bkimmel's recent activity
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Comment on Scattered thoughts on the absurdity of existing in ~talk
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Comment on What's a game that you feel is almost great? in ~games
bkimmel Link ParentTry the new Unicorn Overlord. Very much like OB64 but modernized and refined. Best trpg in a generation.Try the new Unicorn Overlord. Very much like OB64 but modernized and refined. Best trpg in a generation.
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Comment on Favorite hobby / subculture YouTube channels? in ~hobbies
bkimmel LinkReally liking some of these recommendations. Here's two I haven't seen yet: NileRed is a chemistry YouTuber. He does stuff like turning plastic gloves into grape soda and making plasma with grapes...Really liking some of these recommendations. Here's two I haven't seen yet:
NileRed is a chemistry YouTuber. He does stuff like turning plastic gloves into grape soda and making plasma with grapes in a microwave.
Peter Santanello Just a really good interviewer who goes into places a lot of people would rather forget (e.g. housing projects in Chicago and rundown former coal mining towns in West Virginia) and interviews people in a way that lets them tell their stories for their own stories' sake instead of someone else's narrative.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
bkimmel LinkUnicorn Overlord All I can really say is that this is the best Tactical RPG since Fire Emblem: Awakening. Every choice feels meaningful and fun. The combinations of equipment, units, and...Unicorn Overlord
All I can really say is that this is the best Tactical RPG since Fire Emblem: Awakening. Every choice feels meaningful and fun. The combinations of equipment, units, and "loadouts" where you basically write wysiwyg logic programs for your units is simply a revelation. The characters are great, the devs were clearly trpg fans themselves and it shows. 10/10
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Comment on 'I've never seen it this bad:' Game developers explain the huge layoffs hitting Riot, Epic, and more in ~games
bkimmel Link ParentThat second one (section 174 of the IRS code) is a huge driver of tech layoffs. There's a bill the House passed recently that's in the Senate that rolls that change back. Hoping they pass it soon.That second one (section 174 of the IRS code) is a huge driver of tech layoffs. There's a bill the House passed recently that's in the Senate that rolls that change back. Hoping they pass it soon.
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Comment on Northern hemisphere gardeners - share your 2024 plans! in ~hobbies
bkimmel LinkI have plans to try and grow a bunch of different kinds of mint and a few other plants to make a tea garden (zone 6) this spring.I have plans to try and grow a bunch of different kinds of mint and a few other plants to make a tea garden (zone 6) this spring.
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Comment on Joe Biden’s chances of US re-election are better than they appear in ~misc
bkimmel Link ParentThere was a certain "Clintonian Strategy" that started in earnest with her husband and her campaign had (by that point) perfected. Our shorthand for it was "Raise, Spend, Bury": You raise a lot of...There was a certain "Clintonian Strategy" that started in earnest with her husband and her campaign had (by that point) perfected. Our shorthand for it was "Raise, Spend, Bury": You raise a lot of money early from donors, buy paid media, and drown out your opponent. No one did it better. In a way, she had every right to feel entitled: she outraised Trump by a huge margin. If the system worked the way it always had for the last 30 years, it was over before it ever began.
It sounds cheap to say it now and everyone is a genius in hindsight but I remember very specifically quoting Apollo Creed's trainer from Rocky to my friends and colleagues who worked on that campaign: "This guy is all wrong for us baby". In a way, Trump's campaign was very much like Rocky in that movie... he stepped into the ring with an entirely different plan than Apollo/Hillary: just stand there and absorb the punishment. Who cares if you you get buried in paid media if you can control the coverage with your antics? The show is 55 minutes of content and 5 minutes of ads. Let Hillary have the ads and focus on winning the content. You "win" by "going the distance with the champ", simple as that.
If the Trump/Rocky analogy holds, I hope this election goes worse for "Rocky" than it did in Rocky 2.
So, like Apollo Creed, to answer your question: Hillary was entitled/complacent but it's easy to understand how. By convention,they were both the "best that ever stepped into the ring".
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Comment on Looking for a top down tactical wargame in ~games
bkimmel Link ParentSid's Gettysburg was hands down one of the best games ever made period. It's one of those few games that (having played it like 25 years ago) I think it legitimately made me a better "tactical and...Sid's Gettysburg was hands down one of the best games ever made period. It's one of those few games that (having played it like 25 years ago) I think it legitimately made me a better "tactical and strategic thinker". Playing it PvP on dialup-level connections was a real trip.
