Agreed. It’s one thing if it’s climate change or something where we at least need to put a plan out there even if there’s zero chance of it happening, but for basic common sense stuff like this don’t bother. If we ever get back to trying to make average American lives better with the government, this is low hanging fruit.

Huh, I kind of think the opposite. I haven’t read everything he’s written, but it seems to me that he kinda sucks at endings.

I loved Anathem, and when you realize what’s going on it’s so cool, but then it doesn’t explore that idea as much as I want, it just ends without looking around the next corner. Cryptonomicon is a fun, interesting read and gets you worked up about what a monumental shift is going to happen… And then ends right as it’s coming to fruition. Even Seveneves had a 5000 year jump and spends hundreds of pages on the consequences of humanity’s brush with death… And then tosses in another population with five pages left. I want to keep going!

Maybe I just don’t like being tantalized in the last few pages of a book, but I feel like I’m left hanging and unsatisfied, like there’s a missing sequel. His pulpier, early novels were much better in terms of wrapping up the story.

I have a tortoise and he’s great. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them for everyone, but if you like reptiles they have a lot going for them. Calm, quiet, low maintenance, vegetarian (no crickets, mice etc.) and have a lot of personality. If you take care of them they can be a friend for life.

I like to take mine into the yard in an enclosure and chill in a hammock nearby. He even likes to cuddle into the crook of my neck on the couch. Not exactly the most active pet, but his calming energy helps my anxiety. When he’s splooted, basking under a heat lamp I am almost envious.

I interpret it as they are fools because they can be convinced of anything and become proselytizers in the course of a day. They didn’t really engage with the idea, they are just zealously parroting what someone else told them.

I used the communicator chime for a long time, but these days I’m basically permanently in do-not-disturb. My phone only makes sound when a close contact calls, or for a timer/alarm. Anything else can wait.

I never had an issue with Lutris + a pirated copy. It’s trivial to find the anadius rip around in a torrent. Fuck the EA launcher.

I love that song and yeah, nailed it.

I’ll bite. Austin, TX circa 2007. Sublet. Moved my (now) wife and one year old into a one bedroom, one bathroom house the size of a shoebox. Cooled by a single window unit, had to steal wifi, and roaches crawled in through the gaps under the doors.

Ironically, it’s now a fond memory. First place I lived with my new family, it was just for the summer, we had cool neighbors and were like 200 feet from a bunch of really cool local businesses.