megopie
@megopie@beehaw.org
- Comment on "People were just not ready for" Starfield, says game's composer as he talks "visionary" Todd Howard 3 hours ago:
It was, in many ways, all the worst parts of their previous games compiled in to one, with none of the redeeming elements. Like, it seems the internal decision makers have an extremely distorted view of why they have been successful in the past, and the actual production line seemed completely disorganized and dysfunctional. The design and goals were bad, and the execution was bad.
They should have learned from the criticism of oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, 4 and 76, but it seems like they discarded all criticism(genuine or otherwise) on the grounds that the games were successful. And only listened to praise (whether it was wide spread, or from a narrow audience).
Maybe because it wasn’t a success they’ll actually listen to criticism and take the time to sort through it, or maybe they’ll just assume the issue was the space theme and will continue down the procedural shooter looter slop path.
- Comment on Meta's AI display glasses reportedly share intimate videos with human moderators 1 week ago:
Display on my glasses? That would be neat. Camera and microphone on my glasses? Why the fuck would I want that.
It’s a devil’s bargain. Except that the benefit is pretty slim next to the obvious cost.
- Comment on No More Neutral ⚛ 2 weeks ago:
Everything would get slightly heavier. Then a lot of compounds would break and a lot of new compounds would form.
Also a lot of lightning.
- Comment on Godot Engine suffering from lots of "AI slop" code submissions 3 weeks ago:
“I’m being helpful by supporting their development!”
doesn’t write a single line of code, just submits claude code without reviewing it or even testing
- Comment on The world’s oldest known vertebrates had two pairs of eyes 3 weeks ago:
It seems likely that its external sensing function faded before the development of “hot blood” (endothermy) as it’s vestigial even in very basal reptiles like the tuatara, so likely it was already disappearing as a sensory organ fairly early in quadruped evolution. Snakes, crocodiles and turtles (all exothermic) all lost it completely as an external feature, snakes are particularly notable as they’re in the same branch as tuataras and lizards, many of whole still have it as a vestigial external structure. It also appeared in some extinct branches of therapsids(many appear to have been endothermic) in some form, but is completely absent in mammals, the only surviving branch of therapsids.
It does function as a sensing organ in many amphibians, suggesting that it became vestigial for sensing some where in the early evolution of amniotes, but stuck around as an external structure across multiple branches but many have since convergently evolved to loose it as an external structure.
- Comment on My bike lock was full of ice. Hot water bottle cleared it up, WD-40 to keep it clear. 1 month ago:
When I first read the title i saw it as “pouring boiling hot water on it cleared it up” and imagined some part in it cracking due to thermal shock.
Not sure how big of an issue that would really be, depends on the metals in it I imagine. I know a lot of people destroy car windows trying to melt ice off them with boiling water.
A hot water bottle is a much better option, slower heating.
- Comment on Cherry Flavour! 3 months ago:
It’s a growth medium for culturing cells. It’s a mix of sugars, salts, and amino acids, often with other nutrients.
- Comment on Cherry Flavour! 3 months ago:
Forbidden sports drink.
- Comment on ‘Dorohedoro’ Season 2 Key Visual 5 months ago:
Ah! They said there would be a second season in 2025, but I guess spring 2026 is close enough! Very excited. Just finished the manga last week. Serendipitous timing.
- Comment on Kremlin bans fuel exports until the end of the year as Russia’s supply is disrupted by Ukrainian drones 5 months ago:
To be clear, this isn’t an end of oil exports, just refined fuels. The bottle neck in oil refining will probably result in more oil exports, which will still provide revenue. The key thing is that they’re getting pushed down the value chain, making less money on every barrel pumped. On top of that, they are being forced to sell the oil at a discount because the pool of countries willing to buy from them is restricted, and thus those countries can demand a lower price.
That foreign income is important because it is paying both for imports for the war effort, but also for imports of consumer goods. They have to scale back one or the other. One diminishes their capacity to fight, the other increases the internal unrest with the war.
If their refining capacity is reduced enough, they might actually have to start importing refined oil products, both for consumer/industrial needs, and for military needs. Decreasing their ability to import other goods.
Over all, it’s constricting their ability to mollify the relevant domestic populations AND maintain the war effort at the current level.
I think the provocative actions against NATO countries is them trying to create a situation that justifies them shifting more resources from the consumer goods side to the war effort side, ether by further mobilization of conscripts (less money on contract soldiers, thus less competition for imported goods) or by politically justifying drops in standard of living (less domestic consumption of imported consumer goods).