Outer Wilds
Reviews of the game are fantastic ("this is the best game I've ever played" - everybody) but trying to fly that damn spaceship is so hard. I also heard there's tricky platforming later on, and if you mess up you gotta start waaaay back. I did not grow up with video games so I'm terrible at that kind of thing. I should just give up and watch a playthrough but apparently that defeats the whole point of the "incredible" story, which is the only thing I'm here for in the first place.
I guess I'm just holding out for someone to release an assist mode or something.
A reason that everyone should get behind:
AI = increased carbon emissions for a product that won't even be useful because AI is really unreliable.
Seven on 7 is a series of TV news shorts and commercials from The Boys universe. It's a delightful little parody of Fox News. The whole series is available free on YouTube.
In Washington State (where most voting is done by mail) it doesn't matter when officials receive your ballot, all that matters is that it's postmarked by election day. This does mean that any race that's even remotely close can take days to call (as ballots continue to arrive days after election day), but you never have to worry about how long the post office is going to take to get your ballot delivered.
In neighboring Oregon on the other hand (also primarily mail-in voting) they won't count your ballot if it's not received by election day, so every election they have to throw out stacks of otherwise legitimate ballots just because the voter either underestimated how long it would take for them to arrive, or because all they heard was "XX is election day" and didn't know to consider mailing time.
I think Washington's system is superior, and should be how it's done everywhere. Washington also has same-day registration for the super-procrastinators! Literally no excuse to not vote here.
Singapore is even more bonkers because they have eastern and western superstitions to accommodate, plus it's a really densely-built island so tall buildings are extremely common.
I mean, obviously it's not for everyone, but it's important to actually experience urban living for yourself before deciding you hate cities. Especially given the political situation in the United States right now, where so many suburban and rural residents are bashing cities and urban living without having properly experienced it for themselves; I think there would be a huge bite taken out of the urban/rural divide if more people had experience living in cities, and got to personally see the good and the bad for themselves. Plus your twenties is a great time to learn street smarts, because that way you'll be less likely to have a bad experience when you do visit a big city in the future, whether it's for something fun like a concert or something serious like going to a medical specialist. There are a lot of basic lessons like "never ever leave anything visible in your unattended parked car", how to use public transportation, being able to firmly say "no", and general situational awareness that are just good life skills that city living forces you to pick up.
I'm not at a point in my life where I want to live in a big city anymore, but I'm so, so grateful that I did in my youth.
Travel, live abroad if possible, and experience living in a big, culture-rich city. Unfortunately the economic realities of the 2020s are making this increasingly out of reach for many youth, but if you have the resources and opportunity, absolutely go for it. As you get older, responsibilities and lack of energy will likely sap much of your ability/desire to move around as much (this isn't true for everyone, but it's extremely common). Even if traditional travel is impractical for you, there still exists cheaper opportunities for exploration that are a bit off the beaten path, such as the WWOOF program.
Regardless of your situation/location, one thing that basically anyone can do is get involved in a cause. Find something you're passionate about and throw yourself into it. Make sure it's something that you can do in-person and not virtually... as in, there are local groups you can join for this cause, although if there aren't you can always try making one or forming a local chapter of a larger org. With the right networking you'd be surprised how many other people will join you, especially for causes that involve your local community. This is a great way to meet other people, get to know the issues facing your neighborhood/city better, and learn to navigate your local government/NGOs. Again, as you get older responsibilities/exhaustion can make this sort of thing a lot harder.
Second panel of the original comic (posted here) amended to track better in 2024 based on the first panel's dialogue
There was a conversation about lupine seed collection in the comment section of a post a little while back, and now that my lupine is going to seed I thought I'd follow up on what that looks like.
From left to right, we have immature seed pods (still green, still developing), maturing seed pods (brown, with black seeds inside), pods just about to pop (you can see them starting to split open with the round black seeds poking through), old pods most of which have popped open and dispelled their seeds, and finally a branch with all four stages present (generally seed pods develop from the bottom up, however this can be affected by variables like sun exposure).
The seed pods are apparently heat-activated; we've been getting a major heat wave here in the Pacific Northwest and the pods have been exploding open like crazy during midday when the sun hits them and the ambient temperature is at its peak. The seeds are propelled out when the pods burst open, and I've witnessed them fly well over ten feet.
If you want to harvest lupine seeds, the key is to grab them when they're mature but not yet expelled; you can do this by harvesting the pods by hand as they mature, but usually I prune the branches off the lupine once the pods on the branch start opening and put the entire branch in a bucket to break open at their leisure. While this pruning is generally unnecessary if you're not interested in seed saving, it does prevent thousands of volunteer lupine from popping up all over the garden (it's nearly impossible to keep all the seeds from spreading so I usually get a few dozen every fall and spring, but it's super easy to remove any that aren't wanted). One year I pruned the spent flowers before seeds could develop, and while that did produce a small second round of blooming I think it overly stressed the plant. Many lupine species are fairly short-lived perennials (with a few annuals sprinkled in), so it may be worth stressing them for more blooms if it's likely to die soon after anyway.
Some general disclaimers about lupine: due to their prolific seed generation and speedy life cycles, lupine are highly invasive outside their native range. There are also many species of lupine out there, so before planting make sure to source species from your area! There are some more "domesticated" ornamental species out there, but I'd really recommend sourcing a native variety if you can. They are really wonderful plants that require little care once established, have unique and showy foliage, and native bumblebees absolutely adore their gorgeous flowers.
I hope this was informative!
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Inspired by a comment reply I made in another thread, I thought it would be fun to share what plants native to your region you've had easy success with growing from seed, either in pots or direct-sowing. Please mention your country/region when commenting!
I'd be furious too, having such incompetent, out-of-touch advisors. This article alludes to it but others have gone more in-depth: Biden's advisors keep telling him the economy is great, the problem is messaging: the American people just haven't heard how great it is. Telling people struggling to pay their bills every month that they're better off than they were four years ago isn't messaging, it's gaslighting. His advisors should be telling him the truth, that the economy is only good on paper, that while the "haves" are living large the "have nots" are not only struggling, their ranks are quickly growing. Don't get me wrong, anyone who votes for Trump because they think he'll do better at economic issues is a moron, but history shows that a lot of people are going to go this route come November at the current pace of things. And Biden's advisors are just as moronic if they don't understand this.
The article: "a bunch of us are worried about the potential rise of fascism in the United States, so we're moving to Italy"
Tell me that you are oblivious to international politics without literally telling me that you are oblivious to international politics.
More to the point, if Americans were the type to "flee in droves," left-wingers would have left states like Texas and Florida en-masse for bluer pastures. Moving within the United States is a million times easier than moving overseas, and if they're not doing the former in the face of fascism/degradation of human rights in red states, why on earth would they engage in the much more difficult latter? Definitely sounds like a case of taking anecdote and non-committal musings online too seriously.
This is in Missouri, for anyone wondering.
In a statement, the consul general of Israel to the southeast US, Anata Sultan-Dadon, said that the diplomatic mission is "saddened to learn of the self-immolation at the entrance to the office building". "It is tragic to see the hate and incitement toward Israel expressed in such a horrific way"
Anyone else caught off guard by this utterly tone deaf statement?
Easy, NASA sends you up with one hundred tampons