rationalistdiaspora | Member Posts

There's a mechanic in one of the bossfights where if you drag part of the game screen off the edge of your monitor, enemies in that area will temporarily stop giving bonuses to other enemies. So you have the cursor that's stuck in the game window, and you have the cursor that only appears outside the game window, and good luck trying to get the two of them to cooperate with each other long enough for you to drag the game window around.

It's clever, it's stupid, and it's obnoxious to interact with. The signature traits of postmodernism.

mindstalk

Album. Long day. Uphill outh of me to Yamate, train up to Kannai, walking south through a park and then Chinatown. ( Read more... )

I walked up and down through much of Chinatown, had a meat bun, various siu mai, a fried chicken cutlet or "dekatsu". None of the food blew me away, honestly. Oh right, sat down at a place with outdoor seating, ordered various dumplings; the soup dumplings were good.

feotakahari

Watched a video on how great the character designs in Warframe are, and another on how shitty the designs in Nikke: Goddess of Victory are. Maybe this is weird of me, but I feel like the "sexy" robot designs in Nikke would be sexier if they leaned into just a little of the Warframe-style body horror. Painted-on pants? Nope, those are her actual metal legs. Crop top? Yes, but no belly button, because she was built, not born. Jiggle? The way it's animated looks shitty anyway, so make their metal bodies not jiggle at all. Make me feel like these are actual robots.

feotakahari

”Hold the fuck up. I’m the fuckup. Please hold me” has interesting implications for “come the fuck on.”

mindstalk

(Disclaimer: title is an exaggeration)

It's commonly said, particularly on Bluesky right now, that US supermarket rotisserie whole chicken is as cheap or cheaper than buying a whole raw chicken, with many people wondering how that's possible. A common reason suggested is "loss leader". More cynically, one might suspect of chickens about to expire, thus providing basically free input. (There's an independent grocer-deli in Montreal that I suspect did exactly this: their cooked drumsticks that I bought had a suspicious whiff to them.)

But why do people believe cooked chicken is cheaper than raw? Apparently because they compare the cost of cooked and raw chickens... as if all chickens were the same size. Or as if stores drew randomly from the chicken supply to cook. But really, given that raw chicken is sold by weight, and cooked chickens are sold by chicken, why wouldn't a store pull the smallest chickens to cook and sell at a markup?

( Read more... )

As for the "Big Lie" in the title, that's not the stores lying, per se. They offer you a chicken, and they sell you a chicken. But the belief circulating that it's comparable to a chicken you'd buy to cook on your own? That's generally a falsehood, if not a lie.

mindstalk

In my current procrastination regarding actually leaving Japan, I found an attractive place nearby: the upper level of a house, 100 square meters! Japanese and Western style rooms, choices of futon and beds! Figured I had to try it. Was only available for a week. A bit pricey, but pretty cheap for the space -- not that I need all that space, but after an accumulated month in a 20 m2 place, I looked forward to stretching out.

You pay in another way, though: where my first places had been a 15 minute walk from the main station, then a 5-8 minute walk, this was a 7 minute walk to a minor station, two stops away from Fujisawa, on a line with 14 minute headways. (The Enoden line is mostly single tracked, so probably not much choice there.)

( Read more... )

mindstalk

Guess I'm doing these out of order... Album

Took the train to Katase-Enoshima, to test my post-Odawara hypothesis of "see snow on Fuji if you get out early enough." Success!

(Yeah, so this happened before my Fuji-Ofuna entry, oops.)

After that I decided to walk to Enoshima island for the second time and see if I'd missed stuff. (Yes.) ( Read more... )

mindstalk

Album

At last, a really good view of Mount Fuji:

It really does help to get up earlier in the day. View taken from the rooftop terrace of Shounan-Enoshima Monorail station.

Later photo, taken from the monorail station, which I like for the mountain-over-plain feeling:

( Read more... )

mindstalk

Quick entries: ( Read more... )

feotakahari

Inspired by Mishka the Great and Powerful, but also influenced by Arknights: I dislike super-advanced pacifist characters who refuse to intervene because they don’t want to be tyrants. To me, making a decision to ensure you don’t feel guilty is just as selfish as making a decision to ensure you profit, and when hundreds or thousands of lives are involved, you don’t matter in comparison. (I never watched Doctor Who.)

selenite0

Freed from the Censor's rule, people can read old books. Now they have to decide what to do with them.

New story on Substack.

This story stands alone but is set after my novel War By Other Means, now on sale

feotakahari

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

feotakahari

The themes of this game are such Feo bait. Two-thirds of the endgame bosses are people who think that if they deny reality long enough and hard enough, reality will change and they won't have to deal with it anymore. To get the happiest ending for the hero, he has to discard every illusion that would make him feel better about his situation.

feotakahari

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

feotakahari

Lovely game but would it have killed them to have like one sweaty sex scene. just saying i mean it's fine if they don't want that but you know i'm just saying like okay whatever forget it

feotakahari

I am completely unequipped to understand Frank Bidart. I get the impression this poet’s a genius, but I can’t make the mental connections necessary to follow what he’s saying.

Below, a horrific poem about child sexual abuse and murder that clearly has something to say about it:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50170/herbert-white

mindstalk

Album

Finally got into the aquarium. 2800 yen. Sort of worth it. Lots of photos. Dolphin show; types of sand; giant tank; jellyfish room; spider crabs; deep sea recreation tanks (did not photo well); turtles; submersible exhibit. I'm skeptical the dolphins and seals have enough room.

Jellyfish:

Tank video:

mindstalk

Album

Went for a walk to the station, on a whim took the Odakyu line north toward Sagami-Oto, rather than south to Enoshima. I figured I'd see stuff from the tracks, maybe come back. Then we pulled into Yamato station, and the name was provocative (old name for Japan), and I thought I saw something interesting, so got off.

( Read more... )

mindstalk

album

( Read more... )

feotakahari

When people talk about an actual person’s suicide and say AI made them do it, that’s one of the few times I’m like “Are you capable of experiencing shame? Is shame not something you feel when using a real death as ammo for this argument?”

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Rationalist and Rattumb

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Rationalist and Rattumb

Member Posts

I'm playing Soulestination

Feb 14: Yokohama and Chinatown

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The big lie of rotisserie chicken

Feb 6: new Fujisawa home / Feb 10: ebike / Feb 12: Sushiro

Feb 4, Fuji and Enoshima

Feb 9, good Fuji photos and Ofuna

small Japan entries

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New Story: "Coffeehouse"

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Thoughts on The Cuniculus of Paradise

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Found in the reviews of a toxic yaoi game

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Jan 30: Enoshima Aquarium

Jan 26: Odakyu to Yamato

Jan 23, Enoshima monorail

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January 2019

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