aphoenix's recent activity

  1. Comment on What are your go to fast but tasty meals? Is there prep you do on weekends to make meals faster? in ~food

    aphoenix
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    Most of my lunches are breakfast burritos in some form. At the core, it's "scramble a couple of eggs and put them in a tortilla" which takes only a few minutes. However, there's so much you can do...

    Most of my lunches are breakfast burritos in some form. At the core, it's "scramble a couple of eggs and put them in a tortilla" which takes only a few minutes. However, there's so much you can do to make them better:

    • fry some veggies before adding the eggs - mushrooms and shallots are typical
    • leftover backed potato? Chop that up and throw it in
    • meat is optional (>75% of the time I don't have it) but any leftover sausage or ham or even chicken make good options, or deli meats
    • cheese is optional, but a good cheddar is wonderful
    • I sometimes add salsa or even just chopped uncooked tomatoes
    • I almost always add hot sauce

    I cook it, it typically takes about 7 minutes to get everything ready to eat, it's delicious, and relatively healthy depending on your dietary needs (ie. you don't have to watch cholesterol).

    I also often make chilli in the pressure cooker / slow cooker, where I take most of the unconsumed produce and put it into a pot with tomatoes and spices and usually ground beef. It's pretty simple to make something that tastes pretty great and can last you several meals.

    I also typically make one dinner per week that is mostly just putting something frozen in the oven. Chicken fingers and fries, or a pot pie, or a pre-made lasagna. This is a bit of work because you have to actually find a brand that you like, and sometimes it can be a bit disastrous - one time I got a tourtiere that had bison in it and I am horrifically allergic to that and it was not noted. But in general we have a very low effort meal once per week, and as a kick in the pants, it's often the kids' favourite.

    In the summer, I'll often prep a big container of quinoa or something similar and then make salads from the premade quinoa for a very fast and easy snack / meal.

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

    aphoenix
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    That is a very good question that I am unfortunately not equipped to answer well since I have only played with friends. The one experience that I saw of someone playing with another random person...

    That is a very good question that I am unfortunately not equipped to answer well since I have only played with friends. The one experience that I saw of someone playing with another random person seemed to be going very poorly; the random that they invited to the ship ended up lighting the ship on fire and generally trolling the player who was looking for a group.

    My brother tells me that you can easily scupper your ship and leave a group with a troll, and there is no penalty for doing so. Voice chat is built in (and you can opt out of it) so there are tools in the game to enable play. Actually that brings up another cool feature of the game, which is that you can voice chat with other players near you, and sometimes there is role playing, which is pretty cool.

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

    aphoenix
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    Sea of Thieves - you are a pirate, sailing the seas, pillaging, killing skeletons, raising reputation with a few different factions. There is no "progression" to speak of; most of what you can get...

    Sea of Thieves - you are a pirate, sailing the seas, pillaging, killing skeletons, raising reputation with a few different factions. There is no "progression" to speak of; most of what you can get are cosmetic items. You can save up to buy your own ship, but it's not needed. You can buy new guns or swords, but they're just updated models; they do not function any differently than the swords and guns you start with. It's quite fun to pop on with some friends, get in their ship, do some quests, and maybe start a battle with another galleon. It is a fairly hefty game - it took something like 130gigs of install space - but overall it has been pretty good. It's easy to get into, and after a fairly bad tutorial, it gets pretty easy to know what's going on.

    3 votes
  4. Comment on The incredible durability of James Hong in ~movies

    aphoenix
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    Hopefully he keeps on going for a while, because I can't think of a time where he has not elevated a movie he has been in. I was also excited when he became the oldest person to get a star on the...

    Hopefully he keeps on going for a while, because I can't think of a time where he has not elevated a movie he has been in. I was also excited when he became the oldest person to get a star on the Hollywood walk of fame, which was within the last few years. He always seems genuinely nice in interviews as well.

    2 votes
  5. Comment on Introducing Steam Families in ~games

    aphoenix
    Link Parent
    The main "cheat the system" was to share with people who weren't family members. There's a user in this thread, for example, who has access to 11 other people's libraries. There's a cap of 6...

    The main "cheat the system" was to share with people who weren't family members. There's a user in this thread, for example, who has access to 11 other people's libraries. There's a cap of 6 people in a family, so in the new system, they would only get access to 5 other libraries. It also sounds like Steam might get more aggressive about actually limiting this to families, based on how some of the legalese is written. Previously, the "check" to see if you were eligible to share with another user was that you had to actually log into Steam on their computer. The justification for that was that if you made the effort to go to someone's computer and log in, then you were probably family or at least quite close. However, that's really easy to game - just use a remote desktop tool and let someone log in, or even just share credentials, and you can get access to lots of libraries.

