TMarkos's recent activity
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Comment on What are some books for which the critical/public opinion has flipped over time? in ~books
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Comment on Looking for some recommendations for games where you can build your own spaceships etc in ~games
TMarkos From the Depths is fantastic, and they keep issuing regular improvements to the game. New weapons systems, enhanced mechanics, new NPC designs - it's one of the better long-term dev games I have.From the Depths is fantastic, and they keep issuing regular improvements to the game. New weapons systems, enhanced mechanics, new NPC designs - it's one of the better long-term dev games I have.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
TMarkos I think I may have stated my gripe unclearly, so let me take another stab at it. I don't think the game is particularly difficult. I never had a moment where any of the mechanics asked me to do...I think I may have stated my gripe unclearly, so let me take another stab at it. I don't think the game is particularly difficult. I never had a moment where any of the mechanics asked me to do something that took more than a bit of trial to accomplish. My specific problem is with the arbitrary and punishing physics system, and the way the game sees no issue with inflicting random run-ending or at least run-detouring calamities on you.
Let me detail some specific examples.
Spoilers.
I discovered the probe cannon thing on the twins by following a clue. Figured it out, read the text, no problem. Get in the probe, play with the controls, launch the probe - immediately killed by physics.
I figure, fine, I'll give it another try. Hop in the ship. Fly to the twins. Land, resummon probe. Pay attention to the vector it's pointing, choose a different moment - launch, immediately killed by physics.
More the fool me. I figure I'll follow up with a different aspect of the clue and go to the interloper, since it was referenced there. I intercept the comet, land on it, find the ship, and get a single direction to go do the thing I've already been doing at the twins. Meanwhile the comet has lost its grip on my ship, which is now floating some distance away in interplanetary space. Run over.
Another time, I'm on the one with the black hole in the middle, can't remember the name. Doing the underground platforming thingy, trying to explore - except that some of the platforms cave in. Not in the traditional style where you get some warning, but as though they're not even there. I fall into the black hole, and yes, I can get back easily through the station there, but every time involves going to the station, standing in the middle and staring up at the sky until the dumb thing rotates to send me back.
Those sort of get at the crux of my issue with the game. There is difficulty, and there is arbitrary punishment. I felt that the inconveniences in this game fell strongly towards the latter. I increasingly felt like I was playing a game of minesweeper with no clues, where every time I tripped a mine I was forced to, at minimum, repeat a set of actions that cost me a minute or five, even if there wasn't a mechanic that gated segments off (looking at you, rising sand levels!). All this for a few sentences of story and a signpost towards the next place to look.
The fact that the board never changes does allow one to remember the pitfalls, once encountered, and avoid them. I just never found that the game's rather thin flow of story justified my mounting frustration with it.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
TMarkos I think I immediately got that I had to keep going back and following the same leads, haha - that just sounded incredibly tedious to me. There is a structural element to the game's core mechanic...I think I immediately got that I had to keep going back and following the same leads, haha - that just sounded incredibly tedious to me. There is a structural element to the game's core mechanic that inevitably forces blocks of wasted time every time it occurs, and having those interrupt the process of exploration and discovery just killed any desire I had - especially when "going back" often involved dealing with spaceflight and platforming puzzles that take a reasonable amount of time to repeat.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
TMarkos I decided to crack open a very well-acclaimed game that I had been sitting on for a while, The Outer Wilds. I had heard a bunch of very good reviews about this, praising it as the sort of game...I decided to crack open a very well-acclaimed game that I had been sitting on for a while, The Outer Wilds. I had heard a bunch of very good reviews about this, praising it as the sort of game that is best experienced blind, so I went into it blind. Initially it was charming and interesting, but I quickly felt that the game was actively trying to waste my time with its construction and core gameplay loop. Without spoilers, the way the game is structured involves you repeating certain actions rather frequently.
While this is not something that would have killed it for me on its own, in combination with the capricious physics engine it meant that I often felt that I was arbitrarily being bounced back to the start for things I had no ability to predict or in some cases even control - and, yes, I am aware that this aspect of the game is somewhat intentional, but I did not find that it improved my experience. Combined with the game's format for distributing new leads/clues, this meant that my reward for fighting through all this was ultimately a few scraps of information to do the same thing elsewhere in the game's world. In the worst case, it was a few scraps of information that pointed me towards something I had already done. To call this result frustrating is an understatement.
The Outer Wilds is probably still an excellent game, based on the huge number of people who enjoyed it immensely. It's just saddening to pick up something expecting a meaningful, thoughtful experience and find that it was made in ways that are wholly not to my taste as a gamer.
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Comment on China's new stealth aircraft - "J-36" and the challenge to US air power (with Justin Bronk) in ~misc
TMarkos His playthroughs of Terra Invicta are interesting as well.His playthroughs of Terra Invicta are interesting as well.
