CaptainMeme's recent activity
-
Comment on The best games of 2025, picked by NPR's staff in ~games
-
Comment on The almost forgotten Japanese-American truce at Aka in ~humanities.history
CaptainMeme LinkI'm not usually one to post topics on Tildes, but this article hit me in the feels. It's not something I'd heard of and I'm glad the story is being shared.I'm not usually one to post topics on Tildes, but this article hit me in the feels. It's not something I'd heard of and I'm glad the story is being shared.
A fragile truce near the end of one of the bloodiest land battles of World War Two saw US and Japanese soldiers suspend their fighting and sit down together... for a picnic. According to the Newcastle University professor who helped research it, the event deserves much greater recognition.
For decades, the event was little known beyond the memories of those who were there.
But in 2004 Japanese University lecturer Hiroshi Sakai, then a newspaper reporter, was sitting on a plane next to an elderly couple who explained they had been children on Aka during the war.
"I asked them if they had endured terrible experiences," he said, but they explained that American and Japanese soldiers had held talks which had led to a state of ceasefire.
Prof Sakai said he had been "astonished".
The Battle of Okinawa saw massive casualties on both sides, including many civilians.
In June 1945, United States Lt Col George Clark was tasked with securing Aka where a Japanese garrison was based.
He assembled a small team of American officers, along with Japanese prisoners of war who agreed to cooperate in the hope of saving lives.
They spent several days circumnavigating the island, using loudspeakers to broadcast appeals to surrender.
Eventually the garrison commander, Major Yoshihiko Noda, indicated he would be willing to talk but only in the presence of Major Yutaka Umezawa, who had been injured and captured by the Americans.
On 26 June, a group of US forces and Major Umezawa landed on the shore, with Japanese soldiers fanned out in the hills above.
The two commanders saluted, put down their weapons and began talking. As the negotiations continued, a roast pork lunch was assembled for everyone and they picnicked together on the beach.
In his official report Lt Col Clark described it as "the most amazing spectacle it has been my lot to behold".
The Japanese said they were unable to surrender, but a truce was agreed.
Before the US troops departed, Lt Col Clark asked if the Japanese "would like to join the group in a prayer to the Supreme Being of all faiths for international understanding and peace", led by the US chaplain, which they agreed to do.
The truce held until the Japanese surrender in August and there was no further loss of life on Aka.
Ms Johnson, who had kept all her father's photographs from the time, believes the story is not better known because neither side were following orders.
The US soldiers failed to secure a surrender and the Japanese soldiers negotiated with the enemy.
Prof Sakai agrees and added: "For the former Japanese military, an unauthorised negotiation constituted an extremely grave breach of military discipline."
"For many years [Lt Col Clark] believed some of the men on the Japanese side had been executed for treason following the truce," Ms Johnson said.
"That's the only time I ever saw my dad cry - when they told him that wasn't true.
-
The almost forgotten Japanese-American truce at Aka
20 votes -
Comment on Queer temperature check: how is everyone doing right now? in ~lgbt
CaptainMeme Link ParentI'm surprised to hear that! Although I guess it makes sense with cities generally leaning that way. The map in the article does show the area I'm in as heavily red, which is about what I expected....I'm surprised to hear that! Although I guess it makes sense with cities generally leaning that way.
The map in the article does show the area I'm in as heavily red, which is about what I expected. I've generally steered clear of politics in conversation, but I know from my fiance that most of his family members (including the ones being very nice to me) vote republican. The impression I'm getting is that most of them don't really follow politics and have just been brought up in a world where voting republican is considered the morally right thing to do. -
Comment on Queer temperature check: how is everyone doing right now? in ~lgbt
CaptainMeme Link ParentThank you! I'm definitely lucky on the family front. I think they weren't always that way, but he came out a very long time ago and they had a lot of time to come to terms with that. I had a...Thank you! I'm definitely lucky on the family front. I think they weren't always that way, but he came out a very long time ago and they had a lot of time to come to terms with that.
