Yeah it’s not well defined enough for me to even worry about - I just continue to be amazed and a little worried at the progress. Right now is a great stage where it’s making our lives at work easier but hasnt gotten to the point where the humans are being fired - though there’s definitely a lot of pushback on new hires or even backfills while we’re learning just how much productivity we’re getting from these tools.
I think definitionally doxxing can only happen to someone once, right? After that there’s nothing new to reveal. Redox is a thing in chemistry but not so much in anonymity management.
Doesn’t sound like either side takes the hit for him: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2025/04/14/who-cody-balmer-harrisburg-pa-arson-shapiro/83079845007/#
It's been so long since I played that I had to google them -- and yes, I hated that battle. I believe I got a lot of exploring done in the rest of the map while avoiding them.
Re the main post, I could tell while I was playing that there was more to the game than I was getting to, but there's something deep within me that stops me from ever looking at a guide. Reading your posts does make me kind of want to fire it back up though.
I don’t plan to wait until 7/1 - now seems like a good opportunity to get out of the pool for a bit with minimal injury, while they figure out how toxic the contaminant is.
I think of it more as that the republicans are the “child” party and the democrats are the “adolescent” party. There aren’t enough adults around to make up their own party but their influence with the kids on either side waxes and wanes. Unfortunately right now it seems to be in a wane cycle on both sides.
Hollow Knight is great. It was one of the first non-console games I had played in a long time and one of the first I got from Steam, and the fact that it was cheap and not in shrinkwrap made me assume it was going to be a trivial thing, but it was quite deep. And definitely difficult, at least for an average gamer like me -- I did defeat what I assume was the "final boss" but there were other battles available that I knew I had no chance at.
I struggle sometimes with these game genre definitions though -- to me, a "metroidvania" suggests not just the features you mentioned but also a 2-D platformer, i.e. something like original or super Metroid (I never played the "vania" part of the term). I would never have considered any of the Arkham games to be metroidvanias, though they may have some metroidvania-like elements. But I understand my own definition is not the only valid one -- I've sometimes found that out the hard way by buying a game listed in that category that totally did not feel like an MV to me.
I wonder if the market is pricing in the probability of a suit like this eventually succeeding (and Trump actually following the order). Well, I guess the assumption is that it is -- likely not a high probability and some damage would already be done regardless.
I was going to do that too, but I have a decent amount of unrealized gains and was worried about the tax impact… then just put off doing any actual research or decision-making. Still a few years away from retirement so hopefully by some miracle it all rights itself soon.
It would be if it was like a movie theater, but it's more like a computer room (24 monitors, people use headphones) and the job is more like monitoring SAT test takers for cheating.
Fair enough. I haven't checked but offhand I would guess that basketball is high-scoring enough that ties are much less frequent, so it makes sense that that sport would be able to get away with OTs to the death. Re baseball, I totally get the argument from tradition, but at the end of the day it's a business, and one that has to adapt when market conditions change. If it doesn't, then there's eventually not much of an MLB organization left to be preserved.
As a longtime Dodgers fan, I'm eager to see if they've figured out how to break the sport. Might need to move to randomized rule changes every year right at the beginning of the season, make it so unpredictable that teams can't just hoard all the talent because they won't know who's a "good" player in any given ruleset. 2026: misère!
I think it was inevitable -- by now most other sports have some sort of artificial overtime mechanism too (penalty shots, NCAA start on 25 yard line, NHL 3-on-3, etc). It's sort of like Southwest finally going to assigned seats because they can't miss out on seat upsell revenue anymore.
Following up on this comment from a few years ago, I got my xbox controller hooked up to my new laptop and went through Guacamelee the "right" way -- much much easier than with keyboard. I have a half dozen other old games I had let drop due to keyboard control difficulties, so I should be all set for a couple years at my current rate of game playing.
OK fair enough but this didn't strike me as a particularly difficult puzzle. But to that end, the "please contact one of us" link on the Guest Posting Policy page is prompting for a login -- I assume that's an error and not round 2 of the qualifying process.
Oh man, I was hoping you were going to say that the ability to figure out an email address to send to was a prerequisite for submitting a guest post - “you must be at least this smart to ride”.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “From Marginal Revolution: o3 and AGI, is April 16th AGI day?”
Yeah it’s not well defined enough for me to even worry about - I just continue to be amazed and a little worried at the progress. Right now is a great stage where it’s making our lives at work easier but hasnt gotten to the point where the humans are being fired - though there’s definitely a lot of pushback on new hires or even backfills while we’re learning just how much productivity we’re getting from these tools.
"
Artificial General Snarkiness. But what model were you using?
On “Open Mic for the Week of 4/14/2025”
I think definitionally doxxing can only happen to someone once, right? After that there’s nothing new to reveal. Redox is a thing in chemistry but not so much in anonymity management.
On “Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s Residence Attacked, Suspect Arrested”
Doesn’t sound like either side takes the hit for him: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2025/04/14/who-cody-balmer-harrisburg-pa-arson-shapiro/83079845007/#
On “The Emergency Ordinary Times Facelift”
Let me add my voice to the choir -- thanks much Will for carving out a chunk of your vacation for us!
