I actually love that everything he does sounds different. There are so many artists that have a specific “sound” and stick to it forever. He’s experimental and adventurous and tries so many things, lot of stuff that’s unique and interesting, and other stuff that’s not for me, but it’s clearly for him. I think it’s a sign of creative joy.

What do you think? Do you know any good examples of SciFi-Worldbuilding, that solve some common inconsistencies?

There’s some good stuff in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time series about non-human intelligence and societies that I found compelling and very thoughtfully composed. It comes from a grounded place, and especially the first two books do a great job of building up concepts of civilizations that feel truly foreign but make a lot of sense in the universe. The difficulties in cross-species communication are addressed and made to be a focus and feel realistic. I’m being deliberately vague because part of the fun of the books is seeing how far things go.

I’m a lifetime Windows user. I used to have to type run win3.exe on my first computer. I installed Linux mint on my new pc build a couple weeks ago and have been moving in and getting everything set up. Some people absolutely will make the change.

I’ve been making the switch on my own new PC, some programs I was concerned about can be run ok through Lutris. It’s been an adjustment but no regrets

Whatever you want. Find something that brings you joy and try to do more of that. If it’s important to you to leave a legacy, try to connect to others and be in their lives. Try to make good, meaningful changes to the world, even if they’re small. Our existences are only so long, and worth enjoying.

The real reason Skyrim has remained such a mainstay and keeps getting remakes

By Droknar’s hammer, what a savings!

Been playing GW2 since beta, but haven’t been that active since I had my a baby. I’ve played thousands of hours, have over 40k AP, was even mildly famous in the community for a bit, but I just haven’t had the time for any games lately. It’s still my favorite though, I love the art, the music, the player centric design and how they really try to make a fun experience and not waste your time. I tried Star Trek Online because I heard they had screen writers from the shows writing some of the content, and had enough fun to max a couple of characters and upgrade a ship or two and then they raised the level cap on me and made it all obsolete. I quit. I have no patience to put up with that kind of crap. I’ve been spoiled by GW2’s design philosophy, and they’ve proved worthy of my trust and time. I recommend it to anyone looking for an MMO.

This absolutely tracks with my experience after having a kid. Suddenly I have little to no time to waste and so every hour I have to myself I feel that urgency and pressure to get as much done as possible. I’ve never had less free time or been so consistently productive as this last year. I think the demands are not so intense that I’m going to crash, but I do chafe against the limitations. I’m frustrated that I’m unable to excuse the time for my favorite leisure activities, and I miss video games. However I have gotten so many projects done, some things that have been sitting around for years, that I have to give myself a bit of credit for once.

You could take on some community volunteer work, get involved with a local group that’s doing work that aligns with your values and fill up your schedule with some hard commitments to do something worthwhile. I just volunteered for a committee in my town and it was way easier than I expected to get involved.

Your grandmother’s sister is your grandaunt, and you use grand and great the same way you do for mother/father but with aunt/uncle.

So I think your fourth cousin twice removed was on the Thresher but someone may correct me.

They use some rather consumer unfriendly chemicals, like formaldehyde as others said, but also things like flame retardants, pest deterrents, anti molding agents etc to preserve the clothes if they’re stored improperly. You should ALWAYS wash new clothes before wearing them, even ignoring the possibility of others having tried them on. Maybe consider another scent for your clothes.

Yes, I have these great shallow bowls that are like plates with a raised lip at the edge that I always use for cat food. My old man has gotten ridiculously picky in his old age, and some of the things I had to do were:

Change the style of bowls
Raise his bowl up so it was 1 1/2" off the ground
Separate his water away from his food
Find food with minimal vegetable matter (no pumpkin or pea even)
Swap exclusively to wet food
Vary flavors every feeding (not just day, feeding)

Little booger eats better than I do most days, but he’s no longer fur and bones and he’s gained over half a pound back after being at his skinniest. He’s got his energy back and is looking so much healthier, but seriously what a spoiled boyo.

Every kid is different, but if you’re not able to ask the parents then a safe bet is a duplo set. Bristle blocks are also great. My kid is currently 2 1/2 so these are what I know would be hits with him and his friends.

You could also get one of the following books:

Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site
Don’t Worry Little Crab
The Little Blue Truck (it’s a whole series, the Halloween one would be appropriate)
Bear Snores On or any other book in that series.

Do you use fabric softener with your towels? Fabric softener conditions fibers with oils making them less absorbent. A good quality, plush cotton towel that has never seen fabric softener can be extremely absorbent, and if you do the two towel method someone else mentioned I bet that would really cut your drying time. If you used two good, absorbent towels in your hair, then blow dried, I bet it would only take a minute or so which is a lot easier to sit through.

I appreciate the shout out to Guild Wars there. Aside from the opaque learning curve it’s one of the most player friendly live service games going.

How about The Romans in Their Decadence? (Thomas Couture)

I’ve been getting into having a pdf of the various manuals for things around the house on my phone. I recently consulted the manuals for my fridge, a new dehumidifier and the lawn mower and it was pretty awesome not having to find and dig out a paper booklet each time. My phone is on me all the time plus I can get rid of the paper copies.

Yes, the first one is goofy but it did the whole “what would an actually average person do with superhero powers” shtick before it was cool, and managed to make it funny and pretty sweet too.

Maybe I should give buckwheat a try, or shredded latex. I’m probably due for a change but lately I haven’t been able to afford any sleep disruption.