Beg to differ on the Pokemon example, but then again I am a completionist so that type of challenge gives me lots of self satisfaction (plus now I have achievements through RetroAchevements so a little bragging rights). Frankly, things like that should have internal motivation, so literally no reward is fine by me. I’m literally doing a professor oak challenge right now, which is significantly worse, lol.

Where I draw the line is mostly challenges that I just don’t see myself being able to accomplish in a given lifetime. Like the Balatro golden chip on every joker is way too RNG and time consuming for me. I also generally prefer not to have to do a speed run, but that’s mostly because I have kids now and setting something down without worrying about time is ideal.

Early into college I convinced a few people there isn’t free will because it contradicts everything we know about psychology. That said, I also explained it didn’t matter since there’s so much going on that it’s difficult to predict a person’s behavior with absolute certainty, even with a multitude of information about them.

To simplify, a coin flip is considered random even if all the forces are physical and deterministic. The angle and strength of the flip, the air resistance, gentle breezes, the precise gravity where it takes place given the pull from the earth and hell, even the moon… you can factor in so much and be right maybe 99.9% of the time with proper controls and yet there’s always something.

Human brains have magnitudes more going on, so even if some factors are strong predictors, there’s always an illusion of free will since there are so many other factors we haven’t even imagined.

I was a little surprised that AI was actually not too off, or at least when it was, it was because it misunderstood the distro I used. I don’t think it’s a good idea to go beyond basics though, like installing random stuff from the AUR to fix something can go horribly wrong.

XlsXL is a large spreadsheet but XlsXXX for a sexy spreadsheet.

NPR yesterday mentioned quite clearly in an interview with John Bolton that economic sanctions are the biggest factor in Iran, and very much on purpose. It is a US strategy, even pre-Trump.

He acknowledged the cultural upheaval that’s been going on years ago, too, and also that negotiations with their regime is a “waste of oxygen.” But sanctions were definitely central.

Though I suppose NPR isn’t really sensationalized… you wouldn’t interview John Bolton if you wanted sensational news.

Yeah… That’s a violation of FERPA and is reportable offense that’ll get ya fired or sued. Lol

I may have played a bit too much with my KDE themes and their cursors when I installed Linux recently. Granted, 2000s me used to do that all the time back when Windows had a ton of theme stuff…

Point is, changing cursors and icons is fucking lit.

Let’s say hypothetically, a person like myself went full dictator in the US and seized hundreds of oil tankers across the world these in the name of fighting global warming. What would happen?

There’s lower hanging fruit like kidnapping billionaires and whatnot, but it’s a fun thought experiment if the left actually had someone the way the right pretends they do.

Well, no, they also condemn good guys. They’re just right in this case, lol

Almost all of my clandestine spy tactics started with… 🌽.

Volume mute. Family members schedule memorized. Escape route established. Contingency windows tab ready after alt F4. Several alibis established. Elaborate excuses on the ready. Disguises and new identity ready in case my position is compromised.

I guess we just need more global pandemics. It’s a great boom to the video game industry, literally everyone was playing games when AC:NH released.

Can confirm, family and I are sick.

It’s not hitting me particularly bad, but the kids are sick too and that’s a sleepless nightmare. Though, I’m probably worse than I realize since a sense of responsibility is kinda having me power through.

Would take me a while to dig up, it was from a few years ago. If you want, try searching something like “interview and job performance” into a research search database (Google scholar is usually an easy one to use). Trying it myself, first hit is a meta analysis with a good amount of citations. (But I’m not going to read anything right now, my kids are waking up lol).

That said, it’ll favor papers with statistically significant findings, so non findings get lost to the file cabinet problem.

Edit: I lied, curiosity got the better of me so while my kids were eating breakfast I glanced at the results of the meta analysis which gives a few corrections. Tldr, impression management, physical attraction, having non verbal things interview look at, etc, are ok predictors of interview ratings but weak with job performance. Doesn’t seem concerned with actual skills, but I think that’s better covered by what they’re referencing in their literature review.

I agree. Can’t quite put my finger on it… maybe the window behind the monitor? I try not to assume simply because of the style, but the lack of author credit makes it hard to check anyway.The weird thing is it wouldn’t at all be hard to draw by hand.

Edit: I like all the different answers. It feels like a new, unfortunate version of the “find the differences” game.

I can confirm this Christmas season that extended family members do in fact click on recommendations and so on, reaffirming that awful approach.

The amount of random crap we got… sigh. The thought counts, I guess.

There’s actually research on how little correlation there is between interview performance and job performance in most cases. This includes cases with “objective” tests during the process, if I remember right.

Oh, it sounds like the dog survived too! I’m kind of surprised; usually stories like this are like “he shot the dog and kidnapped the girl” but instead they were both found.

In my case, it’s because people don’t like all my pictures of the wall behind my computer screen.

There’s isn’t anything particularly wrong about preordering something you’re most certainly going to get day-one, although those are few and far between these days. After all, even fan favorites often come with bugs and glitches day one and you can still encourage producers (and raise kpis) by wishlisting a game instead so they know demand exists. Same for downloading a pre-release demo - they track that.

Early access is usually indie with a few exceptions, so supporting them is good too except when you’re a big fan and would rather see the finished work without spoilers. None the less, support can still exist in other forms.

I personally do neither, but this is more because of financial reasons and my already stupidly huge backlog. The only game I might have preordered this year would have been Silksong and only didn’t because they didn’t permit it. I knew it wouldn’t be released with… ahem, bugs… and that I would certainly play and enjoy it.

Every other 2025 gem was a surprise after release, though.

I love the idea of someone trying this stupid question irl only to realize it wasn’t even plugged in. That’s … well fuck, that’s most IT work. The convoluted approach is definitely the wrong one. Lol