Mantergeistmann
No bio...
User ID: 323
Mantergeistmann
4hr ago
I have employer's insurance, and it's the best deal available for me, it'd be stupid not to use it. But if I couldn't use it I would have quite shitty options indeed before me.
It's one of the big reasons why I'm not seriously looking into consulting, even if I reach a point where I'd be mostly able to retire early.
Mantergeistmann
7hr ago
Reading that original quote, I'm in agreement with you on both your thoughts, and think that it reinforces my own. If she had instead said "I wish there was some sort of developer mode or cheat code accessible to the public, like (insert well-loved code here like killsw01 in BG or 'power overwhelming' in sc or even just the Konami code)", it'd have gone over better. And also focused on just being bad/not having time, rather than admitting she just wants to write non-games. Is there any other genre/media where that would happen? "The hardest part of being a Disney writer is that I'm not a fan of writing for kids, and wish musical numbers could be skipped." It's just asking for skepticism and blame for anything people don't like going forward.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
I think a lot of talking heads just don’t want to open the Pandora’s Box of acknowledging that sometimes elections do get stolen. They’re scared of what that could imply.
I have a hunch that if Bolsonaro had won, they'd have no issues calling it stolen.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
I'd agree with it being a communication issue, and I think part of it boils down to people who see gameplay skill as.... well, a skill, and an important part of a game. Having a "just as valid no combat" mode takes away from that in a way that a cheat code doesn't.
Let's look at ME3 itself for a moment. To get the best(?) ending, you need to have a high enough War Readiness score. You need to work for that, by making the right decisions (even with guides existing, that could still be considered "putting in effort"). And mods or cheat codes to increase War Readiness to max would, I feel, be accepted by the fans in a way that having Hackett say right before the final quest, "Shepard, your War Readiness is a bit low, but we have reserves that can bring them to max and give your story the conclusion it deserves".
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
Can you think of a male Cinderella story where the male protagonist kind of just has awesomeness and acclaim dropped into his lap?
Barsoom? John Carter just goes to Mars and is instantly crazy strong? Starts off awesome, and mostly just has to learn the new culture (and, I guess, be taught a gearing trick on the fliers)? Although he had the backstory to back it up as a soldier...
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
If he is, I'd ask a followup: What's the first major myth/story where the male lead isn't a Gary Stu?
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
The thought is that the ego of these people cannot accept that other people who win elections have the right to implement their agenda. They can’t accept Cthulhu swimming straight instead of hard left. And seeing that they aren’t getting their way causes distress, especially for those who have made politics their religion.
I've said before that I think the internet and culture are dealing with a lot of people who really only became aware of politics near the end of GWB (who they thought was clearly evil) followed by 8 glorious years of Obama and Hope and Change, and thought that would be the future forever (but that next election it would instead be a woman's turn, but still on the Left).
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
But what about the Irish and people from the mountains of Vermont?
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
"Move the slider until you can barely see the icon" haha yeah no, I'm moving it until I can comfortably see the icon.
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
a better solution that’s not active management for people here is to just do the spy, vti, and Tlt game at lower fees and customize your own ratios.
That's what I've wound up doing, even though I've been fortunate enough at my past two companies that the ERs for the TDFs were pretty dang low. Not quite as good where I am now, but at my previous company I think the TDF ERs were 0.035% (but at that company the S&P 500 index was 0.006% and their bond index was 0.01%, so... although at that level it's pretty close to just splitting hairs)
Mantergeistmann
1d ago
Cheers, mate! Sometimes those hunches pay off!
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
I think the problem is that writing that letter is basically guaranteed to backfire -- if competent, the GOP could probably force a Dem opponent to denounce it (and the Iranian regime's human rights record), weakening their anti-war stance/creds. I'd imagine, at least.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
I don't know how often women actually note "perky tits" on themselves or other women, but the meme on the Internet is "breasting boobily," which is basically about male authors who spend too much time emphasizing a woman's appearance (and especially her breasts) in every scene, having her examine herself in a mirror (so the author can describe her perky tits), etc. This sometimes happens, and sometimes you do get the impression the author is infatuated with his own character, but now it's like a lot of writing memes, where it's a pattern you sometimes see but the mere existence of it in a scene is not, contrary to lots of bad writing advice, "bad writing."
