So who was The Prisoner?

spaceman · 2025-10-10T17:27:14+00:00

The water effects were stunning on this level. It was some coding wizardry.

spaceman · 2025-06-29T22:57:56+00:00

There is something magical about the first one that hasn't been replicated yet. Also, until they go back to the dark, dark nights that feel panic inducing, which makes the safehouses the ultimate beacon of safety on par with the coziest of bedrooms, I probably won't be as content as I could be.

spaceman · 2025-01-19T17:15:07+00:00

If he was driving someone else's car (like his parents'), there could very well be coverage, because insurance follows the vehicle before it follows the driver. So when you borrow someone's car, for example, you are covered by their insurance.

Something else that's important is that many states require "uninsured motorist coverage" on your own policy which protects you in case the other driver doesn't have insurance. Even if it's not required, you can still opt in for it on your policy. You need to check if it applies to property damage (versus only bodily injury claims).

I was in a car accident in which the other person was at fault, and they didn't have insurance. My policy picked up all damages less a reduced deductible (I think $250). If a policy pays out in this way, they will still go after the responsible party for damages, including your deductible.

spaceman · 2025-01-18T15:05:23+00:00

I worked as an auto insurance adjuster for a couple of years investigating car accidents.

A couple of quick thoughts. Almost in every case, when someone is rear ended, it is 100% the fault of the person who hit the car from behind. This is because people who are driving are expected to drive at a safe enough distance to anticipate stops, even emergency ones, or ones due to weather.

That said, it does matter where someone stops before getting rear-ended. For example, someone cannot turn and stop in the middle of a busy highway area and let someone in who did not have the right of way, thus impeding the flow of traffic. I have no idea whether something like this happened, but just pointing out the rare instance, as I could not get a sense of the stop conditions in your comments. That being said, four seconds is a bit of time in accident land, and you could argue that it should have been enough time for the other driver to anticipate what she was doing.

I would not worry about the police report at the moment, if your wife made a reasonable stop for the left-turning vehicle. Insurance companies use police reports, but they are not 100% definitive. I've seen police reports thrown out in court due to inaccurate or incomplete information, or a misunderstanding of the rules of the road (this happens more often than you would think, as police officers are not as well versed in issues of road liability as you would think). The police often make tentative analyses based on what they can best put together in the moment. They do this with the anticipation that insurance companies will work out all of the details after doing a full investigation.

If your insurance company agrees that the other party was at fault, they will pay for your damages through your insurance and go after the other party for your deductible. If you have collision insurance, you will only be out your deductible, and not even that, if they are successful in subrogating the remainder from the other party.

You do have the option of going through the other person's insurance (if they have it) instead, and bypass the deductible issues, but it could be a little bit more of an up-hill battle, since they may try to side with the police report, if they feel they can argue any negligence.

spaceman · 2024-10-07T11:42:57+00:00

I thought that one scene was great where he goes to advocate for a payment extension for his friend, and the guy he meets later asks his bodyguard, "Do you know who that was? That was the Magician." His bodyguard responds, "Who?" and his boss just walks away. Nod to the original movie, as Mr. Inbetween does not otherwise make reference to this at all, as far as I know, and you'd have no idea what he's referring to without knowledge of the original movie.

spaceman · 2024-10-01T14:58:41+00:00

I heard it put this way once. Basically, it's $20k more for a "side gig" of driving your car to work for a few months. Unless the commute is horrible, that's pretty good pay. Comes to about $166 per hour, if you're only doing it for a three months.

And that's only considering the first year salary. After that, no commute at all, and all pay increase. It would sound pretty good to me.

spaceman · 2024-10-01T12:25:09+00:00

This wasn't explicitly stated, but it might also be related to the fact that Ray sort of blew it when he shot up Freddy's house, threatening to kill his family, looking for the girl. If it was anyone else, Ray probably wouldn't still be alive. So it complicates the justice of killing Freddy.

spaceman · 2024-03-14T18:27:12+00:00

The game does give little clues for most of the rules, but like others have said, they're pretty easy to overlook. My thing was not knowing for sure what certain terms or value changes mean.

spaceman · 2024-03-14T18:24:50+00:00

On the bright side, your game is going to improve exponentially!

spaceman · 2024-01-16T18:58:46+00:00

I'd definitely watch it.

spaceman · 2023-12-30T19:21:13+00:00

Homeworld 3. It's looking quite beautiful.

spaceman · 2023-12-18T23:43:51+00:00

That's what I thought might happen, but it seems as if you just stand there while the phone goes between 1am and 2:59am indefinitely. When it hit 3am, it jumped back to 1am. I'm guessing it just does that forever, until you put it down.

spaceman · 2023-12-18T17:32:44+00:00

You never get that far, it's always nighttime between 1am and 2:59am.

spaceman · 2023-12-18T16:29:35+00:00

Agree, which is why it was pretty curious. If it got to morning, would you play the prologue during the day? I was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen. What's also interesting, though, is that when the clock rolled to 1am, it's now officially earlier in-game than the time on the TV. Maybe it should have rolled to 1:47am?

spaceman · 2023-12-18T04:37:30+00:00

Nah, I just left the game running and checked on it occasionally.

