MimicSquid's recent activity

  1. Comment on Boomer hate in ~society

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    It could be gerrymandering, but as someone who was on the board of a nonprofit senior housing project, there's a huge amount of need for affordable housing for seniors, and quality of life is...

    It could be gerrymandering, but as someone who was on the board of a nonprofit senior housing project, there's a huge amount of need for affordable housing for seniors, and quality of life is much, much better if they're close to things they need and/or solid public transit networks so they don't have to be driving. There's also (for now) extensive federal tax credits available for building/managing Section 8 housing, of which affordable senior housing is a subset. It's a very roundabout way for the government to fund senior housing, but it is working to ensure there's more housing that meets the needs of people as they reach their declining years.

    Gerrymandering is a serious issue, but mostly the inhabitants of any given senior housing complex will have lived in the community more broadly, and thus not likely to significantly alter the district borders. In addition, given the slow speed of both construction and the redrawing of the district borders every 10 years, it seems a very roundabout way of gerrymandering as compared to just futzing with the borders as usual.

    6 votes
  2. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    Aw, yeah, no. If you're retreading the same ground and unhappy with it, do something else.

    Aw, yeah, no. If you're retreading the same ground and unhappy with it, do something else.

    3 votes
  3. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    I'm with you on the inherent meaninglessness of sandbox experiences, but I think you might be missing something in looking at what you did mechanically. On its own, a sandbox is just a pile of...

    I'm with you on the inherent meaninglessness of sandbox experiences, but I think you might be missing something in looking at what you did mechanically. On its own, a sandbox is just a pile of sand. But you built something meaningful there, with your brother. And I'm sure he appreciated it.

    5 votes
  4. Comment on Boomer hate in ~society

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    I haven't read about this. Do you have more info?

    I haven't read about this. Do you have more info?

    4 votes
  5. Comment on Competence is lonely. Nobody talks about why. in ~health.mental

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    Absolutely. I never want to say whether running a small business is or isn't the right choice for anyone, I just try to make sure people are thinking about taking care of themselves while doing...

    Absolutely. I never want to say whether running a small business is or isn't the right choice for anyone, I just try to make sure people are thinking about taking care of themselves while doing something that is fundamentally challenging.

    1 vote
  6. Comment on Competence is lonely. Nobody talks about why. in ~health.mental

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    When you pour your effort into your own work, be as attentive to how many hours you are putting in as you were when you were working for someone else. I've known too many business owners who were...

    When you pour your effort into your own work, be as attentive to how many hours you are putting in as you were when you were working for someone else. I've known too many business owners who were working twice as hard for half as much pay while thinking that they were building something bigger than themselves, only for the business to evaporate when they burned out. Even for yourself, your cup is not endless.

    3 votes
  7. Comment on Nation's largest urban battery is being built in Daly City, California in ~enviro

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    California does still have a nuclear plant. While the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant was slated to be closed by 2022, in the face of growing interest in sustainable power and a comparative...

    California does still have a nuclear plant. While the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant was slated to be closed by 2022, in the face of growing interest in sustainable power and a comparative fading of the anxieties regarding nuclear power it got an extension to 2030 and could well get additional extensions.

    1 vote
  8. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    I won't say there are dozens of us, but there's at least three. It's a true hidden gem.

    I won't say there are dozens of us, but there's at least three. It's a true hidden gem.

    3 votes
  9. Comment on Caravan Palace - Good Mouse (2026) | MOUSE: P.I. For Hire original game soundtrack in ~music

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    The look is classic rubber hose animation. Some of it may be from cutscenes, but the actual gameplay is first person shooter.

    The look is classic rubber hose animation. Some of it may be from cutscenes, but the actual gameplay is first person shooter.

    1 vote
  10. Comment on Caravan Palace - Good Mouse (2026) | MOUSE: P.I. For Hire original game soundtrack in ~music

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    It's decent, but it's clearly a lower budget video than the ones they do for their own songs. Caravan Palace has some exceptional animation for their music videos, and this is ok. They make sure...

    It's decent, but it's clearly a lower budget video than the ones they do for their own songs. Caravan Palace has some exceptional animation for their music videos, and this is ok. They make sure to never show the singer when she's singing, the band has a single loop (solid, but visible repeats), and especially near the end of the song there's repeated clips like the one of a wall being shot up that are just there to fill time. Nothing terrible, and I wouldn't have thought twice about it if not for the normal incredibly high standards fo Caravan Palace.

    3 votes
  11. Comment on Donald Trump says it's 'not possible' for the US to pay for Medicaid, Medicare and day care: 'We’re fighting wars' in ~society

    MimicSquid
    Link
    That's a completely elective war you started, you asshat. And now you want to use the money fire you started as an excuse to hurt even more people? Fuck you, you asshole.

    That's a completely elective war you started, you asshat. And now you want to use the money fire you started as an excuse to hurt even more people? Fuck you, you asshole.