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Hollow Knight”
It's been so long since I played that I had to google them -- and yes, I hated that battle. I believe I got a lot of exploring done in the rest of the map while avoiding them.
Re the main post, I could tell while I was playing that there was more to the game than I was getting to, but there's something deep within me that stops me from ever looking at a guide. Reading your posts does make me kind of want to fire it back up though.
On “What To Expect When You’re Expecting a Trade War”
I don’t plan to wait until 7/1 - now seems like a good opportunity to get out of the pool for a bit with minimal injury, while they figure out how toxic the contaminant is.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 4/7/2025”
I think of it more as that the republicans are the “child” party and the democrats are the “adolescent” party. There aren’t enough adults around to make up their own party but their influence with the kids on either side waxes and wanes. Unfortunately right now it seems to be in a wane cycle on both sides.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Metroidvanias”
Hollow Knight is great. It was one of the first non-console games I had played in a long time and one of the first I got from Steam, and the fact that it was cheap and not in shrinkwrap made me assume it was going to be a trivial thing, but it was quite deep. And definitely difficult, at least for an average gamer like me -- I did defeat what I assume was the "final boss" but there were other battles available that I knew I had no chance at.
I struggle sometimes with these game genre definitions though -- to me, a "metroidvania" suggests not just the features you mentioned but also a 2-D platformer, i.e. something like original or super Metroid (I never played the "vania" part of the term). I would never have considered any of the Arkham games to be metroidvanias, though they may have some metroidvania-like elements. But I understand my own definition is not the only valid one -- I've sometimes found that out the hard way by buying a game listed in that category that totally did not feel like an MV to me.
On “Tariffs Making China Great Again”
I wonder if the market is pricing in the probability of a suit like this eventually succeeding (and Trump actually following the order). Well, I guess the assumption is that it is -- likely not a high probability and some damage would already be done regardless.
"
Oh wait, that's for the February tariffs -- probably too early for the most recent ones, right? Standing requires ability to show harm?
"
I just read about this one: https://reason.com/volokh/2025/04/04/ncla-files-lawsuit-challenging-trumps-ieepa-tariffs-against-china/
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25”
Conor Sen on Twitter, tongue in cheek: "I was promised an oligarchy that cared about shareholders above all else! Where are the oligarchs??"
"
I was going to do that too, but I have a decent amount of unrealized gains and was worried about the tax impact… then just put off doing any actual research or decision-making. Still a few years away from retirement so hopefully by some miracle it all rights itself soon.
On “Weekend Plans Post: Pantherine Vandals”
It would be if it was like a movie theater, but it's more like a computer room (24 monitors, people use headphones) and the job is more like monitoring SAT test takers for cheating.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_on_Film_and_Tape_Archive#/media/File:Theatre_on_Film_and_Tape.jpg
"
Apparently there are some practical (i.e. money-related) reasons: https://playbill.com/article/why-you-cant-stream-broadway-shows
On “Opening Day at the Church of Baseball”
Fair enough. I haven't checked but offhand I would guess that basketball is high-scoring enough that ties are much less frequent, so it makes sense that that sport would be able to get away with OTs to the death. Re baseball, I totally get the argument from tradition, but at the end of the day it's a business, and one that has to adapt when market conditions change. If it doesn't, then there's eventually not much of an MLB organization left to be preserved.
"
As a longtime Dodgers fan, I'm eager to see if they've figured out how to break the sport. Might need to move to randomized rule changes every year right at the beginning of the season, make it so unpredictable that teams can't just hoard all the talent because they won't know who's a "good" player in any given ruleset. 2026: misère!
"
I think it was inevitable -- by now most other sports have some sort of artificial overtime mechanism too (penalty shots, NCAA start on 25 yard line, NHL 3-on-3, etc). It's sort of like Southwest finally going to assigned seats because they can't miss out on seat upsell revenue anymore.
On “Signal Controversy Over Houthi Strikes Deepens”
Hah I was going to post that this morning but then got distracted by work.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Dice N Goblins First Impressions”
Following up on this comment from a few years ago, I got my xbox controller hooked up to my new laptop and went through Guacamelee the "right" way -- much much easier than with keyboard. I have a half dozen other old games I had let drop due to keyboard control difficulties, so I should be all set for a couple years at my current rate of game playing.
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/17/25”
"KenB was literally complaining about live actions remakes of animated princess movies?"
Um... I what now?
On “Spaghetti on the Wall: Autopens and Out to Lunch Presidents”
Right after they're done fixing that and republishing the site, you can let them know there's an issue with the Masthead page too.
"
OK fair enough but this didn't strike me as a particularly difficult puzzle. But to that end, the "please contact one of us" link on the Guest Posting Policy page is prompting for a login -- I assume that's an error and not round 2 of the qualifying process.
"
Oh man, I was hoping you were going to say that the ability to figure out an email address to send to was a prerequisite for submitting a guest post - “you must be at least this smart to ride”.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.