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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • If I had to guess, he’s drawing parallels between Newman and Cruise’s careers. The Hustler was the first of several films Newman made in a short period of time that marketed him as a hero. It wasn’t his first Oscar nomination, but it did earn him one.

    The Sting was a huge box-office success Newman was in after a bunch of flops, and helped bring him back into the spotlight.

    The Color of Money finally earned Newman an Oscar, and it was reprising the same character he played in The Hustler after 25 years. You can definitely see parallels there between him and Cruise with Top Gun (36 years between it and the sequel), and weirdly enough Cruise is also in The Color of Money.




  • I genuinely enjoyed Arkham Knight, but those mandatory Batmobile sections are easily the most miserable part of the game. If we had those for an entire game, it might not be too bad, but most of the time you just end up using it to get from point A to point B. If you can put up with being stuck for a bit on those sections, you might enjoy it.

    Its big issue is that it has to follow up on Arkham City. It’s not a bad game by any stretch, but it’s following up to one of the best superhero games out there. If you’re not invested in the story, there’s no harm in dropping it. Play something you’ll have fun with.




  • Even with the added costs of owning the home and upkeep, it’s only equivalent or just above rent, and that’s with the condo association fees and insurance. Even while renting I was stuck paying for utilities. And I’m highly aware that the roof needs replacing, given that we’ve got to replace ours within 5 years.

    But if your point is “owning a home is more expensive than renting when you factor in all extra costs,” I want to again point out that most people are barely able to stay afloat. His point was that anyone can buy a house. Mine is that the money he thinks grows on trees literally does not exist for the majority of people.


  • I’m lucky enough to have been financially able to buy a home. I had help making the down payment, but we’ve now got a 30 year mortgage. My monthly payments are less than what I was paying for rent, less than the average rent in the city by almost a third. I got this place with two above-average incomes, and had the good fortune to get it during the COVID housing and interest rate dip, and I still needed extra help.

    If someone is stuck with renting, they’re likely paying more than they would for a mortgage. They can’t save up the money because they’re already lagging behind, and the housing market isn’t coming down in price, and wages absolutely aren’t keeping pace. No one is saying a house would “lock them down,” they’re pointing out they can never afford it because they can’t even come up with the money to show the bank they can save because they’re already paying above the potential mortgage payments every month.

    But you’re saying they won’t, not can’t, so what should they do to come up with the money? Start selling kidneys? 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and that same link shows 71% have less than $2000 in their savings. So where exactly are people supposed to shit out your hypothetical $30,000?


  • The game is about spreading Managed Democracy to protect our way of life, with tip screens like “If an alien ever attempts to engage in negotiation, SHOOT THEM. We mustn’t believe their lies,” and “Helldivers who fail an objective do not get sent to freedom camps. This is merely a dissident rumor,” and “Remember: FREEDOM!”

    There’s an entire mission objective based on raising a flag while you salute it, with cameras recording it for the millions of innocent civilians back home you’re protecting with the gentle outreach of an iron fist.

    While spreading peace through the galaxy, your character will shout things like “Say hello to democracy!”, “Freedom never sleeps!”, “How about a nice cup of liber-tea?!”, “How do you like the taste of FREEDOM?!”, and “You’ll never destroy our way of life!”

    The PA on the ship announces things like “Every bullet fired is a freedom seed planted in the hearts of our enemies,” and “Do not think of rebels as human. If our views are alien to them, they are alien to us.”

    The game might have a slight satirical lean.








  • I’ve heard that and decided to look myself. According to their fundraising report for fiscal year 2021/22, they received $165.2m from 13m people. Removing “major gifts,” $20.8m (only 18,000 people), it comes out to a bit over $11 per person. Additionally, they got $13.5m to their trust, the Wikimedia Endowment (average donation of $13.91/person). So definitely, most of their income comes from small donations.

    As to whether they need it, according to their FY 21/22 financials statement, they’re sitting on $198m in assets ($51m of which is cash), with an additional $52m they can’t touch because they’re long-term investments. However, their expenditures made up $154m. In total, they’re reporting they netted $8m last year for additional assets, but assuming that everyone stopped donating, Wikipedia would probably die in a year, even with liquidation of short-term assets.