looking for video game recommendations
I enjoyed Disco Elysium: what other similar games might I enjoy?
Specific things I enjoyed about it:
-narrative-focussed
-I guess 'turn-based'/slow, as in, no stressful fighting off enemies in real time
-psychology focus
-a good blend of serious and funny/shitposty/playful
-puzzle-y
-non-addictive: self-limiting because of all the reading/density (in my experience)
Stuff that's less important:
-overall vibe: I liked DE's vibe but would also enjoy other vibes (e.g. more comedic, more fantasy, more sci-fi, more cosy, more whimsical, set in our universe, etc)
-art style: ditto
Ben Millwood likes this.
Vegan French toast recipe
I'm quite pleased with myself because I just came up with a pretty decent (imo) recipe for vEggy Bread or French Fauxst:
Ingredients:
-silken tofu
-soy milk
-cornflour
-cinnamon
-salt
-pepper
-frying oil
-chonky bread
-syrup
Whisk the silken tofu and soy milk together with an electric whisk til it's more liquid than solid.
Heat some oil.
When the oil is hot, dip the bread in the Soy Concoction on both sides
Put some cornflour on both sides (I'm still not sure of the best way to do this, perhaps sprinkle some on a plate/chopping board and put the bread down on it, renewing for each slice because it gets tofu-y)
Fry the bread for a couple minutes on both sides.
Eat with syrup (or whatever else).
It's not exactly the same as eggs ofc but it did tick the boxes on vibes, imo (gloopy oily sweet proteiny). And looked very similar to conventional French toast!
Daniel Filan likes this.
Demonstrating attributes and competencies is hard?
Whenever I have to do a job application that's like "describe a time when you [demonstrated attribute]", it always feels incredibly difficult. Often, I can't think of a suitable instance. Do people relate? I wonder which of the following are true:
Maybe I just don't have these attributes/competencies, the apps are hard because I'm actually a bad fit?
-- But: sometimes I feel like I do have the attributes but I just can't think of a specific work-related time they came up.
Maybe most other people are better at remembering stuff that has happened during their lives?
Maybe these questions are calibrated for "you've had a 9-to-5 office job" and less so for my mixture of work/academic experiences?
A big part of this is that it feels a bit bullshitty somehow. like it's a very fake form of self-description.
Hmm that's interesting! The most recent one was for a social work program (I'm exploring the idea rather than 'definitely want to do it'), and I've heard that the UK civil service also uses questions like this (I do not know if this is evidence for or against your point XD)
I guess for jobs that involve working with people, they have to resort to questions like this because it's harder to test your people skills/soft skills in thte application process? Although, maybe there are ways to ask for written answers that capture some bits (e.g. 'here's a difficult scenario, imagine you're a social worker/civil servant and write an imaginary email to the people involved'. They actually already had a multiple choice quiz a bit like this!)
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I see.
In British culture at least, I’m taught to expect and prepare for this genre of difficult (because memory-taxing) so called ‘time when’ question, and rehearse little anecdotes that answer “tell me about a time you did [a team work]”. And one is ‘supposed’ to answer this standard formula with another standard formula: the so called STAR format: Situation, Task, Action, Result. That’s the game people have aligned on. (Not that hiring managers should _want_ to have predictable questions…)
Ben Weinstein-Raun likes this.
AI Art Turing Test
I enjoyed this!
I got just over 50% correct, ie little better than chance. Clearly I don't know shit XD
Regardless of 'can you/can't you tell', my favourite pictures in this were all AI-generated, including both some I really thought were human, and some I correctly identified as AI.
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I got 77%
I'm realizing a decent amount of real human art might involve strange out-of-place choices
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Correctly identified as AI: 18
Correctly identified as human: 19
Labeled human as AI: 4
Labeled AI as human: 7
(This might be off by 1 or 2, because 1 or 2 things in Scott's answer key didn't seem to perfectly line up with the test?? I think????)
Similar incident maybe not known to the Americans: they ran a poll to name a polar research ship, where people could write in suggestions. Someone suggested the name "Boaty McBoatface", and this won by a landslide. However, the powers-that-be boringly decided not to honour this :p (They called the ship RRS Sir David Attenborough)
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There's a line in a Dessa song ("Dixon's Girl") that I particularly like:
"There was a snow storm in Jackson
When you and I met
At a club called Saint Sebastian's
But the sign said something different"
Why would a club in Mississippi be unofficially called "Saint Sebastian's" and officially called something else? Makes u think.
(St. Sebastian is the unofficial patron saint of homosexuality.)
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Amber Dawn likes this.
Ben Weinstein-Raun likes this.
It's also worth pointing out that the questions of "what could I exchange for one more hour of work?" and "who should get moral credit for my ability to work one more hour?" are different questions, and arguably it's the first and not the second that you should use when deciding whether to take the bus or a cab or whatever. So, for example, the man supported by his wife may already receive enough support for him to work longer hours than he does, so while the wife is an important part of why he's able to work that much, she doesn't have to do any more work for him to work an additional hour, so he should value freeing up an extra hour without taking the cost of her work into account.
Similarly, if e.g. my commute experience is not restful, then maybe I think that all my rest supports the total time I spend commuting and working, and so I'm justified in spending up to my hourly work rate to reduce my commute.
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Replacing one mental question with another by mistake
As part of career reflection, I’ve been regularly trying to answer questions like ‘what’s your gut guess for what you’ll be doing this time next year?’. Today I noticed that my brain, casting about for the answer, was trying to instead answer the question ‘what do you feel most excited about doing?’, which is obviously different. I mean, maybe related, inasmuch as I am quite an excitement-driven person and maybe being excited about something does make me more likely to do it in future! But still.
Anyway, I feel like I once read a blog about something like this: accidentally replacing one mental question with another by mistake. It was probably by a rationality-sphere person. Anyone know what I’m talking about?
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Amber Dawn likes this.
Me to my partner, after complaining about doing something that I mildly regretted:
"Oh well, I guess I have to have *some* flaws, or I wouldn't be relatable"
Incidentally, is tagging a thing here?
Jen Blight
in reply to Amber Dawn • • •- Paradise Killer - Vapourwave transhumanist(?) detective point-and-click adventure game. Really interesting worldbuilding and themes and well-designed investigation mechanics.
- Slay The Princess - A horror visual novel. (Some unsettling themes/imagery and mild suspense but no jumpscares or run/fight/hiding). Story and writing are really good. Can be finished in an evening.
- Inscryption - Roguelike deckbuilder with puzzle elements and a meta-narrative. Kinda spooky but also no jumpscares or run/fight/hiding
- Case of the Golden Idol - Really good detective/puzzle mechanics.
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Satvik, Amber Dawn and David Mears like this.
Satvik
in reply to Amber Dawn • • •Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura has a really excellent story/worldbuilding, and hits all of those except maybe the psychology focus
Planescape: Torment hits all of those, except the fighting is real time (though generally not very difficult, and you can run away from most fights)
West of Loathing is a short, silly game
Omori is a darker game with a heavy focus on psychology
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Jen Blight and Amber Dawn like this.
Amber Dawn
in reply to Amber Dawn • •David Mears
in reply to Amber Dawn • • •Amber Dawn likes this.
Amber Dawn
in reply to David Mears • •