I had a conversation with one of his family members who said that their (other) church shouldn't be preaching against gay people when there are murderers out there they could be preaching against instead. Which I wasn't really sure how to respond to! I appreciated the sentiment, but obviously the reasoning being based around homosexuality being a sin doesn't make me feel great.
But considering they've been brought up in those kind of churches with heavily anti-LGBT messaging everywhere, I'm hugely appreciative of them questioning it and coming to a different conclusion. It's not all the way to acceptance, but that's a huge step on the way there. -
Comment on Queer temperature check: how is everyone doing right now? in ~lgbt
CaptainMeme LinkAs of two weeks ago, my long-distance partner of six years is no longer long-distance! I moved from the UK to Texas (yes, I know) to be with him after finally getting the fiancé visa approved. I'm...As of two weeks ago, my long-distance partner of six years is no longer long-distance!
I moved from the UK to Texas (yes, I know) to be with him after finally getting the fiancé visa approved. I'm still a little giddy at us finally being together; the whole thing still feels surreal.
I'm a mixed bag of emotions too, of course. I was nervous as hell coming here because we're in quite a rural area, and it's Texas. I haven't met anyone directly homophobic yet though, at least not to our faces; his family have been awesome, the people we've been contacting to get wedding stuff booked have been fine with everything, and even his church fellowship were pretty nice and accepting. I'm also an indoorsy/introverted person in general though so haven't been meeting many people outside of that.
I'm happy with finally making the leap, and hopeful about the future. I know the country is taking major steps backwards, and I don't want to downplay that at all, but just from a personal perspective I'm happier being with him even though it means we'll have to deal with that. Six years was a long time to be long distance for (especially with covid stopping visits in the middle).
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
CaptainMeme Link ParentI haven't seen many people talk about Paranormasight! It's a super interesting game, although my feeling was that it was pretty frontloaded - it felt like the start of the game was made with a lot...I haven't seen many people talk about Paranormasight!
It's a super interesting game, although my feeling was that it was pretty frontloaded - it felt like the start of the game was made with a lot of good ideas and care, but the rest felt quite rushed. Might just have felt that way because the start set the bar so high, though.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
CaptainMeme LinkI've been playing Overcooked 2 on an Archipelago randomiser; a multiplayer multi-game challenge where everyone's items are scattered across the various games. It's been a challenge! I started out...I've been playing Overcooked 2 on an Archipelago randomiser; a multiplayer multi-game challenge where everyone's items are scattered across the various games.
It's been a challenge! I started out just about scraping one star ratings, and even now that we're getting to the end of it I'm struggling to manage two stars on most levels. I was wondering if the game had always been that hard - I hadn't played a ton of it before - but then discovered that the archipelago mod gives you blunt knives to start, which is why everything was taking forever. And my sharp knives haven't yet been found, so I think 3 star ratings will stay out of reach for the time being.
It's been a tad frustrating at times, but overall a great excuse to hang out with friends online and play a fun game I hadn't touched in years.
-
Comment on Do you play games in a play by email format, and if so what are you favorite games? in ~games
CaptainMeme LinkDiplomacy (the 1959 board game) is a game that was mostly PBEM for a very long time - I got into it just as that was tailing off and everything moved to purpose-built websites, though. It's really...Diplomacy (the 1959 board game) is a game that was mostly PBEM for a very long time - I got into it just as that was tailing off and everything moved to purpose-built websites, though. It's really the perfect game for PBEM, since most of the gameplay is correspondence and the orders are all simultaneous, so there's no waiting for your turn to come around.
I've heard of a PBEM game of it that lasted a decade. I think that's mostly because it had very lax deadlines though :D
Before the internet it used to be Played By Mail a lot, which is something I find fascinating and want to try someday!
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
CaptainMeme Link ParentI think the idea of the story was to build them up as terrible people to make the eventual redemption arc hit harder, but they did such a good job making the characters awful that they didn't have...I think the idea of the story was to build them up as terrible people to make the eventual redemption arc hit harder, but they did such a good job making the characters awful that they didn't have enough game left to make their transformation believable. So at some point they suddenly start acting completely differently and you're left wondering whether you missed a full act of the story.
