Ooff, that one is a doozy. I haven’t read all of his, but that one was the hardest to read, I think. And in true Cormac McCarthy form, absolutely brilliant, both ugly and beautiful at the same time…

For fiction, I’ve been working my way through the Inspector Rutledge murder mystery series by the mother/son duo that wrote as Charles Todd. I really haven’t liked this series, to be honest, I’m only reading it because I like the genre and the setting, and a family member is into them so we can talk about them when I see them. But I really don’t care for the protagonist and the pseudo-schizophrenic voice in his head is a gimmick that got old really fast.

For non-fiction, I’m reading Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry by Austin Frerick, and holy cow (pun not intended) is it an eye-opener. You know how some non-fiction books will make you see the world differently, and also piss you off? Yeah, it’s one of those. But told well enough that the rage isn’t too bad. I’m actually enjoying it, in a “holy shit” sort of way. (And shit is a big portion of the book, since that’s the by-product from pig farming enclosures that has poisoned the majority of the rivers in Iowa and portions in other states.)

I’d agree, Winters Heart is when he started moving the plot again after close to 2,000 pages of dithering. Something actually happens! It definitely has its flaws, but it’s an improvement over Swords/Daggers.

Pure poetry from AndyJHawk:

Like the Honda e before it, it’s a vehicle too tiny for America’s truck-shaped digestive system.

I really liked Lara Croft GO. It’s better than Hitman GO or other GO games.

I don’t play Stardew Valley that often or that much, but what I do play is delightful. It’s a pretty versatile game.

Ha! I love it, this needs to happen!

If you want to dig deeper on how the company Fervo works, the CEO did an interview with David Roberts of Volts last year which was pretty interesting. This stuff isn’t hypothetical, it’s working right now, and apparently it’s profitable. I know huge portions of electricity demand can be addressed through wind and solar, perhaps at lower cost than enhanced geothermal for now, but the ability of enhanced geothermal to keep producing energy when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine is really key.

https://www.volts.wtf/p/enhanced-geothermal-power-is-finally

A frustratingly empty article. Why are they struggling to “make ends meet”? What ends? If it’s housing, this is a housing story. If it’s high auto loan debt, that’s a mother matter. If it’s not housing and it’s accrued consumer debt, that’s a different matter.

They never say, so there isn’t much to conclude from this piece.

I’ll have to give that one a try!

With a 2025 release, is may not even come out for Switch, it may release on Switch 2/successor.

Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain. Quite a learning curve, but I loved the different ways you can win (conquest, trade, black ops) and how much you could customize your ships or pick unique races with tolerances for different planets.

Game strategy advice for a 30+ year old game? I love this so much, you guys are awesome.

omg YES. Nothing I have found since then has quite scratched the same itch of flying around with a friend on some random dude’s server. So much fun!

Here’s some background on the tensions and policies that have led to anti-avocado militias in some regions of Mexico:

https://www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/jun/11/inside-mexico-anti-avocado-militias?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Puppy was going to me my suggestion too, before I read that you’d already used it. Maybe try some of the other versions? If you used a Debian- or Ubuntu-based Puppy, you could try a Slack-based one, or vice-versa. Puppy’s organization is a little confusing, in my opinion, but it does give a user some options. You also might try some of the “puplets” that aren’t official Puppy distros but are part of the Puppy family.

https://puppylinux-woof-ce.github.io/family-tree.html

Justice Sotomayor is the greatest risk, and she could have engineered her exit earlier this year. Remember that in November. Dems aren’t even playing the same game.

I had one of these plans for over a decade. It was fun while it lasted—I won’t be staying with the company after this.

Trees might drop very hostile acorns

I wish I didn’t know exactly to what you referring.

Link for anyone who hadn’t heard this ridiculous story:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/video-shows-florida-deputy-repeatedly-shoot-man-thinking-falling-acorn-rcna138829

I’ll just add that both officers were such bad shots that they missed the man handcuffed and strapped down in the back of their own squad car. smdh.

Native support. 👍 I haven’t played it yet, but at this price I’ll give it a try.