Second game in as many weeks. Might actually finish this one. Haven’t played in a decade; feels good to be in the rails again!

Your scenes are warm, cozy, comfortable, compassionate, and communicate an affection between the characters that is a great balm for all the <waves hands> around us.

These modes and moods are what I look for to decompress and slough off world stress. That is why I like them.

Where do I find the full list of media included in the study? It was not linked or listed in the article.

How else is Wagamama going to make any money?

"Can't Help You Anymore"
-- Sugar; File Under Easy Listening, 1994

These industries are likely to be halved or more as AI is pushed harder and harder to become undetectable to the layman. AI is a more direct "public resource to private profit" pipeline than humans have ever known.

All avenues of entertainment content creation [games, movies, TV, comics, novels, theater, younameit] are overproducing for the demands of their audiences, & competing with social media and UGC video, which is free and has no minimum commitment time.

Or educated just enough to believe in conspiracy but not to think critically through the issue. To believe that accepting anti-establishment lies is the same as “questioning” what they have been told.

Give ‘em hell. They deserve it.

And please return to guest on as many MSNBC shows as you can. Your voice is still needed in the interim before your next step arrives.

Tonight’s cocktail was taken from a Reddit recipe that was taken from a cocktail book:
30ml Amaro Averna
10ml coffee liqueur
6g honey
100ml milk

Steamed with the steam wand [or heated on a low stovetop and optionally frothed].

Make this one!

And on the early morning of the third day, I achieve my first Civ7 win.
Emp Napoleon, Econ Victory as Mexico. Definitely learnable as you go, but I have a wishlist for the things I want to see in the first QoL patch.

Neg reviews are making mountains out of molehills! Play the game - it's great.

For the average mid-heavy Euro, learning from the rulebook including 1st-time setup of a punched game can take 1-1.5 hours just to get to the point where we understand the decision space well enough to play the first round.

Subsequent plays? 20 minutes including basic teach for new players.

Context of receiving the message about playtime:

"From the moment we agree to open the box for the first time ever to the moment we put it on the shelf, XX minutes per player will have elapsed."

Context of communicating a message of playtime:

"For players who know the rules and can help set up the game together, the time between taking the first move and tabulating final scores is an average of XX minutes per player."

I think you a word.

And you're welcome to repatriate 'soccer' whenever you feel like it. It's your abandoned offspring, after all.

I'm Fine I'm Fine Just Understand | ND Stevenson | Substack Quiet comics about gender, mental health, and getting older. Click to read I'm Fine I'm Fine Just Understand, by ND Stevenson, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

I came across something human and beautiful today.
www.imfineimfine.com

Even the free selection has a plethora of heart-touching sentiments and experiences within. While I want to binge read them all, I think I'll try to pace myself and give all these thoughts room to breathe.

Let 2025 be the year you take your H*gwarts house out of your bio.

LET THE IP DIE!

www.facebook.com/share/r/1GW8...

NYT Gochujang Caramel Cookies Recipe - Beyond Kimchee Enjoy gochujang caramel cookies with a spicy twist on classic sugar cookies – crispy, chewy, and bursting with flavor. From NYT recipe.

I found this recipe on a free site, which claims o be a small variation on the one posted to a paid site [NYT]
www.beyondkimchee.com/gochujang-ca...

My year-end break has been full of gaming!

CivOlution x4
White Caste Matcha
Anno 1800 exp
Dale of Merchants
Spirit Island 5p v Hamburg 6 [loss on turn 7]
Decrypto 8p
Knives Out 8p
Kingsburg exp
Blood on the Clocktower 6p x2
Ark Nova Marine
Precognition
Agemonia
Aeon's End Legacy II

Happy New Year!

RA was already best at 2… are there other material differences?

2025 goal setting: work from home December. I should never have to hear xmas music if I don’t want to.

Tonight was a lovely hand-crafted FFXIV geoguesser / scavenger hunt. We took pics with dungeon bosses, weird mounts, that vendor that sells that weird item, and feats of poor planning.

The host even paid out prize money! Completely unnecessary and a really delightful experience all around.

Libraries in Melbourne have extended hours this week to help provide respite from their heatwave.

Libraries _are_ our communities.

For games of that stature, the nom list is the big enough bump that they will benefit from. The games of 2 orders more investment need the win to see any kind of effect.

Tonight, I’m grateful for pubs with indoor mini golf courses and coworkers that will endure me singing karaoke.

My apologies to Sean Nelson and Dave Grohl.

Been there, done that. Both Isle of Skye and Teotihuacan featured dupe expansions for regifting.

Low-cost ways of staying cool:

- Hydrate. Without water n your system, sweating is less effective

- Dampen a towel and drape it around your neck

- Wet your hair before heading outside

- look for non-electronic entertainment like board games rather than running a computer that will generate heat

A few podcasts I really enjoy. Look them up!

All My Best Friends are Digital
Lateral
The Allusionist
The Gargle
The Thief
What’s Your Problem?
Search Engine

Tomorrow: more things I like!

Both fall into my personal category of "this RPG should have been a novella". By forcing the story and gameplay to coexist, they weaken each other.

My least favorite part of Winter isn’t the cold or even the road gravel, but the heat. Sitting on a hot bus in a fleece hat and coat and sweating madly sucks. Stripping down on the bus or in the grocery is weird. Unpleasant all around.