Steam doesn't kick me out of my single player games when my internet connection drops for a split second. I quite like that

"Don't say things about someone behind their back, if you wouldn't be prepared to say it to their face"

It's fairly simple... Gender-affirming care is ok if THEY do it.

I learned not to say things about people behind their back, that you'd not be prepared to say to their face, aged 14.

Cost me a black eye & split lip, also some pride. Valuable lesson though that stuck with me to this day over 2 decades later.

Knoble, sorry for calling you Knobless.

My dad is a pensioner now, and got put in a lovely bungalow by local housing association. It came with with a lovely garden, and he was really excited by the prospect of a cherry tree.

Well, the cherries are ready, and the birds ate the lot!

And if you ever get close to him? ...... he'll betray you, too.

This is like the video for 'Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy', only far more horrifying.

I'm so, so sorry to hear this.

I feel really lucky that I get some government support because I have autism / bipolar. It's not much, but the specific benefit I receive also allows me to do some work... and I'm also very lucky to be self employed in a field I enjoy (writing music). So I'm certainly not rich or even that comfortable, but it does allow me to morph my days and nights to suit my unnatural rhythms.

One thing I find about lack of sleep... it makes me really emotional, grumpy, increases likelihood of a depressive state. For me, it's SO important to almost literally inject happiness. If we have a condition that takes away our happiness, it's really crucial to create happiness in any way possible. Binge funny TV shows, go for a walk, watch some standup comedy, call a friend (not at 2am unless they're also a night owl haha), make some art (doesn't matter if you're good at it), try learning a new skill, play a game, join a volunteering group. Those are my go-to activities, probably different for you.

Also, and I know it'll sound trite, but I got into a couple of things during lockdown that made a big difference to my overall happiness; Buddhist and Stoic philosophy. I'm not a Buddhist, probably never will be. I definitely have a long way to go in applying Stoic principles. But they have really improved my life. Meditation is very hard at first but incredibly beneficial. If I could recommend a couple of books (one is an audiobook and for me was more transformative than Buddhist principles)... if you've never used Audible, you can sign up for a month trial and keep the audiobook you select, no charge if you cancel within 28 days.

1. Derren Brown - Happy (not sure if you're familiar with this guy, he's a legit mind wizard, almost terrifyingly intelligent and has a long career as a 'mentalist' aka psychological magic)
2. Thich Nhat Thanh - The Heart Of The Buddha's Teachings

Thanks, I do suspect I have delayed phase sleep disorder. It's good to know I'm not alone. Do you have any coping strategies?

My coping strategy is 'modafinil to keep me from not being a zombie when particularly sleep deprived', and 'zopiclone for if I have been up longer than I should and it's early enough to push me back into normal sleep pattern'. But of course I'm very wary about doing that more than twice in a row, so it's never enough to establish 'normality'.

Thank you so much for the detailed response, I really appreciate it. Over the years I've looked into this a lot but you've given me some really useful new information!

Health care in the UK, especially for lesser known genetic diseases, can be a bit of a lottery... I moved up the country 6 months ago, and within a month had been tested & diagnosed for a generic mutation called FMF (familial Mediterranean fever). My dad / sister both have it but despite nearly a decade of requests I was unable to get a doc to investigate it. So far up here the gp response has been a referral to a website for cognitive behavioural therapy.

I'll push on though and see if there's anything more they can investigate. Thanks again for the info :)

Sorry to piggyback onto your comment, and I know you can't give medical advice, but I wonder if you have any insight into a problem I have with sleep.

I'm early 40s now. One of my earliest memories, aged around 4, is not being able to fall asleep. I've tried EVERYTHING over the years. Sleeping pills are a guarantee if things are getting squirrelly, but give me severe rebound insomnia the next day. When I do fall asleep, it's like I can sleep for way longer than is normal (so either cause of sleep debt or poor sleep quality).

I've always joked that maybe I should be on a planet with a 28 hour day. But I also know that my lack of normal sleep is potentially storing up huge problems like increasing my risk of cancer, heart disease etc.

Melatonin kind of helps. But no matter what I do... My sleep pattern goes out of synch.

I've gone through school, 'normal' 9 to 5 jobs, relationships, all a big struggle as I have to perform at a normal level despite not having slept for 24+ hours fairly regularly.

I can do everything 'right' (no light in the evening, exercise, healthy diet, no excitement in the evening, no caffeine, mild sleep supplements) and still find myself unable to sleep. What the frick is wrong with me... Am I doomed to continue like this? I just want to sleep like a normal human being!

My initial response is prob as sarcastic as the others but a thought just occurred to me.