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Comment on Any other developers also strongly resistant to adding secondary data stores to their software? in ~comp
bkimmel Link ParentAfter a couple decades of going through various tools and ecosystems for backend/data I've more or less settled on the mantra of "use Postgres until you can't".After a couple decades of going through various tools and ecosystems for backend/data I've more or less settled on the mantra of "use Postgres until you can't".
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Comment on First of YouTuber Joel Haver's "12 Feature-Length Films in 12 Months" released in ~movies
bkimmel LinkIf I had to describe this, it would be as a "cross between Napoleon Dynamite and Sideways done by an indie filmmaker" that is deceptively "heavy" in a way I wouldn't really expect from a comedy...If I had to describe this, it would be as a "cross between Napoleon Dynamite and Sideways done by an indie filmmaker" that is deceptively "heavy" in a way I wouldn't really expect from a comedy YouTuber. I started watching it with the intention of turning it off after 10 or 15 minutes, but I kept getting pulled further and further into the story.
As a trigger/content warning: This film gets very dark and deals with depression and estrangement in ways that are a little difficult to watch at points.
I was thinking of this other Tildes thread a lot while I watched it - especially the part in that about feeling like an "un-person" and how easily that happens now... how the bar for "being a person" (by some consensus-derived definition) just seems so much higher now and so much more exhausting than it ever was.
Watching the relentlessly hopeful and hapless Caleb go through his "hero's journey" was - by turns - excruciating and hilarious. Haver is not really the greatest actor to be sure... but in a way that almost adds a necessary flavor to the character who spends too much time posing for the cameras he surrounds himself with. And the other actors do such a great job of holding him down that it just ends up "working" somehow in the end.
I was genuinely surprised by this film. I was thinking this morning about the last scene of the film - and how very differently that would be parsed if it were the first scene in the film instead of the last.
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Comment on What is your favourite episode of a podcast? in ~talk
bkimmel Link ParentThat one looks interesting, too, but it wasn't that. Might have been https://www.google.com/amp/s/gimletmedia.com/amp/shows/undone/39h27bThat one looks interesting, too, but it wasn't that. Might have been https://www.google.com/amp/s/gimletmedia.com/amp/shows/undone/39h27b
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Comment on What is your favourite episode of a podcast? in ~talk
bkimmel LinkI don't even remember which podcast it was... But the episode was about Disco Demolition night at White Sox Stadium and how it was basically the "genesis moment" for modern conservative...I don't even remember which podcast it was... But the episode was about Disco Demolition night at White Sox Stadium and how it was basically the "genesis moment" for modern conservative counterculture (i.e. Trumpism). It was something I had heard about before, but I wasn't really aware of the broader cultural meaning of it until the podcast episode. I think it was the "Stuff you Should Know" podcast or something like that.
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Comment on The poverty of anti-wokeness in ~life
bkimmel Link ParentI really feel like it would be best to discuss most of this at a bar or something, because it is both "a lot" and also "very interesting" to me... And a lot of it is - as you fairly point out -...I really feel like it would be best to discuss most of this at a bar or something, because it is both "a lot" and also "very interesting" to me... And a lot of it is - as you fairly point out - sort of a matter of viewpoint or interpretation. But one thing I'll pick out that there is clear data on the "not worth fighting for" side of the equation: Americans may seem "jingoistic" but historically, they've backed it up with a healthy "All Volunteer Force". There is growing concensus that this is flat-out no longer sustainable:
https://www.cfr.org/blog/bureaucratic-fix-military-recruitment-crisisI don't have any panacea to offer for this. I hope it's all just a huge coincidence and we'll end up doing better than the Soviets for reasons that are not completely apparent to me. In a way, I just think it's kinda funny that we thought we "won" the Cold War but in so many ways we're increasingly in the same conditions they suffered through.
I regard Communism as a pretentious tragedy at an unbelievable scale... I would never want to live behind one of those Barbed Wire Walls myself ... I just wonder how much having those kinds of forces around kept our own kleptocrats disciplined in a good way that kept some of their more destructive instincts in check.
"You always end up becoming the thing you hated." I wonder if that doesn't apply on a national scale.
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Comment on The poverty of anti-wokeness in ~life
bkimmel LinkThere is a realization that dawned on me a couple years ago, and through everything that happens I just can't shake it: In the U.S. we are living through almost the exact same pattern that...There is a realization that dawned on me a couple years ago, and through everything that happens I just can't shake it:
In the U.S. we are living through almost the exact same pattern that occurred at the end of the Soviet Union. In almost every way, there is some parallel to large/notable developments at the end of the Soviet Union that we see happening now in the U.S. :
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Lose a huge war in Afghanistan
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Things just "stop working" at scale. Systems that were reliable for generations start to fail in obvious ways.
