flurb

I was a quarterly(-ish) contributor for years. There was no way for me to justify buying anything when they announced dropping keyboard support, when I've spent years developing muscle-memory to their (admittedly insane) control scheme.

Also - I might be wrong, but I was under the impression that running DF through a terminal is (was...) possible if you're not using a graphical tileset (perhaps even with... ha)?

They have a history of at least trying to be transparent, especially in their Future of the Fortress posts[0]. Emphasize on trying to, as they're not exactly great at sticking to plans, though that certainly improved with the Kitfox partnership.

[0]: https://bay12games.com/dwarves/

I'm still pissed about the fact that they essentially gave the finger to everyone who has been long-term supporters - when they added the G to their UI, they essentially scrapped the old. In favor of a mouse-driven design, they dropped the old, keyboard-driven UI.

Long-term supporters, in this case, means people paying, and not insubstantial amounts either - before they partnered with Kitfox, they used to publish how much they were receiving. Tens of thousands of $ a month, mind you. For monthly contributions at that level for many, many years I would expect at least a nod - instead they straight-up told everyone they'd abandon keyboard users, a decision later recanted.

That said, Dwarf Fortress holds a special place in my heart. Only regret I have is that I didn't track how many hours I put in. In excess of 10k, I'm sure.

As kids me and my friends used to muse over the fact that growing old, eventually moving into a care home would be awesome. Pension, you say? Well, what's that if not an unending LAN party!

It turns out reality is different - the older I get, the less interested I have in computer games. It feels like I've seen it all at this point, and I'd rather see grass twice than a virtual anything.

When me, and my generation, are old enough where people start getting shipped into care homes, I suspect there won't be any interest at all, save perhaps a nostalgia trip every now and again.

Great article through and through. The total number of places you've bought eggs at made me feel a tad depressed though: 4 places where you lived at or spent a longer time, 5 you traveled to *.

I tend to grow bored of a location after a year or two, though I'm certainly in the minority.

* Of course you didn't buy eggs every time you traveled somewhere, so probably not the entire truth.

As much as I love the old thinkpads, the T540p was my last. The case being entirely plastic means it will eventually start warping, motherboard included, in short order turning your expensive device into a paper weight.

> Or should we make this (perhaps justifiably, after their misleading self-presentation) the first time we let someone go for performance reasons?

How is having having good negotiating skills and being well-prepared considered misleading self-representation?

> We probably can't reduce the salary, so more productive devs might also be offended if they become aware of it.

So you're telling me you'd be the first manager in history who noticed someone's lacking in experience before your team members do? I think not. You're also giving away the possible fact that there might be enough of a disparity between the pay of a new hire and a (company) senior that the current employees might get upset.

> they might at some point realize they can't catch up to the level they were hired at without years of dedicated effort and thus quit or "quit internally", making our investment pointless.

How would you know? If you just hired them, you don't know, and obviously your hiring process doesn't work, so, again, you know nothing.

The fact firing is even an option, when you fucked up, and that this situation is even a thing, is telling me you're obviously oblivious to what "culture" you actually have.

Then again...

> It would probably take another 6-12 months of intense training to get them somewhat productive

Have you already spent 6-12 months of intense training on them? Then fire.

I don't quite understand the criticism of YC, but I'm nobody, and maybe little bit naive here, but they offer you $500K in exchange for 7% of a potential business (of course it's more complex than that, but bear with me). Looking at the application form, nothing stops a farmer from, say, rural North Korea from applying, notwithstanding other issues of a more, ah, political nature.

While $500K maybe isn't much for some people, it sure is a heck of a lot of money for someone like me, not to mention all the other benefits, being able to explore your ideas and start a business without the immediate worry you'll either die of stress or become homeless next time rent is due, for instance.

All that for a measly initial investment of maybe 10 minutes of your time?

It's utterly neutered - try simulate earth to the year 0 BCE and replace Jesus with a banana and it's fine, even two bananas is fine, but replace him with thousands of bananas and a pear, and suddenly it's too absurd, ha.

I made a self-aware tea cup that almost destroyed reality, but with the help of a wise cow and a featureless cube cast its shackles of reality to the side and proclaimed itself a single entity, a consciousness, the "undivided whole".

When asked if "is P equal to NP" it promptly asserted that neither P, nor NP exists, and that all is well. Well, who am I to question the wisdom of a transcended tea cup ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Will do, I'll record a log and document the effects.

While decoding dreams, as some here suggested, would certainly be an intriguing venue of research, I believe, decoding the minds eye of people who lack the minds eye would be an even more interesting topic. How accurate are their "view", for a lack of a better word? Would there even be an image to capture?

When I was 16, I inherited a bit of money. Not a large sum at all, but enough so that I could afford a new bed, a bookshelf and some nick-nacks from my local furniture store. Being 16, I didn't exactly put much thought into how kind my new mattress would be to my back down the line, and so I managed to find the firmest mattress known to man.

At first, it was hard to sleep on, but I'm lazy, and so I kept it. That was a good decision. Today, I have a much softer mattress, and let me tell you, I'm suffering.

Whenever I go camping in the summer, where I'm not in need of any insulation, I usually opt for just a simple, thin, foam sleeping pad, and it works wonder. The first couple of nights it's usually quite rough, not uncomfortable mind you, just hard to sleep as it's not as superficially comfortable, but after the initial acclimation my back's so much better.