(I mean, if you start the book with your character waking up from a dream, or the first thing the female character does is check herself out in the mirror, I probably am going to roll my eyes hard.)
The reasonable commentary I've seen is that the point of a mirror scene is so the POV character can describe to the audience what they look like (although, as I've read, a real person looking at themselves in the mirror usually notices what's changed, what they don't like, that their hair's a mess at the moment...). Presumably many authors think that when describing a female main character, cup size is a mandatory inclusion.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
"Even if it isn't true, it started a conversation" is... well, I'm not a fan, but I have a hunch that others out there have torn it apart far better than I could.
Mantergeistmann
2d ago
The only quality thing was the writing in the loyalty missions.
That's part of the tragedy: the loyalty and recruitment missions outnumber the main plot missions, and are far superior... but unlike the loyalty missions, you can never choose to skip the main plot on a playthrough.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
ME2's characters and sidequests were outstanding. The main storyline and Cerberus and the Illusive Man? Not so much.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
when they already had done multiplayer pretty well in ME3 (even if the integration with the single player was controversial)
Looking back, that multiplayer was a lot more fun than it had any right to be.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
when I first played ME2 so long ago I was actively disappointed that I couldn't romance the only party members you can't, in fact, romance?
I mean, who among us can claim they didn't want Mordin carnally?
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
Unpopular opinion, but Mass Effect 1 was bad actually. The best thing it had going for it was the worldbuilding.
That's like saying "the best part of a cheesecake is the cake, the graham cracker crust is bad". The worldbuilding is what made Mass Effect what it was, and informed all of the good writing. It's when the series moved away from world building and its results that the writing got worse, IMO.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
I remember people saying the writing was on the wall when they brought some community manager on staff (why is it always a community manager?) who thought it would be really fun if there were a button that let you skip all the gameplay and just experience the shipping story.
I think the perfect compromise for that sort of thing was cheat codes. I'll freely admit that I only made it through Starcraft, Warcraft 3, and BG:ToB via cheat codes. And I'm fine with that! I wanted to see how the games ended, not say that I "beat the game". Did I have the same experience as someone skilled enough to win, though? No.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
I'm a fan. I personally wish the furthest out had a lower bond allocation than what I've seen (8-10% seems to be the base; I'd appreciate the option of 5 or less), but they're a great default option, the asset mix means they'll never be the worst performer in a list of options which is great for psychological reasons, and for the vast majority of people with 401ks, "don't letter 'better' be the enemy of 'good enough'" really needs to be the philosophy.
If anything, though, recent papers on retirement allocations have me thinking their main problem is at the end of a career, not early (where the limited bond allocation doesn't have too much of an effect). From what I've read (mandatory disclaimer: God Almighty am I not an expert), it's looking like a "bond tent" may be the way to go: that is, after it reaches the conservative retirement allocation, instead of staying flat, the glide path reverses, and starts shifting back to more equities once the worst "sequence of return risk" years are past.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
By definition, they'll always underperform one way or another, won't they (like any asset mix will)? When stocks are on a tear, the bond allocation will hold them back. And if bonds recover (which they might, now that interest rates are higher) and stocks have a crash, they'll underperform a heavier bond allocation. The hope is that they'll have a smoother climb while still having good enough growth for most people.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
I haven't liked most of spotify's discoverability.
Is Pandora still around? I remember them being leaps and bounds ahead of Spotify in that regard, but times may have changed.
Mantergeistmann
3d ago
That's my point: she could donate to an organization that does more harm to Israel than Palestine Action does, without running afoul of any anti-terrorism laws. I guess she wouldn't get as much activist/signaling cred for it, though.
So Rowling is hated by the Left, but herself hates Trump & the Right. I will laugh if she declares that she's not approving of "Trans Malfoy" and then everyone burns themselves down trying to figure out which side they need to be on.
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