Mine’s a Dark - Weird Dad - 3.5% ABV. B++, finally a Mild in May and it’s a Corker. Malty, with a touch of fruity and very tingly on the tongue #ale#beer#bier
3.5/5. Finally a Mild in May and it’s awesome. Black Pudding Scotch Eggs on sale here and they are calling me. I wonder? #beersofmastodon@beersofmastodon
Blŵbri - Bragdy Twt Lol - 4.6% ABV. B+ and a bit, hoppy, fruity and a little malty sweetness. Gentle and refreshing. Works with the weather #ale#beer#bier
3.3/5. The Mamas and the Papas on the jukebox and Sky Sports on the TV. Twt lol on my palate and the sun is shining. Quality Beanoing. #beersofmastodon@beersofmastodon
It’s also a failure of politics. If you tell people you’re going to raise taxes to pay for the road, you’re probably not getting elected. Toll roads ideally are just another form of tax that is more sneaky than straight up raising taxes.
People won’t stop driving entirely. Some are legitimately afraid of rain, sun, wind, snow, etc . Placing the toll booths every 100m would go a long way to reducing traffic and reducing dangerous vehicle speeds.
I've noticed there are some folks writing at length here on their experiences playing games, so this felt like a good place to ask. Do you take notes as you play, and/or after each session, then write out full thoughts upon completing a game?
Or are your reflections compiled only after finishing a game, no notes?
I've dabbled with different approaches, and haven't really settled on a consistent process personally.
I keep a gaming journal, but it’s only for thoughts afterward. I keep it much simpler than I used to, as there’s a point where writing at length becomes work, and gaming shouldn’t be work. That’s the same reason I don’t keep a backlog. In my longer posts here and elsewhere, it tends to just be stream-of-consciousness writing derived from those journals entries, just cleaned up a little bit.
As for note-taking, I will almost never take notes on opinion/criticism during a play. Pretty sure that again, it’d feel like work if I took notes. I also rarely write about games I don’t finish unless I’ve played most of them (I tend to bounce off a lot of games lately). Other than that, my journal has the occasional random thought on larger industry trends, or a quick sort, like a toplist or the latest tier-making meme I saw. It’s interesting to see how my tastes change over the years.
I personally like to write some general things I end up enjoying about a game, while I’m playing (or during pauses), mostly because I plan on making a YT channel, but also because I like to leave useful reviews on GOG and Steam. The thing about making notes during early on is that you can check them later and see if anything overstayed its welcome. It’s also great to remember story details, if they’re relevant
The good thing about simply writing down, even generic notes like “good music” and “controls really well” can help create that memory path to the actual experience. You don’t need to be a “critic” to understand when something is great, good, bad or “just there”, but it can take some skill to write in a way that makes sense to other people, so writing about the games you’ve been playing is a good way to train that!
So despite climate change, Australia's federal government has just committed an extra $3.25 billion into building a toll road and a 20-lane freeway widening.
"Pouring an extra $3.25 billion worth of federal funds into Melbourne’s North East Link is a good use of taxpayer money, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has insisted, despite the project’s cost doubling just a few months ago.
...
"The North East Link – which includes 6½ kilometres of tunnels – will stretch from Bulleen to Greensborough. It will widen the Eastern Freeway by up to 20 lanes.
"Allan revealed in December that the 10-kilometre toll road had more than doubled in cost since it was first announced.
"The toll road was initially budgeted at $10 billion and reassessed in 2019 at $15 billion. But the government revealed last year that the updated cost estimate was $26 billion."
So the RTA's own modelling showed the Rozelle Interchange would be a traffic disaster—but generating more toll road trips for Transurban was more important.
"The [NSW Roads and Traffic Authority] finalised the first business case for the WestConnex tunnel project in June 2013, with the help of road designers from around the world.
"[Paul Forward, a former CEO of the RTA] said the initial concept did not include the Rozelle Interchange.
...
"In 2014, an expert review group was formed to assess these plans.
"Mr Forward said it was at this point that TfNSW bureaucrats began to question the connectivity provided by the design.
"The RTA's former director of traffic Chris Ford told the inquiry that 15 alternative designs were modelled.