-
Comment on YouTube’s new ads will ruin the best part of a video on purpose in ~tech
CaptainMeme LinkThis has been really annoying to fight with on the creator side, too. I record super longform video and have always placed the ad slots to be every 30 minutes, because that's what I'm comfortable...This has been really annoying to fight with on the creator side, too. I record super longform video and have always placed the ad slots to be every 30 minutes, because that's what I'm comfortable with.
Initially YT sent an email out saying that they were optimising ad placements in old videos, and if you didn't click the link in that email by a certain date then all old videos would be updated to this system. I did click the link, so avoided this.
And now in new videos, there's a small checkbox saying that you allow YT to add its own ad slots which is always automatically checked - even if you add your own ad slots. I have to disable that every time now. More recently they added little tags to the ad slots telling you how likely they are to work, and for manual ones it pretty much exclusively says they're bad and you'd earn more if you use auto ones.
I suspect at some point they're going to just enforce it. For now though it seems like they're going with the approach of trying to make it annoying to turn off.
-
Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
CaptainMeme Link ParentYou can turn off these sponsored links and news stories in your settings tab: Settings -> Home -> Deselect 'Sponsored Shortcuts' and 'Sponsored Stories' Not defending Firefox at all for this, I...You can turn off these sponsored links and news stories in your settings tab:
Settings -> Home -> Deselect 'Sponsored Shortcuts' and 'Sponsored Stories'
Not defending Firefox at all for this, I hate that it's the default and these settings clearly aren't made to be found easily. But a couple clicks and they're gone forever.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
CaptainMeme Link ParentThe very best ones have been the ones everyone knows, I think: Return of the Obra Dinn Case of the Golden Idol (and its sequel) Lorelei and the Laser Eyes The Roottrees are Dead Some less well...The very best ones have been the ones everyone knows, I think:
Return of the Obra Dinn
Case of the Golden Idol (and its sequel)
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
The Roottrees are DeadSome less well known ones that we really liked:
Hypnospace Outlaw
Immortality + Her Story
The Painscreek Killings (YMMV with this one, it's much heavier on the notetaking than others and a lot of the fun was bouncing theories between us)
Botany Manor (although it's very short)Ones that were interesting but didn't land as well with us for one reason or another:
Lingo (I think this one would be incredible if we were a little better at it, but it was so hard as to be frustrating)
Scene Investigators
Strange Horticulture
Do Not Feed The Monkeys
Contradiction: Spot The Liar (we really enjoyed this, but it doesn't really fit into the same detective category as the others) -
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
CaptainMeme Link ParentHmm, I think it does depend a lot on what lost your interest on Golden Idol. I'd liken Roottrees much more to Her Story than GI, but being a deduction game the gameplay still feels similar. It...Hmm, I think it does depend a lot on what lost your interest on Golden Idol. I'd liken Roottrees much more to Her Story than GI, but being a deduction game the gameplay still feels similar.
It lacks the presentation of Obra Dinn - where in OD you're being wowed by all these sights and sounds of sailors and monsters, Roottrees will have a character sprite talk a bit and then leave you to go back to searching the internet. I guess it's still immersive in the sense that you do feel like a person googling stuff, but obviously that's less compelling. I think it's feasible someone who doesn't generally like deductive games can get pulled into OD's world and enjoy it as a result - that's not the case for Roottrees, it lives and dies by its core gameplay.
If it was the independent scenes that were the issue in Golden Idol though I don't think that's an issue in Roottrees. The whole investigation feels pretty interconnected, even the extra investigation you unlock after completing the main game.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
CaptainMeme LinkThe Roottrees Are Dead A group of friends and I play detective style games on Mondays, so have nicknamed them Monday Games. The latest Monday Game is Roottrees and boy oh boy has it been living up...The Roottrees Are Dead
A group of friends and I play detective style games on Mondays, so have nicknamed them Monday Games. The latest Monday Game is Roottrees and boy oh boy has it been living up to the hype.
You have to piece together a large family tree using a starting dossier of information, and the game's in-game internet and library systems. You get the information in a similar way to Her Story, by searching key phrases - phrases that you'll notice in other documents as you go. You'll begin by using the internet for everything, because it's an easy way to find details about notable family members.
