The party that's sending the military to left-wing cities and masked agents to kidnap brown people would like to remind you that political violence is wrong.

#politics #USpolitics #CharlieKirk #TurningPointUSA #TurningPoint

I'm an unpaid volunteer who runs five websites and six accounts helping people use Mastodon and the wider Fediverse. I pay all their bills every month.

If you want to help these sites & accounts keep going, you can buy me a coffee:

➡️ https://ko-fi.com/fedithing

(No registration, choose any amount, all currencies work.)

...or alternatively become a patron:

➡️ https://liberapay.com/FediThing

All support greatly appreciated! 🙂

❤️ @FediTips, @FediFollows, @FediVideo, @FediGarden, @PixelfedHelp & @homegrown

Was a bit worried my Schlumbergera wasn't going to produce flowers this yr. While watering it yesterday I noticed new (& some older👇, 🤷‍♂️) buds that I didn't notice previously. This will be 4 yrs in a row for flowers so it seems as if it's still happy & thriving 👍

#MacroHour #houseplants #plants

Nice work, Big Journalism: You have so completely normalized Trump world extremism and corruption that a majority of Americans in a survey say the transition -- to a government of, by, and for racists and rich people -- is going great.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/11/politics/cnn-poll-trump-transition

Brace yourselves. I’ve stumbled upon the holy grail of awful video games. Meet ZIP for the Commodore 64 – the absolute bottom of the gaming barrel.

I used to think the title of “Worst Game Ever” had tough contenders, but this one blows my low expectations out of the water and straight to hell.

At first, I thought, “Worst shooter ever? Or worst game ever?” After racking my brain for awhile, and considering all the terrible games I’ve played (trust me, it’s a hefty list), this one crawled its way to the top.

Worse than E.T. The Extraterrestrial for the Atari 2600? Absolutely – at least that’s technically playable with the manual. Worse than Desert Bus? Yes, I’d rather spend days driving a virtual bus through the desert than spend five minutes with ZIP. Worse than Bubsy 3D? You bet – at least Bubsy was trying.

No, ZIP goes above and beyond the call of failure, managing to get every single thing about game design wrong. Allow me to highlight a few of its impressive sins

• enemies that are invulnerable to fire
• enemies that hide into the background
• enemies that just appear on screen and instantly kill you

That last one? I’ve never encountered such contempt for a paying customer – ever. No warning, no build-up. Just poof – dead.

But oh man, if gaming was a religion, this game would be forged in the most unholy pits of malignant heresy. One of which is: if you’re making a vertical shooter, don’t force it on a horizontal rectangle that takes up only half your screen’s real estate. Should you commit this sin, don’t blasphemously use giant sprites.

And how about boss fights that repeat every level, showing off the same dumb pattern over and over, easier than the minions you face earlier?

If game design was a sacred art, ZIP would be the heretic whose very existence curses the medium. Think I’m done yet? Oh boy, I got more complaints.

The top of the screen jitters like it’s about to fall off. My own eye twitched in sympathy. Fast, random flashes of white light threaten to send photo-sensitive players straight to the ER.

There is no music, just a relentless pulsing hum that drills directly into your soul. And this is only interrupted by abrasive sound effects that are torment to the ears.

And the controls? Good luck. The ship moves slower than a slug overdosing on Valium. You can’t avoid enemy collisions – that’s a pipe dream. You will die. Instantly. Over and over again.

“How did you survive?” you ask. I used an invincibility cheat. I never cheat in games, but ZIP forced my hands. I needed invincibility to withstand just a few seconds of this train wreck.

Cool Soft developed this game. Let me tell you, there’s nothing cool about Cool Soft. They’re the most uncool folks you could hang around.

Look, just don’t play this game. You might think, “How bad could it be?” If I got this game as a Christmas present in 1987, I’d still be in therapy now. Avoid ZIP – it’s cursed.

In medieval times it was common to have “2” sleeps per night. You would fall asleep for 4 to 5 hours, wake up for 2 hours or so and fall back to sleep for another 3 to 4. It’s been suggested that we may have evolved this way to tend to the fire in order to keep us warm and safe.

#TheTudorIntruders #medieval #sleeping #health #History