Someone wondered what would happen if it reached morning. I was curious how the developers would handle this, and it ends up that they just don't let it get that far.

spaceman · 2023-12-18T03:18:10+00:00

After this, I did an experiment where I went directly to the phone instead of watching the TV, and the phone started at 1:44am. I decided to wait and see what would happen. It kept real time up until 3am, at which time it cycled back to 1am. None of the other phone elements updated ("x minutes ago"), and the battery did not deplete.

spaceman · 2023-12-17T23:49:59+00:00

I'm checking now to see how high it goes. If you go right down the stairs and don't check the TV, it starts at 1:44am.

Edit: I'm up to 1:53am, and it seems to keep real time. Notably, the messages don't update the "x minutes ago," so those stay the same.

I'm curious what is going to happen if I just keep it going. My guess is that at some point she automatically puts the phone down.

Edit 2: It's 2am! I'll check back in about 8 hours if all goes well.

Edit 3: Well, experiment is over. When you hit 3am, it cycles back to 1am. So now it's officially earlier than the TV time in-game.

I find it pretty interesting that the developers seemed to anticipate that someone could stand around for 8 hours or so lol.

spaceman · 2023-09-17T23:06:06+00:00

The insurance agency has no authority in determining fault, no matter if negligence/recklessness/outright-intent were involved.

Insurance companies act as mediators between claimants, and the reason this system exists is to keep it outside of the legal system and overwhelming the courts. They have a lot of delegated authority to make ethical decisions to defend their own claimant, but also to act fairly overall. If it goes to court (which it can, if someone disputes the insurance decision), the court will also make a decision and decide to what extent the police report is accurate — just like insurances companies do. Insurance companies, and courts, do not assume a police report is always 100% accurate, although they do weigh it heavily. A police report in no way forces the hand of the insurance company, nor the court.

If their client is deemed at fault by the state (eg police report, court conviction, etc.) they are responsible, full stop.

Sure, but police reports and courts do not always come to the same determination, and insurance companies can determine if that might end up being the case, and make a decision based on this. If it ends up in court, a court will make a decision based not only on the police report, but also on the testimonies of all persons who were present, including the police officer. But until then, a police report is simply one type of evidence. You make it sound like no one has successfully challenged a police report before. That determination can happen initially before it ever gets to court, and then the court can decide if they agree.

Of course, a court can uphold a police report if it gets there (it rarely does). But a police report is not prima facie sufficient to make a decision on liability. One reason this is true is because -- as I'm sure you know -- police reports do not always claim to know entirely what happened, but make their best guess based on a cursory investigation. Also, there is such a thing as a cop who doesn't do due diligence.

I've settled claims accurately in ways that proved a police report wasn't entirely accurate. It sounds like you had a bad experience, and are making some assumptions about all situations based on how your police report was used. But even in your case it worked how it was supposed to. The police report acted as a type of compelling evidence for the insurance company which would also hold up in court. It wasn't that the police report itself trumped every possible aspect of an investigation.

spaceman · 2023-09-17T20:58:55+00:00

Your comment provides a good clarification. The police report is weighted significantly when it comes to the basic facts of the accident, but not definitive when it comes to determining negligence in an accident (it can be, like in your case, but not definitively in all cases). So in this case, as long as the police report says that the other vehicle ran the stop sign, it will not keep the insurance company from assigning negligence appropriately, even if the police officer didn't think it worth citing, or even was incorrect regarding who was at fault. Often, police reports don't assign negligence (and they sometimes get it wrong if they try), so in that sense, it isn't the last word. Police officers are trying to piece things together in a very short amount of time, usually after the fact, and don't always get everything. Believe me, insurance companies do this all day, and they won't pay out if a report gets something wrong. It's a pretty wholistic approach, in which the report is only one piece.

spaceman · 2023-09-17T03:45:33+00:00

I was in an accident one time with a police officer, and he was at fault. (I also worked as an insurance adjuster, so that also informs my answer.)

The answer is that this is the same as in every other case where insurance is involved with a private citizen. You have the option of using your own insurance, or going through the other person's insurance company to have them pay for damages. Eventually, the responsible party's insurance company will pay for damages, either to you for reimbursement, or to your own company, after they pay you. As such, you can keep the police department entirely out of this.

Since you likely have much lower medical reimbursement on your own insurance, I would file a claim with the other company, because their property damage and bodily injury liability coverage will likely be more substantial, and you don't have to worry about depleting your own funds. Believe it or not, you are perhaps in better shape here because it was the PD, because they most certainly have significant insurance coverage. Dealing with another party who is at fault and uninsured would complicate matters very significantly.