Skyrim, v1. The og release, before all the mods and bug fixes.

Undoubtedly still a better game than Star field. But was it the Skyrim we revere today? Will Starfield be transformed into something fun over the next decade?

What am I on about. Almost certainly not lol.

Not fucking up the f/c Fallout London mod would've also gotten me to play more (or at least, again). I played & enjoyed FO4 on PS, bought it again for Steam specifically for the new mod.

It'll sit unplayed until the mod is ready!

Yep, it's a ridiculous position.

I could easily handle an oz a month. Maybe not with my tolerance levels as they are right now :) but that would change very quickly.

When I used to get through a lot, I was finishing an 8th every couple of days, and that was with some semblance of restraint.

I remain incredibly envious of the decrim in USA of weed. I was lucky enough to visit Seattle in '19, I was like Charlie in the chocolate factory when I visited a dispensary!

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES.

YES.

Hahaha that proper made me laugh

How much weed is that?

Current price of an oz in the UK, if you know the right person: ~£160 Current exchange rate of $2500: £1,962 1962 / 160 = 12.26 oz per year

So about an oz a month. I'm happy to pick up the slack for lil' Timmy.

I tried buckie once! Drank a whole bottle, later that night had some sort of weird seizure while trying to go for a piss. Mashed my face against the skirting board, looked like I'd been in a fight the next day.

Buckfast. Just say no.

Have you checked out his podcast? He's such an interesting person.

It's called 'Metaphysical Milkshake'.

Ahhhh fascinating.

For years, I've been adamant that when I stir a cup of hot tea or coffee, the pitch of the scraping spoon almost imperceptibly shifts, and assumed it was because of the gradual slight cooling of the water. Nobody else could seem to hear what I heard.

Wasn't sure if it was my music producer ears or imagination.

Reading the article, this went exactly as I imagined it would. Equal parts hilarious and horrifying!

Never fails to amaze me that anyone who views themself as remotely pious could support trump. He's the epitome of antichrist, especially if you go by the bible definitions.

This is so adorable! And informative, I had no idea bats have such good vision.

With republicans, accusations are a confession. So when they say they think Mike Johnson is being blackmailed to do the bidding of the left... Well. That would certainly be an explanation for why they consistently line up to fuck their own country and their allies.

Makes sense, cheers for the info.

It's a hard question to answer I know! Racking my brains here, the most novel thing I can think of is Portal.

You make excellent points. Personally, I rarely have a problem paying for proper DLC (and buy proper DLC I mean, additional story content that wasn't obviously cynically cut from the OG game). Notable past examples for GTA, stuff like 'The Ballad of Gay Tony' were amazing expansions.

Also sticking with GTA, they're a good example of bad practice nowadays (imo). They pivoted to online-only DLC once they realised how lucrative a pay-to-play system can be when leveraged against not being bullied by players with more disposable income. There was amazing single-player content in dev for GTA5 and they cut it to focus on MP. Worse, they left the dregs of that content in the game, allowed a 'GTA5 mystery' concept to flourish and left people hunting for the mystery thinking they were going to find something like GTA4's bigfoot. Knowing all along it didn't exist. But of course, happy that people were still playing and hoping they would get bored and try online mode.

I've always thought... Why can't we put a perspex dome or something like thick clingfilm over a landfill site, and tap the methane?

Yep, it's a real quandary. I'm not sure what the solution is, or if there is one from our perspective... it's no point voting with my wallet when there's millions of others who won't.

This was what I meant. It's these smaller devs that seem to be innovating to any extent at the moment!

Maybe I'm just a bit jaded due to being an old fart nowadays... I remember playing the original Doom / Wolfenstein so especially FPS feel so overdone to me. When was the last time you saw a truly novel game concept? I'm sure I've seen a few over the last few years but can't remember (see, old fart).

This is the big problem with modern gaming. Too many companies are now in hock to investors and publishers. To those at the top of the hierarchy, making a game is an investment, a bet. Innovation is stifled in favour 9f 'safe bets', no wonder gaming is stagnating.

It's not all doom and gloom, there are still exceptions to the rule. But it's certainly not looking good for fantastic single player games.

I'm expecting gta 6 to have a much shorter single player campaign with most of the focus towards online (and more obscene earnings from shark cards 2.0).

Stupid sexy rib

'American Thinker'. Isn't every American not on life support an American thinker?

'The Score' was my jam as a young teen! An incredible album, even the interludes were something special.

"You want beef?"

Very creative! Looks awesome 😁

Really cool. Can you tells us more about how you made these?

Thanks for the info.