There are two facts old space game fans could tell you about Chris Roberts: that he will never meet a deadline (one of the Wing Commander games, his claim to fame, only came out because the publisher got sick of his delays and forced a release), and that he desperately wants to be a Hollywood writer/director. Both explain Squadron 42.

But did he do the voices?

Magneto hates Beast?

They don’t have it for the same reason Sony later removed it from the PS3: letting users run arbitrary code on your console provides a massive attack surface for piracy and jailbreaking exploits.

They canceled the GTA V story DLC after seeing the success of GTA Online, and their long-time head writer and producer resigned. I have little faith that GTA6 will capture the same spark that their earlier games had.

Genie was locked up at 20 months old. I don’t think they locked her up because of her mental illness. They locked her up because of their mental illness. I reference Genie because she’s the most documented “wild child,” which is a completely disgusting term.

I was going off old college memories - after looking it up, it sounds like her father thought she was mentally disabled and began/increased his neglect because of it, despite her only outward health issue being delayed walking due to a hip problem.

Also re: “wild child”. I agree, and thanks for pointing it out. That’s what they were called in my books, but catchy rhyme aside it’s a horrible way to refer to a victim of such abuse. I’ll edit my original comment.

Language is universal to all humans, even though it is multifaceted. Humans also have massive brains that require extra care to bring to fruition in comparison to other animals. Language is one of those things. You can learn other languages at any age, but you first need learn a language.

It would be fascinating to know what inner thoughts look like without the construct of language to frame them in. Unfortunately there’s no ethical way to find out, short of uplifting a non-sapient species and asking them.

There was an old study showing that London taxi drivers develop enlarged hippocampi, the part of the brain used for navigation, to deal with the labyrinthian London streets. The growth continued over several years even in mature adults as they used those navigation and memorization abilities. I’d like to see a study of the brain of an adult prospective language learner over a long period to see if any similar plasticity exists for the brain’s language centers.

(I’ll admit I’m horribly biased. I was exceptional at picking up new languages as a teen, but let that knowledge decay into nothingness as an adult. I’d hate to have wasted such a useful talent.)

Given the success of foreign exchange students, I’m willing to bet the age factor is much less important than people claim.

People bring up the abused or abandoned children that had trouble learning to speak when introduced to society later in life, but usually fail to mention the reason they were neglected/abandoned as children was due to mental disabilities, so they aren’t really a viable data point.

I’ve been to Subway twice in the last twenty years. Both times the shop was understaffed and it took more than half an hour to get our meals, and they weren’t even good compared to other sub chains that cost less, let alone the local non-franchise sub shops.

The last attempt was a few years before COVID. I can’t imagine how bad it is now.

I wonder if medicine packaged like this would be statistically more effective. The placebo effect is a real thing, and adding a layer of ceremony to the medical process might trigger it in those of a certain mindset. (or have them decry modern medicine as demonic, though that’s hardly new)

Also, I really want my medicine to come in health potion vials. Please?

There are two things I can’t stand in this world: people who are intolerant of other people’s cultures… and the Dutch.

I actually find people that are usually considered a 10/10 to be less beautiful than a solid 7.

This is more common than you might think. There’s a reason “the girl next door” is one of the most popular archetypes.

“Phone home” was actually him saying he needed to check in with his probation officer.

The suggestions for email addresses if yours was already taken used to include what you entered plus the last two digits of your birth year. I wonder how many people born in 1988 followed that advice and now deeply regret it.

Who else is better equipped? In my view it would solely depend on the lawyers that internet archive hires, and money plays a big factor in that.

The EFF. This kind of thing is why they exist.

The Archive making themselves an easier target was a huge misstep IMO. All it takes is one overreaching judge telling them they need to purge all copyrighted data (a common judgment in lawsuits like this) and the world becomes a worse place.

Honestly, as glad as this article makes me, I’d still like to see a perfect birth control for women. Periods seem like they must be the worst part of being a woman (biologically, not socially). Having a temporary, reversible way to stop ovulation without fucking up a dozen related systems and causing physical and mental anguish would be nice.

For anyone wondering, it’s controlled by the existing top-level Send Technical And Interaction Data toggle in the privacy menu that’s been there for ages, so most users who care about privacy have probably already opted out.

Due to all the registry and group policy changes I’ve made to decrapify Windows, I’m legitimately worried that every major update will brick my install. Luckily so far they’ve only make it worse in the ways that Microsoft intended.

A smart TV app from the guy who pulled Disney channels from the Tesla app due to a bruised ego over a Twitter argument? I can’t wait for this to crash and burn.

Saints Row 2 basically requires the Gentlemen of the Row mod to function on PC. The devs actually hired the modder, IdolNinja, to fix the game proper, but sadly he passed away and the project was scrapped.