The blood of tyrants

While we're at it, ATF didn't exist before 1972, and was under the purview of the Dept of Treasury until 2003. All of these organizations are new, and we were a freer, safer people before they were established. They were established during a time of fear and panic, and are unnecessary.

DHS was created in 2002. It was a product of the PATRIOT act and the war on terror. ICE was created at the same time. Before that, immigration fell under INS. INS wasn't perfect either, but at least they didn't gun down people in the street.

I've seen some well-meaning liberals say that advocating for the abolishment of ICE is a mistake, and that we need to replace it instead.

It frustrates me that people accept the premise that these organizations are necessary. Maybe people are too young to remember, so a history lesson:

US Out of Venezuela rally flyer

No War for Oil! US out of Venezuela! Rally today SW 10th and Burnside 3:30 pm

Additional cope: straight up ignoring international law and kidnapping heads of state is also a useful legal precedent for the would-be revolutionary.

Call it liberal wishcasting, but this at least used to be the sort of thing that got websites shut down and people put in prison.

I've long thought that Twitter is a place completely devoid of ethical construction, which I guess is pretty obvious to everyone. Still, the latest affront to common decency does feel like a shock on a very basic, human level.

You have 2 stats. You do not know what they are. Do things and record which you succeed and fail at until you figure it out.

I'll double check my files, dm me in a fee days if I don't get back to you sooner.

Unfortunately, it looks like developers still need to learn the lesson that any AI usage is a poison pill that will drastically harm the legitamacy of any product its used in.

I wonder if right wing faux intellectual writers realize they've adopted the writing style of sociology professors. Another win for the cultural and scientific dominance of scientific materialism, I guess.

So it leads to this odd meta-commentary where it seems to imply that Free Market societies are pacifist. Which is... observably untrue? I'm not sure it was an intended expression of the mechanics, but it does add another data point to the "End of History" 90's-ness of the game.

This makes a lot of sense on it's face as a critique of capitalism, but the upshot in-game is that it's hard in particular to run a Free Market when at war, since that -5 Police imposes a "pacifism" malus that penalizes you drastically if you have any military units stationed outside your territory.

Also, citizens rendered suddenly poor by the actions of unscrupulous moguls may revolt against their
energy-fattened masters. +2 Economy, -3 Planet, -5 Police

Free Market. Free market economics turns market forces loose in your society. Unfettered market economics can produce great wealth quickly, but in the context of Planet’s fragile emerging economies can also lead to extremes of pollution and ecological damage.

One interesting quirk of the game comes from how it handles the "Social Engineering" choices, in particular the "Free Market" choice:

It occurred to me that one of the strengths over other Civ games is that the setting makes it a lot easier to roleplay. Civ always tends to feel very game-y to me, but SMAC feels more like a story simulator in the way a Paradox game usually does.

A front facing image of an anglerfish

When someone says something thalassophobic and you have to hit them with that sub-benthic stare.

I think most of the target audience tried it once and then went back to DnD.

She's still preoccupied /
With twenty four-teen

Cover for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

I've been getting back into playing Sid Meier's Alpha Centauiri (directed by Brian Reynolds). It's definitely the game I come back to the most over the years, and each time I learn new things about it. It also grows more prophetic as time passes.

We were all really busy that weekend

A large mascot type costume of Woodsy the Owl, stomping across the earth

on that dad weed gummies that make you a dad

" you're no better than f Scott Fitzgerald"

@mizunotic.bsky.social : we used to have mascots. We used to be a real country.

You say that like it's a bad thing

Erik @erikthebearik.bsky.social and I have a theory that Arin Hansen and Dan Avidan were supposed to voice the ship in the bottle and time capsule in Date Everything, but for whatever reason, it didn't happen. They are kind of conspicuously absent from a roster of a lot of beloved VAs...

I MEAN