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Comment on Considerations on rent control in ~finance
TMarkos Well, we've already established that it's a bad idea to prevent them from selling, haven't we? All the proposed regulation would do is prevent people from using the selling process to circumvent...Well, we've already established that it's a bad idea to prevent them from selling, haven't we? All the proposed regulation would do is prevent people from using the selling process to circumvent the restrictions placed on the rental market, which is only an issue if they are renting currently and would like to keep renting. If they are renting currently and want to stop renting, they can sell it.
I'm sure that preventing landlords from charging obscene rents or making arbitrary rent increases would absolutely cause a drop in rental inventory, but we'd only be losing the units belonging to those landlords who do not wish to participate in a system in which they would be barred from undesirable behaviors. Such people weren't really contributing to the health of the rental market anyway.
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Comment on Considerations on rent control in ~finance
TMarkos I think you're not exploring the full intent of the original sentence. The problem is not landlords selling houses, the problem is the conversion into a unit for sale that eventually circles back...I think you're not exploring the full intent of the original sentence. The problem is not landlords selling houses, the problem is the conversion into a unit for sale that eventually circles back to the unit being placed on the market but without all of the prior restrictions. The sale process, in this case, is a way for landlords to circumvent rent controls but continue renting the property. A sane regulation would provide an easy path to legitimately selling a unit but would remove the loophole that allowed the presumptive sale process to discharge the prior rent control history. That's all the article is addressing here.
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Comment on Recommend your social/softer science fiction books in ~books
TMarkos Yes, I saw it was a book club read here! KSR is good at finding the small human moments in civilization-scale upheavals.Yes, I saw it was a book club read here! KSR is good at finding the small human moments in civilization-scale upheavals.
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Comment on Recommend your social/softer science fiction books in ~books
TMarkos I think Kim Stanley Robinson's work might be of interest to you. His Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars) is admittedly quite concerned with the technical side of terraforming and...I think Kim Stanley Robinson's work might be of interest to you. His Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars) is admittedly quite concerned with the technical side of terraforming and colonization of Mars, especially at first, but even from the beginning it also has a keen interest in how the experience of living apart from Earth changes people and creates a unique Martian culture. As the books progress, that culture and its developments become a primary focus of the writing.
His standalone book The Years of Rice and Salt is not precisely Sci Fi inasmuch as it is an alternate history, but it is likewise a very interesting exploration of what the world would have looked like if Europe had been completely taken off the board by the black death in the 1300s.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
TMarkos Just finished playing The Talos Principle II. I had played the first one a few years back and loved it, but the sequel really did a stellar job of amping up the narrative, characters and visual...Just finished playing The Talos Principle II. I had played the first one a few years back and loved it, but the sequel really did a stellar job of amping up the narrative, characters and visual appeal. The first game was a very solitary, eerie experience for all that I found it to be a wonderful time, whereas the second one had me rooting for the loveable band of nerdy, naive robots it introduced. A must-play if you're in the mood for a puzzle.
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Comment on Your favorite game OSTs in ~games
TMarkos Some games with solid OSTs that I haven't seen mentioned: Banished - lovely relaxing acoustic atmospheric stuff. Stardew Valley - a really fantastic mix of energetic and ambient music for the...Some games with solid OSTs that I haven't seen mentioned:
- Banished - lovely relaxing acoustic atmospheric stuff.
- Stardew Valley - a really fantastic mix of energetic and ambient music for the game.
- Subnautica - surprisingly high-quality electronica
- Rimworld - twangy
- Hardspace:Shipbreaker - twangier
- Cultist Simulator - eerie and catchy ambient spook
- Book of Hours - more of that type of thing
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Comment on Humble Choice - January 2025 in ~games
TMarkos Against The Storm is worth it all on its own, imo. Great little bite-sized citybuilder. Can get a little repetitive, so if you don't like variation derived from ascendancy/difficulty-scaling...Against The Storm is worth it all on its own, imo. Great little bite-sized citybuilder. Can get a little repetitive, so if you don't like variation derived from ascendancy/difficulty-scaling mechanics then maybe not your cup of tea. It does a good job of introducing legitimately game-changing mechanics as you progress, though, like new buildings and production chains, so it was fresh enough for me.
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Comment on CobolCraft — A Minecraft server written in COBOL in ~comp
TMarkos This is accurate, although the number of jobs that require COBOL are limited. A lot of the fundamental infrastructure for financial transactions is still written in COBOL and, while dated, the...This is accurate, although the number of jobs that require COBOL are limited. A lot of the fundamental infrastructure for financial transactions is still written in COBOL and, while dated, the simplicity of the original programs make them highly reliable and efficient. The appetite for replacing such fundamental infrastructure just isn't there, since for day-to-day function it's absolutely fine. It's only when there are upgrades or failures that you need someone with COBOL experience.
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Comment on The ugly truth about Spotify is finally revealed in ~music
TMarkos They are replacing artists, though. You state correctly that it's a huge number of hours involved, but it's not as though silence-killer playlists were drawn from the ether prior to this; they...They are replacing artists, though. You state correctly that it's a huge number of hours involved, but it's not as though silence-killer playlists were drawn from the ether prior to this; they were all artists, large and small. The money that would have gone to (admittedly not mindfully-selected) artists now goes directly to Spotify; big-ticket or not, artists are being replaced here.