    I would say that it's notable that this is not what the original system was intended for, but it does seem to be one of the primary uses of steam library sharing (the other use being actually sharing with family members).

    I think it's also notable that I set it up, and did not encounter anything telling me I could not add people to my family, and it also auto-suggested people that I had previously shared with, who were not within my household. But the reduction in library sharing capabilities is pretty big.

    5 votes
  6. Comment on Introducing Steam Families in ~games

    aphoenix
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I set it up last night; here's how it works: Parent / Host of family sets up a family. parent invites accounts of children / family members invitees receive a message on steam and can acccept an...

    I set it up last night; here's how it works:

    • Parent / Host of family sets up a family.
    • parent invites accounts of children / family members
    • invitees receive a message on steam and can acccept
    • an email confirmation is sent to the steam account
    • you click the confirmation in the email
    • done

    You don't have to log in on the child computer at all. It is much simpler than the old solution.

    It's notable that it automatically suggested to me when adding members, my two children whose computers are in my house, but also my brother and sister-in-law, who are not in my household. I think it's because I have previously shared my library with them. I didn't try to invite anyone new, but when I searched around, it didn't tell me I was restricted from sharing with anyone else on my list.

    3 votes
  7. Comment on Leprechaun lore in ~movies

    aphoenix
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    "Luckily", having seen that particular one, I got it - they mean "fly" like "cool" not fly like the insect. I guess it's still a pretty wtf moment. I also stumbled on this:

    "Luckily", having seen that particular one, I got it - they mean "fly" like "cool" not fly like the insect.

    I guess it's still a pretty wtf moment.

    I also stumbled on this:

    The Leprechaun can transfer himself into your body if he can get some of himself into your mouth.

    7 votes
  8. Comment on Leprechaun lore in ~movies

    aphoenix
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    ... ... I just want to say I read your entire transcription and I wanted to acknowledge the effort you put into the post. However, after reading the quoted bit, I have briefly lost coherence.

    The Leprechaun can transfer himself into your body via your urine if you pee on him (or a chunk of him).

    ...

    ...

    I just want to say I read your entire transcription and I wanted to acknowledge the effort you put into the post. However, after reading the quoted bit, I have briefly lost coherence.

    19 votes
  9. Comment on Happy Tau/2 day everyone! in ~science

    aphoenix
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    Tau vs Pi is such a silly argument. Obviously we should be using Pau as a compromise. Also if anyone is interested Pi won the debate 11 years ago because Matt is better at maths than Steve.

    Tau vs Pi is such a silly argument. Obviously we should be using Pau as a compromise.

    Also if anyone is interested Pi won the debate 11 years ago because Matt is better at maths than Steve.

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

    aphoenix
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    I have been looking through my vast library of games for things to address my video game ennui. I've played several new-to-me games over the last couple of weeks, as well as at least one "old...

    I have been looking through my vast library of games for things to address my video game ennui. I've played several new-to-me games over the last couple of weeks, as well as at least one "old comfortable" game.

    Civ 6 - old comfortable. There was recently a 2k sale, and there was one DLC, Gathering Storm, that I didn't have, so I purchased it for some very small sum of money (I think it was under $5), and gave it a shot. It adds a few new leaders, including Wilfrid Laurier (Canada), and a few new mechanics, including disasters, diplomacy, and electricity. I enjoyed all of the new additions to the game; I tend to play Huge maps on middling difficulty, I rarely go for conquest, and I enjoyed playing as my home and native land. The special improvement for Canada is a hockey rink, the special unit is a mountie, and they both made me smile. Overall, this felt like a very good DLC, and I enjoyed a few different games of Civ over the last month. I may come back to Civ 6 occasionally over the next little while as there's something comforting about it, but I'm giving it a rest for a bit, because the last couple of games felt a bit same-y; I ended up with Diplomatic victories when I wasn't even trying to go that route.

    Hexologic is a hexagon based arithmetic / logic puzzle. It features hexagons that are nestled against each other. You can fill in hexes with numbers, but only 1, 2, or 3. Hexes in a row usually have a sum that you have to get. As you progress, the logic puzzles get more and more complex, adding in new puzzle mechanics. The game does an exceptional job of prompting you to fill out these arithmetic problems. I will continue to come back to this one.

