mononoke

Genuinely pretty cool stuff, and I don't like to compliment Valve very often. I knew another Steam controller would look like this, it was a no-brainer with the Steam Deck. I really enjoyed the first one, as someone with very bad nerve issues with my hands it was (still is?) the most ergonomic non-split controller, so I hope they've kept that sensibility with this one since the Deck itself is kind of a nightmare on my hands for long-term use. I guess we'll see. I hope you can use the split VR controllers with non-VR games. Their promotional video made it sound like you could, but I've never used the Valve Index so maybe that's always been supported. I think it's really funny they've brought back 'Steam Machines', that thing they tried back in 2012 or whatever and it totally flopped, but it's not going to flop now because computer software sucks so much and Linux is eating everyone's lunch.

COVID has made a real doomer out of me. As usual, the people taking it seriously now will be the ones to pick up the mess caused by the hubris of those who think they're built different, your "comrades" included. Silence = death.

Do you know who it was in January who gave out respirators to the entire city of LA during those wildfires? It wasn't the "No Kings" or "No Tyrants" or whatever protesters. It wasn't the DSA or PSL organizers. It wasn't the city of LA. It was the city of LA's COVID mask bloc. Try again.

I've done and will do more than you ever have or will.

I'll go when they start mandating masks and enacting preventative measures against the careless spread of disease again. You're not going to do that, though, and no one else will advocate for those who suffered/are suffering under COVID and continuous threat of exposure to an airborne, highly transmissible, potentially asymptomatic neurodegenerative disease that causes cumulative, lasting damage with each infection and, most importantly, has no cure. So, no, I'll stay right where I am.

Thank you for such a thoughtful reply. I basically agree on every point, I am just very cynical on the prospect of people on the whole conquering the massive zeitgeist of anti-intellectualism right now, at least in the imperial core. I am not sure people are ready to go beyond a Sanders or a Mamdani which is nowhere near the level of urgency required for the severity of the polycrisis we are facing. I understand "baby steps" and all, but I think the tab for that is long overdue and we need to be sprinting to meet this moment. You can't meet people where they're at when the flood is already at your knees, you need to move; that seems impossible with such an inured population.

This is correct, and I would add Dwarf Fortress to this category too.

I've been told gaming "has never been better." Well, suit yourself, I've got a thousand-game PS2 library to go through.

About 15 years ago I was with a group of lolita cosplayers after meeting a trans DJ at a convention who walked me to where her next venue was, several blocks away in the middle of winter. Trudging lost in the snow in huge platforms and coping with ice cold gusts of wind in a short poofy dress is a lot more palatable when you've chugged through a big gulp of half and half vodka coke mixer and are holding hands, is what I learned.

And if it is a good org it will require reading groups.

This seems a little of a chicken and egg scenario to me. If an org requires reading, one who doesn't want to read is not going to bother, no matter if it's relevant or not.

the people around her will make references she doesn’t understand and you can share why things should be done a certain way, what historical precedent there is, etc and she won’t understand. Those will be reasons to read.

Those will be reasons to "stop going to this stupid nerd shit."

You are far more charitable than me, I suppose.

Is 'reading the manual to understand how something works' also too posh?

...Actually, they'd probably say yes to that too. Unfortunately I think the answer to this is "you don't." This probably won't be a popular response, but I have been doing this stuff for a long time, and the thing that seems to be lacking most to me is that people do not want to learn. They don't want to learn, and they especially do not want to be wrong. You see this all the time in other places, too—"I shouldn't have to read to use my computer," "I shouldn't need to know how a car works to drive," etcetera. Maybe so, but no one ever hurt for having curiosity, that nonsense idiom about the cat aside. There is a joy in learning, a joy of discovering history and information and knowledge, but it needs to be taught and encouraged early and often. It's not, and I don't think it ever has been in modern society really, and so this is what we get: anti-intellectualism as a proxy for class interest. I don't know how to fix it, and I have severe doubts that you even can without some serious cultural reassessment, which is not going to happen soon.

Hold on, my reception is a little fishy in this area...