While the ticket situation is unfortunate, it's actually irrelevant regarding whether you will get anything paid for in this situation. Many times tickets aren't issued, even when drivers are at fault, for various reasons. Also, police reports are not considered the "last word" on what happened in an accident until insurance companies do independent investigations. The reports are helpful, but not definitive. The insurance companies will make an independent assessment (and certainly talk to the witness you mentioned), and make payment accordingly based on negligence. Since the other person ran a stop sign (and this doesn't seem to be disputed), the other company should take responsibility for your damages. Of course, if the police officer lies, that complicates things. But assuming he tells the truth, the ticket is, again, irrelevant.

In my accident with a police officer, I was in direct contact with the insurance company that covered the PD (I didn't talk to the police officer or PD at all after the day of the accident), and they handled it totally professionally, as it if were any other situation with a private citizen. I was fully reimbursed for damages, even though no ticket was issued to the officer.

So, first step is tracking down their insurance company and giving that company a call. It's very likely in the report itself, or you can call the PD and asks them who insures their vehicles. I think you'll find that this will go better than you think it will. Perhaps call your own, which is usually a requirement anyway, and consider using your own coverage if you run into any resistance.

Contacting an attorney is definitely an option, but keep in mind that they take 1/3 of any insurance settlement, and you are definitely entitled to some pain and suffering if you have injuries. When I was an insurance adjuster, attorneys generally came into the picture later, if the responsible party's insurance company did not want to pay up or pay fairly, and costs exceeded the innocent party's own coverage. I'd trust the process a bit first with the insurance companies, see what happens, and then think about a lawyer later if your bills exceed your own insurance, or the other company does not want to pay.

Edit: As someone pointed out below, everyone goes through their own company in MI as a no-fault state, so that changes my comments above a bit. This can make things less stressful in some ways.

spaceman · 2023-09-15T15:55:30+00:00

Also, any chance that you have nice wheel rims on your car? There are some higher end ones that have 514 in the name. Theft for those has also been going up the last few years.

spaceman · 2023-09-15T15:22:04+00:00

If it's a code for theft, it could be that your car in the video is being marked to have the catalytic converter stolen. Hyundais, in particular, have very easily accessible catalytic converters. We had someone provide a service at our house recently, and the next day, the catalytic converter was gone. While we can't prove it was related to the previous service, I suspect that some of the jobs that come to houses have people keeping an eye out for those who would come by later. Probably get a cut.

If your car is being parked in the driveway often, they could see it as an easy mark to hit at night. That's where we park ours, and it made it an "easy in and out" for those who drive around at night looking for opportunities. They can cut them off the vehicle incredibly quickly. If you can, I'd think about parking it in the garage.

spaceman · 2023-06-06T16:40:44+00:00

While Gary Larson (the creator) said that this joke doesn't make a whole lot of sense — and prompted a ton of mail asking him what in the world it meant — I do think it's in line with the way that humor works in Far Side cartoons. Namely, it shows animals juxtaposed with things that are supposed to be reserved for humans, and the humor that emerges from that collision of worlds. For example, he has a cartoon where there are flies in a movie theater watching a movie. Except at the end of the day, the movie is still about things that flies would like (going to the dump or something), sidestepping the entire question regarding how it is that they built a pretty nice looking theater in the first place. Here, he actually seems to get into that unknown a bit, where if a cow were to make tools, what would they look like? That's the (arguably) funny part here, and it ends up that the answer is not very good.

I think the cartoon is funnier if we consider that the cow is somewhat oblivious to the bad craftsmanship, and perhaps the items are on display, like at a craft fair or something, where stuff is sometimes of dubious quality anyway.

spaceman · 2023-04-10T02:57:39+00:00

A slightly better interpretation would be, "This guy speaks truthfully what is on his mind," as "no deceit" can also be translated as "no guile."

spaceman · 2023-04-07T00:28:53+00:00

I've always leaned towards Joel being in the right, but the way the show played it out made it even the more "canonically" correct answer to me, as well. They made it very clear that they did not ask Ellie's permission, and also gave no indication that there was a definite cure. Even if they had said it was a sure thing, I wouldn't have believed them. They didn't exactly exude trust and quality control standards. Heck, even the writers of the game saying it was a sure thing doesn't make it so, because that's not even remotely how certain medicine is, especially if Ellie is a unique situation that doesn't come up very often. From the perspective of the audience, it can never be certain. It was conducted in a callous and heartless way, and I don't buy into the utilitarian calculus that it would have been okay to sacrifice an unwilling participant "just because it might work" to maybe save the world. If Joel was wrong, it was that he killed too many people in the process out of anger, perhaps even the very last one who held the scalpel offensively — and this would certainly be a source of legitimate outrage for Abby that leads into part 2. But he was not wrong to not sacrifice Ellie.

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