gainda

I'm partway through Dead Man's Walk and it's held up well so far. Streets of Laredo was tough at first but by the end I found it enjoyable overall. Still, I'm not sure how much of it was McMurtry being willfully antagonistic to readers with the decisions he made for the plot based on how well received Lonesome Dove was.

Did you come across the 99% invisible book club for The Power Broker? I tried keeping up but fell a bit behind by the end of the year and finished the following January. it's a great complement to the book. Caro is an incredible writer - I'm on the first LBJ book now. It was never a book I thought I could finish just from the intimidating size and seemingly dry nature but Caro's storytelling moves it along so well.

what are your thoughts on the Book of the New Sun? I read Shadow and while I really enjoyed the vibe, I was often confused

i read it last year. its a bit slow in the beginning but by the halfway point i was reading it voraciously. I think I finished the final third in one sitting. Followed it up with the sequel and now on the first in the series.

if i reflect on my own speech i'm definitely guilty of this. it's a good reminder to be more conscious about what we say.

in a similar but more minor way i try to be mindful of how much i say 'just' since i have a feeling that it weakens a sentence or an ask - 'just wanted to ask' vs 'wanted to ask', but that might just be personal taste.

i also like to gently rib my coworkers when they say 'to be honest.' you would lie to me but be frank now about committing to honesty? i know its not their intention but its funny how we use it.

Long time gamer here too and this also really got me. I'm not sure exactly what it was; perhaps a turn to a darker tone where I wasn't expecting it. For all the interpersonal disagreements the game is generally 'whimsical.' It was the desperation of the elephant that really got me ... the bargaining, the confusion.

I find that as I get older I respond more to media like this. I'm not sure if it's emotional intelligence, being more present, or something else.

From what I recall there is a relationship in the game of how much blood you take from an outer being like her & how crazy (drunk?) the user then becomes, before becoming a crazed beast.

There is one key item in the game called “Eyes of a blood-drunk hunter”

i use bandcamp whenever possible

I will give this another chance but the last time I used this on my 14 Pro Max it would get hot to the edge of discomfort

not an expert, but i vaguely recall that certain colors can make plastics weaker - maybe it was the case here for a while until technology improved

I have an Apple Watch that I get into from time to time but generally it collects dust despite how many cool functions it has. Mostly because of the battery life & lack of customization. Most of the things it tracks or does I can see or do on my phone so it feels redundant & what can't don't need to monitored continuously in my life.

I daily a black LF20W-1A and I also use the A168W-1 and AE1200WHD. The faces and design are way more interesting to me and they are more affordable.

I wish I never got the Apple Watch ...

impressive engineering that's hard to see as a net good for humanity.

it doesn't spark optimism or joy about the future of engaging with the internet & content which was already at a low point.

old is gold, even more so

Allegedly, Charlie Kirk's killer, Tyler Robinson, may have been a groyper.

Were you invoking Deus Ex when you said consolidation ? Because that's what I immediately thought of.

the definitely reprint cards; or release cards with slight differences in rules text but you'd be surprised how much creativity has come out of rules/play design since that time.

This might help: https://learn.omacom.io/2/the-omarchy-manual/78/keyboard-mou...

going public feels synonymous with a decline in user experience & i can't see this being any different

One of my biggest takeaways from the first time I saw her work was that Beleriand was actually situated to the west of Middle Earth prior to sinking. I had seen far too many erroneous maps placing it north of Middle Earth (https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uplo...)

He didn't even use that phrase in the typical context which makes it look like a flimsy cover to muddy what this really is. You say that to express sympathy or sorrow. Maybe he was pre-apologizing for the sheer madness we are in now.

>He didn't endorse a "far right" Nazi party

Thiht said:

>German far right party (not a literal nazi party in itself but endorsed by neo-nazis)

Don't twist words. Not to mention their political alignment isn't up for debate or judge-y quotations.

If someone who increasingly looks like a nazi sympathizer does a nazi salute and says 'my heart goes out to you,' it's still a nazi salute.

not to mention the out and out white supremacists thought that's what it was.

i would probably view this more charitably in his favor if he just apologized or clarified like a mature person. instead he doubles down on 'corrupt' media, calls to defund wikipedia, and makes juvenile nazi jokes.

it ends up reading to me as an afterthought or half-hearted attempt to explain away the salute. a salute which was given with a grimace and a violent force, twice; it doesn't match the warmth of a message of 'my heart goes out to you.'

when you say 'my heart goes out to you' your hands typically stay on your heart ( which he seemed to know to do then ) or move very slightly directly out, not diagonally and up.

You're already misremembering what actually happened - that he says that after two vigorous salutes.

I wouldn't be so quick to say a 'majority of the American people.' The 'majority' that voted for him is only about 31% of the voting-eligible population.

> over anyone's political preferences

I think this phrasing mellows the reality that he has, regardless of intent, displayed Nazi-like behavior. Why not tear at a company whose absentee CEO acts this way? Tesla is not the only great car or the only great car company. Let it thrive or die based on myriad factors, including leadership optics.

> frankly there’s no one (that I know of) on the left who’s giving any kind of antidote or guidance on the problems.

I'm not deeply knowledgeable about the following community but are spaces like HealthyGamerGG doing the right thing?

when i hear stories like that i think it's a ripple of effect of paying out for others but then i also recall seeing how much the industry started paying out to political interests after citizens united, too

second this: i was trying to follow along with the 99 percent invisible book club but i fell behind due to life events. i picked it back up during the holidays with about 25% left to go.

Caro does an amazing job writing in an engaging, compelling way about topics that would otherwise feel dry coming from a different writer.

i look forward to getting into his LBJ books in the future.

I got this a while back & I think its worth it if you're interested in the subject. The book itself is large!