I agree that it’s only really the low-information undecided voters who will be swayed by a bad debate performance. Happily, we still have 5 months until the election, and I doubt that many people will be thinking about this by the time they get to the ballot box.

I used to live in GA, and there was a one-way street that google maps was constantly telling me to turn the wrong direction onto. It really bugs me that I switched to Waze because it was better than google maps, then google just bought them. Long past time to bring antitrust suits against big tech. At least we have an FTC chair at the moment who’s trying to make some progress.

Hah, like the Chinese version of Fight Club, where they throw some text up on screen at the end to explain that the authorities handled everything.

Would you care to expand on this? My impression is that he did what he did out of ethical concerns, and has paid a high price for it.

I picked up “Yakuza 0” on sale not too long ago, and I’m enjoying it so much that I picked up the rest of the remastered series while it was on sale. Based on how long I’m spending mucking around in the first one, It may take me the rest of my life to get through them all. I don’t know how “Like a Dragon” compares to the earlier games, but I really enjoy the narrative, combat, sub-stories, and mini-games in “0”.

As an aside, I really enjoy a well-done pool mini-game. I probably spent more time playing pool in the various space stations in “Rebel Galaxy Outlaw” than doing anything else. Likewise, Kiryu spends a lot of time in the pool hall, as well as hanging around the batting cages, and fine-tuning his pocket racers.

Bilbo (Bilbo!) Bilbo Tabbins,

He loves to click and scroll!

Bilbo (Bilbo!) Bilbo Tabbins,

Greatest little hobbit of them all!

Sorry to take so long to respond! It’s a novel set in a plausible near-future in which existing power structures have been fragmented by the effects of climate change. It follows a handful of disparate characters in the western US, and talks a lot about the water politics of the Colorado river. It’s very well-written (claims random internet guy, but hey—you asked!). Can also recommend The Windup Girl by the same author. Same eco-dystopian timeline, set in Thailand. Delves more into issues surrounding AI and genetic engineering.

That sounds interesting. It looks like you’re right, though; I couldn’t find an English translation, at any rate. Luckily, the search reminded me how much I loved The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi, and now I’m planning to hit the bookstore when it opens.

Yeah, I was a big fan of lotr and the hobbit growing up (the books). I thought the lotr films were excellent, overall. Of course, they couldn’t include everything, and there were some minor deviations, but pretty damned good.

The Hobbit movies were hot garbage, imo. They diverge wildly from the book, and are very often indistinguishable from video game cut scenes.

It could have been an acceptably decent movie if it wasn’t trying to be part of the GitS franchise.

Yeah, I think this is a pretty common phenomenon. In the same vein, Discovery could have been a fun sci-fi show if it wasn’t trying to be part of Star Trek.

As a GitS fan I hated it, but I wonder if it could have been more fun to watch if I was unfamiliar with the series.

Yeah, this as well. I’m sure I would have enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy more if I’d never read the book. Still, there are such huge chunks of those movies that just feel like video game cut scenes—probably not the best example.