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People start to believe cheating isn't bad - because "everyone else is doing it, too". If someone is wealthy, it's almost guaranteed they did something immoral/illegal to get that wealth.
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People start to believe the country isn't worth fighting for anymore.
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Things get "hard to build" (Why does that little bridge take 3 years to build and 2 billion dollars?)
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As a result / or part of the "loop" of all the things above: The value of "Sovietness" plummets. It becomes a joke and everyone starts to focus on their own ethnic group as the thing they really "belong" to: Georgian, Uzbek, Russian, Dagestani, etc.
When I read this article, number 6 is what stands out to me as the strongest parallel with what's happening in the U.S. right now with respect to "identity politics".
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Comment on What's your favorite Wikipedia page and why? in ~talk
bkimmel LinkNot a lot of people know about this, but Wikipedia has a "nearby search" feature that you can plug any latitude/ longitude coordinates in and get a list of articles that are "nearby" any area....- Exemplary
Not a lot of people know about this, but Wikipedia has a "nearby search" feature that you can plug any latitude/ longitude coordinates in and get a list of articles that are "nearby" any area. This is amazing for road trips or even to see obscure things nearby you might not now about:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Nearby -
Comment on Are there areas where the antivax crowd have a point? in ~health
bkimmel LinkI am fully vaccinated, and generally opposed to them. But being generous and introspective: "Pharmaceutical companies have captured too much government/regulatory power. You should be naturally...I am fully vaccinated, and generally opposed to them. But being generous and introspective:
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"Pharmaceutical companies have captured too much government/regulatory power. You should be naturally suspicious of anywhere you see them working closely together." I actually kinda agree with this. I'm glad there's at least a few antivaxers to keep things honest on this front.
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"Big Pharma might have perverse incentives to give you vaccines that cause other conditions they can sell you the cure for." Same as above. I'm glad someone is at least asking the question.
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"You should be suspicious of governments telling you how and where you can interact with people. They will keep one set of rules for you and another set for themselves". My first reaction to this would be "you dipshits shoulda just put masks on" but look at things like the Boris Johnson scandal and (I lover but) the Pelosi haircut. Hard to say they're 100 percent wrong on that.
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Comment on SteamWorld Build is out in ~games
bkimmel LinkI've been a huge fan of SteamWorld / I&F since Dig 1. Quest was ... Ok, but not quite to the standard that Heist and Dig were. I'm concerned after reading some of the reviews that it might be the...I've been a huge fan of SteamWorld / I&F since Dig 1. Quest was ... Ok, but not quite to the standard that Heist and Dig were. I'm concerned after reading some of the reviews that it might be the case for this entry, too... Which is disappointing, given that builders are one of my favorite genres and how much I love the franchise.
I'm probably going to get it to see for myself, but I'm not going in with the same expectations I usually have for a SteamWorld game.
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Comment on Food that was eaten at the first Thanksgiving - American groundnut in ~food
bkimmel Link ParentYeah, it makes perfect sense that those decisions were made the way they were hundreds of years ago, and all the agricultural systems and selective breeding were done in reasonable ways, etc. etc....Yeah, it makes perfect sense that those decisions were made the way they were hundreds of years ago, and all the agricultural systems and selective breeding were done in reasonable ways, etc. etc. I'm not stepping into the mental trap of "everything decision made in the past was misbegotten"... I just wonder if you strip away all the trappings (except knowledge and science) since that time if we would end up at like the same 20 or so crops that comprise 80 percent of our diet or if we would land on different ones (e.g. "let's grow groundnuts instead of potatoes").
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Comment on Food that was eaten at the first Thanksgiving - American groundnut in ~food
bkimmel LinkThe apios is a plant I've been fascinated by for years! Have tried to spot it hiking in different places, but no luck. I find it (apparently) 5000 percent more fascinating than the average person...The apios is a plant I've been fascinated by for years! Have tried to spot it hiking in different places, but no luck. I find it (apparently) 5000 percent more fascinating than the average person why just "certain" plants are cultivated and sold widely in stores. Like all those decisions about what would grow and taste best were made 100s of years ago...
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Comment on My friend was hit by a car in ~transport
bkimmel LinkRelevant: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/StroadRelevant: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad
And so we return again to the holy void. Some say this is simply our destiny, but I would have you remember always that the void EXISTS, just as surely as you or I. Is nothingness any less a miracle than substance?