"Mr Ford said the modelling found that another motorway leading to the Anzac Bridge would cause congestion.
"'The issues that we see today were very clearly established in the modelling in 2014,' he said.
"In November 2015, after Mr Forward and Mr Ford were dismissed, TfNSW updated the WestConnex business case to include the tunnel to the Anzac Bridge, despite the congestion concerns raised by the modelling.
"In 2016, Transport for NSW updated the business case a second time ... creating a tunnel linking the Iron Cove Bridge to the Anzac Bridge."
...
"In 2018, the NSW government sold its 51 per cent stake in the Sydney Motorway Corporation, the body responsible for operating WestConnex, to Transurban for $9 billion.
"Mr Forward said the final design would generate a larger number of toll trips than previous options."
@shermozle@ajsadauskas@fuck_cars
Same here in Stockholm. Now that the 21 km tunneled motorway ringroad is nearing completion they're adding several widenings of connecting motorways etc as separate projects even though even in the planning documents they're explicitly consequences of the big new motorway "bypass".
What kinds of games might you recommend with deep worldbuilding and interaction that aren't RPGs?
I like worldbuilding and stories, and I like when they're mixed with the interactivity of games, so RPGs seem like they should be a natural fit. Problem is, I dislike the stat-heavy, grindy progression of many RPGs.
I enjoy point & click adventures and visual novels but they're often more limited in their interactions. What kinds of game might I be missing combining the two?
You play the last surviving member of a species that used to rule the galaxy with terrifying advanced technology and weapons. Eventually your species fell and became wiped out by the other species that were being subjugated. Now there is a power vacuum and these other minor powers are battling to becoming the new empire. Your job as a lone alien with an extremely powerful ship (in a small battle, not powerful against an entire civilization of warships) is to try to balance the scales in an evolving conflict between political/military actors and create a peace that learns from the foolishness of your species ultimate mistake.
Very interesting way to make a 2d tactical space combat game and I love how your job isn’t to conquer the universe like Stellaris, your job is to push and nudge in just the right places to stop full on a galactic war.
👃🏻 Molasses, green herbs, caramel, licorice, dried red fruit. Heavy and complex mix.
👁️ Beautifully dark red, collapsing beige foam.
👅 Sweet. A touch boozy. Soft mouthfeel, low in carbonation. Lots of caramel, licorice, some aniseed.
To those of you using apps for keeping track of and rating or reviewing beers: any experience with BeerHive? The UI looks nicer and more useful than Untappd, but the user base (and beer database) is still tiny... #craftbeer#BeerHive#Untappd#BeerReview#beersofmastodon@beersofmastodon
"It's going to be a bloody disaster": Tell me again about how the second road tunnel under Sydney Harbour won't make congestion worse?
"Civil engineer Les Wielinga, a former CEO at the now-defunct Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), made the fiery comments at a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the bungled Rozelle Interchange.
"The Western Harbour Tunnel, which is under construction, will allow drivers travelling between the inner west and the North Shore to bypass the CBD.
"Entries and exits to the tunnel will lie at the Ernest Street interchange in Cammeray and near the Falcon Street interchange at North Sydney.
"'It's going to be a bloody disaster,' Mr Wielinga told the upper house committee on Friday.
"Paul Forward, another former CEO of the RTA, told the inquiry he was concerned about the project's design.
"'You've now got three motorways coming out into this short area, and whilst I would recognise there are some exit points, some off-ramps, those motorways are now all going into the Lane Cove Tunnel,' he said.
"'A large number of lanes are going into two lanes at the Lane Cove Tunnel. Sounds familiar?'"
@erkpod@Rentlar Really hoping that opens before the Wallabies matches start this year. Getting current public transport home means at the final transport change I have to wait for busses that only come every hour, and I ALWAYS get there < 5 minutes after the last bus left.
The metro will get me close enough to home it’s just a casual stroll. And is SO much more regular at all hours.
@ajsadauskas@fuck_cars So when are they going to have the courage to close the City West Link and most of Victoria Road through Rozelle? You shouldn't be using those "streets" unless you're local (or a bicycle).
We're halfway to solving these stroads. Let's do it.