    Do Not Feed The Monkeys is a voyeur simulator. You are given control of a number of cameras, you observe what is happening on the feeds, you are given strict orders not to interfere with what is happening, and you take notes and try to figure out what is going on. Every week, you must purchase more and more cameras, and many of the feeds have a story that progresses. For example, there is one which features an old man in a nursing home, but after watching him you realize he might not be what he seems. The organization you are working for (with? against?) sometimes asks you questions about whomever you are watching, like "What is the address of the building in Camera 5?" or "What is the name of the company the monkey in Camera 17 works for?" You also have to juggle some jobs, eat food, sleep, pay rent, etc. This game is good, and I have played it through twice so far, as there is a set number of turns for each play through. There are definitely adult themes, so don't let any kids play, but overall, I really enjoyed the art style, the stories, the management of cameras, the self-care management... it was all quite enjoyable.

    Endzone: A World Apart is a post apocalyptic city builder. It cribs heavily from another game that I greatly enjoyed called Banished though, enough so that I eventually stopped playing. If you like city builders, though, this one was fun, and I liked the core mechanics of both it and Banished. I cannot overstate how similar the feel is, though, especially the management of the city residents, which is exactly the same.

    2 votes
  11. Comment on 311: Tiny Desk Concert (2024) in ~music

    aphoenix
    (edited )
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    You know what, I don't think I was there that year. I haven't unpacked my journals since moving so I'm not 100% on it, but it's not sparking a memory for me. Is this the first concert that we...

    You know what, I don't think I was there that year. I haven't unpacked my journals since moving so I'm not 100% on it, but it's not sparking a memory for me.

    Is this the first concert that we didn't see together?

    2 votes
  12. Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games

    aphoenix
    Link Parent
    I think you may like Baba is You, though that seems like it might also be an obvious answer, especially since you mentioned Cracking the Cryptic and they have played it in a video. It's a puzzle...

    I think you may like Baba is You, though that seems like it might also be an obvious answer, especially since you mentioned Cracking the Cryptic and they have played it in a video. It's a puzzle game, I frequently play it with my daughter and we try to solve together. There is no real manual dexterity needed; while there are some things that require "timing" the way time ticks in the game is that nothing happens unless you move, so you don't have to be worried about hitting something at the right second. Overall, it's a cute and fun little puzzle game.

    3 votes
  13. Comment on What watch do you wear daily? in ~hobbies

    aphoenix
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    I have a Galaxy Watch 5, which is (obviously) quite similar. I had a GW4 before this, but it stopped working after an extended day (week?) of swimming. I preferred the GW4 over this, actually,...

    I have a Galaxy Watch 5, which is (obviously) quite similar. I had a GW4 before this, but it stopped working after an extended day (week?) of swimming. I preferred the GW4 over this, actually, mostly for the bezel. Other than that, it's roughly the same; not amazing, but not bad. It is nice enough that most people who notice it will say "nice watch!" and (I think) not ironically.

    1 vote
  14. Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of February 25 in ~games

  15. Comment on What's a "house rule" that has made a game more fun for you? in ~games

    aphoenix
    (edited )
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    We add in that if you roll a 7, and the robber is not on the desert, you can move him to the desert and take a resource of your choice from the supply. It opens up the board, makes the game...

    We add in that if you roll a 7, and the robber is not on the desert, you can move him to the desert and take a resource of your choice from the supply. It opens up the board, makes the game faster, and helps prevent snowballs.

    We have done a similar rule to yours: on your turn if you haven't gotten a resource since your last turn, then you can take one resource of your choice. Again, it mitigates the bad luck, snowballs, and keeps the game rolling. (edit: I realized this is basically exactly your rule if there are 4 players, ie. your last turn, the intervening 3 turns, and your current turn == five turns)

    Basic Catan is so slow, that we have implemented another house role, which is that we don't play it unless my in-laws are here.

    7 votes
  16. Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news

    aphoenix
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    I believe in our users to be able to find it! Plus I wouldn't want to rob someone of having to think "wait, am I just googling Dick Cheese? Should I do this?" ;)

    I believe in our users to be able to find it! Plus I wouldn't want to rob someone of having to think "wait, am I just googling Dick Cheese? Should I do this?" ;)

    4 votes
  17. Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news

    aphoenix
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    I've got a soft spot for that first album (The Sickness), even though I think you're probably right. It's good that he showcases that he can actually really sing instead of just doing metalvoice....

    I've got a soft spot for that first album (The Sickness), even though I think you're probably right. It's good that he showcases that he can actually really sing instead of just doing metalvoice. But there are so many good songs that make you want to move on The Sickness and it also spawned one of the best covers of all time, Richard Cheeses version.

    5 votes