I dare you to find a more obnoxious machine than Planet Moolah.

When you're trying to validate that a game is fun or that a product is useful, hacking together a sub-optimal solution makes sense because you're in the discovery phase. The code is an end to a means. The complexity needs to be cleaned up eventually, but worry about that once the core idea pans out.

Every programmer I know, myself included, has had the experience of saying "this dogshit makes no sense" only to discover that they're the ones that wrote it. It always comes back to bite you eventually, but the trade-off can make sense in the short term. Just make your intentions clear/readable.

A recent breakthrough for me has been setting up an RSS reader. Most of the websites I'd chronically check (even YouTube!) have feeds. I can still keep up with things I'm interested in, but it's just a chronological list of headlines with no time-suck recommendations once I'm through them.

Also, everyone I met in Tokyo told me to try gyutan in Sendai, and yeah, it’s good. The region is known for great beef; favorite meal of my trip was yakiniku in Sendai and getting some wagyu.

I spent a few nights in Sendai last fall and enjoyed the area. Nikka distillery if you’re into whisky, but the tour is not in English. Yamadera Temple has beautiful mountain views. Akiu is a nearby onsen town. All day trips by train or bus.

This is the dumb laugh I needed today, thank you

Only within the past year or two!

Something’s in the works, at least. CDPR’s new studio in Boston is working on a Cyberpunk project.

I went to Japan in November and "damn, everyone here dresses so well" was also a takeaway for me. Yeah, Tokyo's full of office workers, but even people dressed casually had an eye for fit and quality.

That said, I dressed for comfort on the long-ass flight to/from the US. Sweatpants, no shame.

get the fuck outta here this can't be real

EVERYNYAN

Also, the lack of QoL stuff weirdly feels more charming than a nuisance to me. It kind of adds to that 2000s "we are toeing into cyberspace" vibe, being a really unique console game for its time.

I think its timelessness has something to do with its simplicity and how it's a fairly solved game. The mechanics aren't so complicated that they're difficult to relearn or tedious to manipulate. It's a good ole honest grind.

oh hell yeah pso

phew

Also, if you use a password manager, many of them can manage 2FA codes for you. So as long as you have a backup of the vault, you're good.

Use AndOTP instead, it supports backups

"The J is like an H, Ricky."