Ben McIlwain

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301 Following
99 Posts
Inside every car is a person crying out to be set free. @CydeWeys on Twitter
I think I may have gone to a brand new transit station on its grand opening day! (Also took a double decker subway train to it.)

It's hilarious how frequently the Google Maps reviews of pubs in Dublin will say something like "best pint of Guinness in town" as if they all aren't serving the same thing from the same factory. And they all go through Guinness like gangbusters so it's not a freshness issue like you might find in the US.

Maybe it's an in joke.

@kingu

Imagine being so bigoted that you negatively polarize yourself against rainbows. You know, rainbows, one of the most beautiful wonders of the natural world.

I think it's both simultaneously true that:

Making a truce with Hamas will result in more pain for everyone in the long run as the cycle of violence continues than if they are defeated once an for all and *actual* peace predicated on Israel existing is negotiated.

The amount of violence required to finish off Hamas is so politically unpopular worldwide that it threatens Biden and risks ushering in Trump next term, which on the whole would be even worse for us than Hamas continuing on.

You know what's much more dangerous than training with a recoilless rocket? NOT knowing how to use a recoilless rocket in a war situation in which you need one. It's unfortunate that these powerful weapons are potentially injurious, but they really are needed for dealing with enemy armored vehicles and fortified positions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/26/us/military-brain-injury-rocket-launcher.html

U.S. Troops Still Train on Weapons With Known Risk of Brain Injury

Pentagon researchers say weapons like shoulder-fired rockets expose troops who fire them to blast waves far above safety limits, but they remain in wide use.

The New York Times

I've been craving a Diablo-style action RPG (#ARPG) for awhile now, and fortuitously Diablo IV was just released, but apparently it sucks?? What's the best game in this genre to play at the moment, and I don't care if it's not super recent?

On a similar note, I used to love Battlefield, but they got microtransactioned to death. Fortunately BattleBit came out this summer and it's great, with no monetization past initial purchase and excellent gameplay. What's the Diablo equivalent alternative?

It was pretty crazy seeing my classmate in elementary school (Issa Rae) in a billion dollar blockbuster at the theater last night :O
I think the law should be that if something is worth applying historical preservation status to, then the state needs to use eminent domain to buy it out from the owner at market value. But applying historical preservation status severely restricting what the owner can do, even to the point of making ownership unprofitable, doesn't make sense and doesn't actually preserve the building long term. Maintenance is expensive and that won't happen on a money-losing property.
There's this whole scandal in the UK right now about the Crooked House Pub that was burnt down, likely intentionally by the property owners, and the whole thing to me seems like a result of bad historical preservation laws? The pub was unprofitable, not near anything, and expensive to maintain. You can't force a private actor to indefinitely maintain something in a money-losing status. Doesn't make sense, doesn't work long term.

@elzzon It's a good parallel. I've specifically chosen the lower variance of a FANG job compensation over the lottery ticket that is working for a startup, and I would make exactly the same decision in favor of reliable compensation if I were a writer/actor instead. People overly focus on the success stories (like the crew on Seinfeld still making a living off residuals), ignoring that >99% of positions don't work out that well.

I'd rather make guaranteed money up front then invest it.