efaardvark

I get bored too easy in creative mode. Usually when by myself I play hardcore survival.. and then proceed to try to build giant constructions as if I was in creative. (I might have been a masochist in a previous life. ) My current multiplayer game on my brother's server is a hard mode survival game with large biomes so there's been a focus on exploration. We (me & the people I play with) decided that was fine because while we're all MC veterans none of us had played for several years. I personally hadn't played since horses were brand new (ca. 2013?). At this point we're past the initial base-building phase and just having a good time exploring and discovering all the "new" stuff. I love how pickles light up the coral reef biome for example. The world spawn point was a beach between a coral ocean and hilly forest but we decided the local food needed augmentation so we've recently been on a Quest for Cookies. Nobody's found a jungle biome (for the cocoa beans) yet tho. I've got a secondary personal quest to find enough clay and cactus to make a giant Kerbal statue. Haven't figured out what I'll use for the orange jumpsuit yet though. Farming enough pumpkins sounds like too much work. Probably need to find a badlands biome for some orange terracotta first.

My brother recently resurrected his mc server and I've been sucked in again after avoiding it for several years.

For me it is like starting a book in a series that isn't finished yet. I don't really want to start on something that isn't finished.

Now that I finally have a bit of time off I'm trying to clear out some of my backlog this holiday weekend. Watching Hinamatsuri, Re:ZERO, Konohana Kitan, Kakuriyo, AND Yama no Susume. Liking them all - especially Re:ZERO - but Yama no Susume is short-episode (13min) and I might come back to it later and binge it after the season is done. The individual episodes are so short that they don't leave much of an impression so I tend to watch last week's episode (again) just before watching this week's. Kind of wastes time essentially watching the whole thing twice. One of the reasons I tend to binge-watch in the first place.

Just chillin' on the beach with my dogs....

liking some of the new(ish) underwater scenery.... Saw a dolphin too a little bit ago. Wasn't quick enough on the screenshot tho..

Whenever I can, though not nearly as often as I would like. (That whole "life" thing gets in the way too much. ) I also read "normal" books (well, science fiction), which also is a big time-hog. (And I still have a backlog of Analog magazine issues that you wouldn't believe.) But when I get the chance I play empire-builder games - games like simcity, civilization, etc. - or crafting games. Recently my main play has Kerbal Space Program. I still play that a lot, but my brother recently (re)started his old minecraft server so we're kind of in the process of <elwood voice>getting the band back together</> & that's also a significant time-waster lately.

I have that issue with a lot of series. With FT I think I quit in the middle of the second season. Either that or I did watch it but just don't remember it. I don't care how good the writing is, by the time the episode count gets to the triple digits the plots get formulaic and repetitive. (Some series barely make it to double digits.) So many started out well but after a while I just felt like they were a waste of time. Very, very few actually get better after the second or third season. (IMHO, YMMV, etc, etc...)

There's certainly plenty to like in the 1990-2000 era.. Princess Mononoke, Cowboy Bebop, Whisper of the Heart, Kiki's, Trigun, Lain, etc. But there's a lot to like since 2000 too. .. Your Name, Clannad/After Story, Spirited Away, the Monogatari series, Your Lie in April.... Before that was Nausicaa, Totoro.. (I could go on, but I don't want to start showing my age ) Different eras, different styles, appeals to different demographics, sure, but I wouldn't want to have to do without any of it, and I'm not about to attempt to say which was "better".

Making cookies...

My mind still boggles at the mouse and Vader being in the same house. Don't cross the streams. If that doesn't convince people that something, somewhere has gone horribly wrong then I don't know what would.

Not into them myself, and they're generally a turn-off on others. Even pierced ears are a bit silly IMHO, mainly since I'm not much into jewelry either and I don't see the point otherwise. (Especially considering the medical complications that piercings can cause.) That said, I've seen tattoos that I like, and I'm not categorically against them in principle, but most people don't put much thought to getting a tattoo, and even when they do they don't get it done right. Seems like a lot of people get one done one on the spur of the moment and/or at the closest/cheapest place - often in one of those moments of inspiration that come only after an evening over-consuming alcohol. To me that seems like a really, really stupid way to go about it. Maybe they're happy with the result, but to me it's like seeing a neon/velvet Elvis painting on their living room wall. Amusing at best (and not in a good way). The "gangster" tats that people get as a result of peer pressure or trying to fit in with a certain group don't impress me either. The kinds of tats that I like are works of art, and should come with a story that's more interesting than "I got drunk one night". Unfortunately art is hard to do well, and subjective even in the best of cases. Personally I can't imagine a combination of subject matter, cost, and trust in the artist that would induce me to get one done myself.

Just added Overlord III to my to-binge list. I didn't think I'd like this one at the start of the first season, but the characters and situations are just so oddball that I keep coming back. Ains for President?

You would have loved my kitchen last week. For a while I was debating the merits of incendiary devices. Fortunately it didn't come to that, but it was close.

I just upgraded my desktop (clean install) & haven't put back all my customizations yet so here's my phone...

Just to throw out some pseudo-random ideas.. The Baron (Whisper of the Heart), Tsumiki Miniwa (Acchi Kocchi), Eris, Kuune, or Melwin (Asobi ni Iku yo!), or Nimitz (from Weber's Honor Harrington series of books). For a black(ish) cat specifically maybe Kamineko (from Azumanga Daioh), Kuroneko (Trigun), or Jiji (Kiki's Delivery Service)? Finally, and not really good for a kitten but still on the subject of cat names, a friend has a (fat) older cat we've (re)named Catbus.

Granblue Fantasy. Interesting visuals. Felt it had potential, but by halfway through it was clear it wasn't going anywhere. Could have been much better if some of the ideas had been better developed (or developed at all). That ending(?) though.. Not quite as bad as Moon Phase, but only because that would have taken effort. Seems like they just gave up, threw a bunch of stuff at the audience, and walked out. Waste of time.

Discovered the aptly-named "Squid Lake".... (Aptly by yours truly of course. )

Devices like cochlear or retinal implants are already a fairly common thing. These "only" stimulate the peripheral nerves in the sense organs themselves though. The nifty research these days is in cortical sensors/stimulation. The current research seems to be using a fine net or array of sensors laid over the surface of the brain, with each node of the net connected to a signal processor, and the signals interpreted by a computer to literally read your thoughts. Apparently, once you know what to look for (that's the trick.. knowing what to look for & where), muscle signals, (sub)verbal commands, and more can be taken directly from a person's brain. Mostly this is read-only for now, but there has been some work in inputting external signals as well. The new technology for interfacing with neural tissue is much better too. Very cool stuff. The next 10 years will be very interesting. The next 50 should be amazing.

yeah right. But (probably(sure;;)) it will cost a LOOOT Now, yeah. You know electrical devices though.. today they're expensive and underpowered. Next year they're half as expensive and twice as capable. They're already working on hippocampal prosthesis. If they can do that then they can do anything. It is only a matter of time. As for cost, I can see applications even if it costs as much as a car, or a house, especially if it opens up avenues for employment. There's also the scenario of Yuuki in SAO: Mother's Rosario. I can imagine people who are profoundly disabled physically being really attracted to even partial cyberization (in GitS terms) if it means a way to overcome their physical predicament.

Might actually get there in a few decades. It probably won't be a simple helmet, at least not at first, and it won't be here in 2022, but maybe in 2052. And if/when someone invents "full dive" gear in whatever form you know there will be a kickstarter for an Aincrad MMORPG as well.