Very quickly you discover, though, that the internet isn't perfect - and that's where the game starts becoming this incredible maze of cross-referencing. Maybe a person's name is too common to Google search, but you found out from their grandson's website that they lived in a certain city, so you delve into that local newspaper's archive - and find an advertisement for a company run by that person, which gives you enough to bounce back to the internet again and search the company name, and find out it has an 'our history' page with some of the details you're looking for.
The whole is a really great deductive experience and scratches the same itch that Obra Dinn did - very high praise as that's one of my favourite games.
-
Comment on Have you ever witnessed the Butterfly Effect? in ~life
CaptainMeme Link ParentIt was a teacher for me! My high school maths teacher brought a bunch of board games on a school trip, and during one of them told me that I seem like the kind of person who would like a game...It was a teacher for me! My high school maths teacher brought a bunch of board games on a school trip, and during one of them told me that I seem like the kind of person who would like a game called Diplomacy. I was interested so she set up a board game evening after school and brought the game (which everyone except me ended up hating but which I immediately fell in love with).
I started playing online very shortly after that, and went to some in-person tournaments too. Cut to fifteen years later - I've met most of my friends through Diplomacy, I met my fiancé through one of those Diplomacy friends, my bachelors dissertation was on Diplomacy, and I worked at Facebook on Diplomacy AI for a year. And I eventually started making videos about it which has sort of half-become my job now.
It's insane to think how different my life would have been if that teacher hadn't shared their niche interest with me.
-
Comment on The golden age of US reality TV might be changing, possibly declining in ~tv
CaptainMeme Link ParentI realise re-reading your comment that if you've been on a binge you've almost certainly watched Genius already :D But I'll leave the comment up for others and just in case you haven'tI realise re-reading your comment that if you've been on a binge you've almost certainly watched Genius already :D But I'll leave the comment up for others and just in case you haven't
-
Comment on The golden age of US reality TV might be changing, possibly declining in ~tv
CaptainMeme Link ParentIf you like the Devil's Plan, 'The Genius' is another gameshow along similar lines and is absolutely incredible imo. It's a bit tough to find but if you can, the Korean version is well worth a watch!If you like the Devil's Plan, 'The Genius' is another gameshow along similar lines and is absolutely incredible imo. It's a bit tough to find but if you can, the Korean version is well worth a watch!
-
Comment on What video games have had you taking real-life notes? in ~games
CaptainMeme LinkThe Painscreek Killings was one some friends and I were playing where we were leaving notes about characters, motives, story events etc in a discord channel and ended up with a mountain of info to...The Painscreek Killings was one some friends and I were playing where we were leaving notes about characters, motives, story events etc in a discord channel and ended up with a mountain of info to comb through. That was a very different experience to other detective games I played, I really enjoyed it.
More recently we've been playing Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, which is more keeping notes about puzzles and suchlike, but also very enjoyable so far.
-
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
CaptainMeme Link ParentYep, those are the ones! And yes, I'd recommend doing them after unlocking everything else. I started on them a little earlier than that but they are very much endgame content.Yep, those are the ones! And yes, I'd recommend doing them after unlocking everything else. I started on them a little earlier than that but they are very much endgame content.
Sultan's Game being on here is interesting; I have really conflicting feelings about that game. It was really intriguing and I kept wanting to play more to discover more, but a lot of the things you can do are immoral to the point of making me feel seriously uncomfortable playing it at all.
That's more or less the point of the narrative, I think - the Sultan is trying to force you to commit horrifying acts, and just carrying out said acts while you're trying to figure out your escape route is always the easiest path. So the challenge of the game really comes from the moral lines you refuse to cross, when you refuse to take the easy path. And the fact the game goes so far with what it tries to make you do is what makes that effective... but it also feels like the game itself crosses a line on certain topics.
Anyway, long ramble - I'm surprised to see it recommended in a list like this, although I think it's a good game. There are a lot of other games on this list I haven't heard of that look super interesting - thank you for sharing!