From the perspective of marketplace control, Amazon owns Amazon, and also has product offerings on their own marketplace. They create base-quality products for very low cost and ensure that those products receive good placement on the marketplace rankings (that, again, they control) so that they can make more money per sale than the standard seller fee. They are likewise not replacing big-ticket offerings (i.e. quality name-brand products), they are replacing the tranche of products where the consumer merely has a space to fill and doesn't care what goes in it.
As with Spotify, Amazon has a distinct advantage because it can monitor demand real-time and select only products it knows will be a net benefit; it copies products and ranks them ahead of the stuff it's knocking off. Being in control of both the marketplace and the products gives them an advantage that is best described as anti-competitive, which is the point when government should intercede with antitrust laws.
Also, given that Spotify is commissioning and curating this music, I don't see how this is functionally distinct from them starting a record label.
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Comment on The ugly truth about Spotify is finally revealed in ~music
TMarkos Unsurprising; this is essentially Spotify's equivalent to Amazon Basics. A stronger FTC would have already come out with legislation to control companies that seek to own both the marketplace and...Unsurprising; this is essentially Spotify's equivalent to Amazon Basics. A stronger FTC would have already come out with legislation to control companies that seek to own both the marketplace and its products. To some extent or another this type of push is happening in every industry it can be applied to because the draw for the would-be monopolists is immense - they want to give their own products pride of place.
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Comment on "Shower thoughts" and other things to ponder in ~talk
TMarkos Similarly, I would appreciate a straight signal, to accompany the turn signals. Something to remove the ambiguity of a car with no signals and confirm that, yes, I have not merely forgotten to...Similarly, I would appreciate a straight signal, to accompany the turn signals. Something to remove the ambiguity of a car with no signals and confirm that, yes, I have not merely forgotten to signal an impending turn and intend to proceed ahead.
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Comment on What are your favorite special kitchen ingredients? in ~food
TMarkos Something that I don't see listed (that may have just been overlooked) is doenjang. It makes for an excellent noodle base and adds a lot of depth/flavor to anything you put it in, plus it keeps...Something that I don't see listed (that may have just been overlooked) is doenjang. It makes for an excellent noodle base and adds a lot of depth/flavor to anything you put it in, plus it keeps well.
I also would add Chinese black vinegar. It is a unique, multifaceted vinegar that can kick up sauces/noodles/etc, and is an excellent pairing for fatty meats.
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Comment on What possession(s) do you have that continue to delight you every time? in ~talk
TMarkos It is a fairly obscure song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69J61M3GEGQ I think I really appreciate it most when it's pondering the correct cook time for brown rice, which takes ages. Nobody has...It is a fairly obscure song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69J61M3GEGQ
I think I really appreciate it most when it's pondering the correct cook time for brown rice, which takes ages. Nobody has time to babysit that on the stove.
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Comment on What possession(s) do you have that continue to delight you every time? in ~talk
TMarkos Yeah, I have one of their carafes that I used to bring to the office, when I was full time onsite - my favorite trick was popping in a few bags of chamomile mint tea the night before work and...Yeah, I have one of their carafes that I used to bring to the office, when I was full time onsite - my favorite trick was popping in a few bags of chamomile mint tea the night before work and popping it open twelve hours later when I wanted the tea. By noon the next day it would have lost just enough heat to be drinkable.
Honestly I use the packet rice a lot too. It's very good these days, and quite convenient. For the rice-quinoa blends in particular it saves a lot of pain dealing with the differing cook times on those grains. It is substantially cheaper to do your own, and a rice cooker helps a lot with that by removing most of the effort for the prep - you just leave it on the counter and it does its own thing.
I feel like there are two sorts of classic books - those which are classic because they are well-executed, and those which did something novel or different and were well-received for the disruption/change they made in the literary sphere. The second sort of classic almost always tends to age poorly, or at least become that sort of book where people wrinkle their nose at it and say they can't understand why it's so well-regarded. That sort of book becomes something that's important to read in a meta sense, to understand the inspirations and foundations of the probably-better works that followed it, but not usually for its own merits.
I always use Dickens as an example of this sort of work, because I hate reading Dickens even though he was undeniably an important contributor. Lord of the Rings (which I love) often is criticized as derivative-seeming from a modern audience that has grown up with a well-established fantasy mythopoeic framework that in large part derives from those books. I could probably chuck Neuromancer on the pile as well, since it defined so much of what we consider to be cyberpunk but isn't (in my view) a particularly compelling read.
The phenomenon is often easier to see with movies, since the stylistic lift tends to be more direct in those cases; one of the more impactful movies to come out recently is The Raid, which received limited screenings and is not an exceptional movie beyond having absolutely mindblowing fight choreography. A relatively small number of people have ever watched The Raid, but every fight choreographer watched it, and you can see its influences spread out in dozens of extremely popular movies subsequent to that.
So, more concisely, I think there are quite a few classic books that were extraordinarily well-received in their time but which have since been overshadowed by better works building on their foundations.