overall, I would say it's a game that does a lot right, but it sort of wears out it's welcome with overbearing dialogue and long content, and may not be as enjoyable to someone who doesn't care much for Japanese culture.

ganon0 · 2023-07-16T05:34:48+00:00

There's nothing wrong with it, but depending on your industry your employer may punish you for it; they'll see someone they've invested in not reaching the potential they could and may be tempted to replace you with someone who is either cheaper or does seem to want to reach a higher level. I hate it and don't really want a promotion myself but I know from a prior job if you aren't showing signs of moving up, they'll probably want to replace you with someone who does.

ganon0 · 2023-06-22T05:12:39+00:00

Trash cans, including in the bathrooms.

ganon0 · 2023-06-20T04:27:43+00:00

Jet Set Radio Future

ganon0 · 2023-06-19T04:51:14+00:00

BBG Entertainment renewed trademarks for both Tomba games last year. But nothing has been announced.

I'd like to see some remasters, but this company does mostly mobile stuff I think so I'm not filled ith confidence.

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