    48 votes
  12. Comment on University at forty in ~talk

    MimicSquid
    Link
    I went to university at 28, which while absolutely different from 40, still set me apart from the students who were undergoing the socially expected route. While I was there, there were students...
    • Exemplary

    I went to university at 28, which while absolutely different from 40, still set me apart from the students who were undergoing the socially expected route. While I was there, there were students in my classes even older than I, though I didn't interact with them much. I hope that my thoughts on the topic help.

    There's three major parts of going to university: the educational, the cultural, and the social. University isn't just to learn about individual topics, it's to provide a staging ground for forming young adults into a culturally similar cadre through shared experiences and information sources. (This isn't bad, but it is a thing that does happen.) As an older student, you'll get the educational portion, but the social and cultural parts will be harder. You will have had infinitely more life experience and different life experiences as compared to most of the students. Whether that would be a barrier for you in interacting with them isn't a question I can answer, but broadly my experience was that I did not get a social experience at university the way that it's obtained by people who go when they're younger. My wife had the classic experience of living in the dorms and then sharing a house with people the same age as her who were also going to university together, and those friendships have persisted for decades. Commuting to school while working and a decade older than my peers, I did not make any lifelong friends.

    Those friends are also often the start of a young adult's professional network. Having shared experiences and a testing ground that showed what they were made of provides them a basis for networking and connections that will possibly help carry them forward. But this is again based upon social connections that may or may not form, and are less likely to if you attend at 40.

    The education itself can be interesting, but if I were in your position I would ask myself what I was hoping to get out of it. Do you want a challenge that will play out over 4 years, expecting 20-40 hours of work a week for no immediate or concrete compensation? Do you want to broaden your life experience? Do you want professional challenges? University holds an outsized place in our cultural stories about bettering ourselves, and I'm with you on feeling the cultural weight we place on having a degree. I think it will be helpful to think about what, very specifically, you want to get out of it, and being very clear about what paths are most likely to get you what you want.

    Ultimately, you will never have the experience your friends had when you were seventeen. It can be an experience you value, and it may be valuable to you, but it won't be the thing you heard about back then. Is what it is now something you want now?

    31 votes
  13. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    If you didn't read spoilers you'd never know that you had missed the other options. It's also an incredibly niche weapon, useful in the vanishingly rare situations where you can stand in place for...

    If you didn't read spoilers you'd never know that you had missed the other options. It's also an incredibly niche weapon, useful in the vanishingly rare situations where you can stand in place for multiple seconds. No one is missing anything.

    4 votes
  14. Comment on Enjoying reading in the age of LLMs in ~humanities

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    Handwritten and drawn 'zines will probably remain human-made for a decent while.

    Handwritten and drawn 'zines will probably remain human-made for a decent while.

    1 vote
  15. Comment on You can finally change the goofy Gmail address you chose years ago in ~tech

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    As someone who ran their own business for a long time, preserve that separation between your work and professional emails. You've got to be able to put the work down at the end of the day, and...

    As someone who ran their own business for a long time, preserve that separation between your work and professional emails. You've got to be able to put the work down at the end of the day, and having work email in your personal email box is a great way to never actually be not working.

    28 votes
  16. Comment on Megathread: April Fools' Day 2026 on the internet in ~talk

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    It will very slowly load the image one line of pixels at a time in a way that's very nostalgic for anyone who started browsing the internet and wanted to look at images while modems were still a...

    It will very slowly load the image one line of pixels at a time in a way that's very nostalgic for anyone who started browsing the internet and wanted to look at images while modems were still a thing.

    7 votes
  17. Comment on Megathread: April Fools' Day 2026 on the internet in ~talk

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    The grayscale/greyscale mode got me good.

    The grayscale/greyscale mode got me good.

    6 votes
  18. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of March 30 in ~society

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    He can't. A law was passed by the Republicans that require the consent of the Senate to back out of NATO.

    He can't. A law was passed by the Republicans that require the consent of the Senate to back out of NATO.

    5 votes
  19. Comment on Pokémon Go players built a thirty-billion-photo map for AI in ~tech

    MimicSquid
    Link Parent
    It's voluntary, but highly incentivized, as the more locations close to you the more power there is for you to garner in game. It works well for everyone, though the player pay to play and also...

    It's voluntary, but highly incentivized, as the more locations close to you the more power there is for you to garner in game. It works well for everyone, though the player pay to play and also provide free labor. Not quite equitable.

    6 votes
  20. Comment on Disney reportedly keen on buying Fortnite developer Epic Games in ~games

    MimicSquid
    Link
    Because Disney can no longer do anything but acquire other, more successful companies and attempt to extract every bit of nostalgia or goodwill anyone has towards that company and turn it into...

    Because Disney can no longer do anything but acquire other, more successful companies and attempt to extract every bit of nostalgia or goodwill anyone has towards that company and turn it into profit to allow it to continue to devour anything of interest.

    39 votes