He didn’t even throw in a “NO HOMO!!1!” at the end.

Very sad. Very low energy.

I’m really sorry you’re in this situation. I can’t fully understand where you’re coming from because I can’t walk in your shoes. But I genuinely wish you the best. It sounds like you have a shit-ton of stress and are dealing with depression right now. I can relate to that part at least, and I really hope you can get some help from a counselor, because while they can’t help with some things, they can make a world of difference in other ways. Hopefully I don’t piss you off by saying this, but… sending you a virtual hug. Hang in there.

He’s bona fide!

The funny thing is that they’ve actually improved the graphics of the game a lot over the years. Not just things like water animation, but in improving the resolution of bitmaps for characters, landscapes, etc. they’ve even totally overhauled the graphics for some races (e.g. gnomes, which for a while in beta led to nightmarish animations of their eyes bulging through their eyelids when they blinked).

But to your point: yes, they’ve deliberately left the characters having a goofy, disproportionate cartoonist feel. Because it’s such an integral signature of the game, always has been, and always will be.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., joined the criticism Thursday, telling Fox News that Democrats are telling wives to lie to their husbands: “What kind of a totally amoral, corrupt, sick system have the Democrats developed?”

Ah yes, the guy who has cheated on multiple wives is talking about amorality and corruption.

Regardless of the election result, there will be a shit-ton of divorces incoming over the next 12 months because of it.

And the pandemic. The effects of the pandemic did a massive number on so many younger kids behaviorally.

So yeah, there are numerous reasons for the upswing in social and behavioral issues in kids over the last several years.

Totally irrelevant side note, but I just realized that he looks like a cross between Benny Hill and a werewolf.

K

L

I just got back from taking one of my kids trick or treating with his friends. It was great. My wife and I got to walk and chat with the other parents while all of our kids knocked on doors and shouted “trick or treat!”. Lots of friendly, generous, nice people. And lots of shouted reminders from us for the kids to not walk on people’s front lawns, to say thank you, to be careful crossing the quiet roads. There were so many other kids out too. It was pretty crazy, but in a good way. About half of the houses were giving out candy in some way or other, with only about a quarter having an un-monitored bowl.

Then on the way home we drove past a church that was having a ‘trunk or treat’ in their parking lot. That just looked sad. There was no excitement for going up to the really cool houses that were decked out in amazing props and decorations. There was no need to hone analytical skills to determine which houses were giving out candy and which ones probably weren’t. Just going very short distances from one car to the next getting candy. My kid asked why they do that. I said it’s probably because they are a closed community who don’t really want to associate with ‘outsiders’. Give me the conventional experience over that all day every day!

I see the Guardian is going as Captain Fucking Obvious for Halloween this year.

I really hope you’re not letting your dog’s nose near Uranus.

We have tried several reward systems, including rejigging the rewards and earning rules numerous times. But both us and the kids would frequently forget to award them. Then the kids would remember after 2 or 3 months and it would become a headache to try to assess.

So we’ve switched to debit cards with automatic allowance transfers. There’s also an option with the system we use to reward extra money for weekly chores, all done via the mobile app. It’s very convenient. Not least because the kids usually forget to do their chores, so they rarely earn the extra $s.

Additionally, the kids usually forget about their accounts/cards (despite frequently complaining when we say no to requests for treats or extra things). So their modest weekly allowances are gradually building up to a decent little nestegg.

But yeah, I hear ya about the concern about kids having debit cards too young. There has to be a certain level of financial awareness to really cope with them. Though the counterpoint to that is: such a mechanism helps get them to that better awareness.

Edit: fixed some autocorrect errors.

More like…

“That’s Fascist Communism!”

But yeah, same level of ignorance.

I expect Russian media is framing this as part of a grand alliance consisting of the ‘good’ half of the world. Lots of countries. The best countries. Sooo many! You know… Russia, North Korea, Belarus, China (they are soooo close to sending troops guys, we promise!), ‘Chechnyans’… Some Moldovan sycophantic trolls… Umm… Yeah.

• One medal for bootlicking Kim Jong Il
• One medal for bootlicking Kim Jong Un
• One medal for kicking 100 starving peasants
• One medal for siking Trump when Donald tried to shake his hand
• One medal for sending a trash balloon over the border to the South
• One medal for brushing his teeth
• One medal for eating caviar
• One medal for dissing Blackpink
• One medal for being in the choir for this rendition
• One medal for losing the dialup modem passwords
• One medal for finding them
• One medal to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them

And vodka. Soooooo much vodka!

I saw my first one on the road a few days ago. Somehow it looked even more stupid in person than it did in the videos and photos. It’s poorly built, ugly, and waaay over-priced.

I actually cringed out loud for the person who bought it because they thought it looked cool. Buying one of these things is the latest sign of a cavalcade of poor life choices.