I really appreciate this explanation and have been striving to do the same with my child. I was raised in a fairly standard religious (protestant) household and actually had a period when I really bought into all of it. But when I reached my teenage years and the things I was reading and being told started to make me ask questions, that the people who seemed to have all of the answers would essentially clam up or double down on the dogma they were throwing out.

Being an atheist in America is a bit of a challenge as an adult, but I have learned to navigate the social situations that would potentially “out-me” to folks who are religious. As a result, I have had many conversations with my kid to prepare them for these kinds of conversations since being an atheist is apparently almost as bad as being a democrat (and a socialist!) in the part of the US I live in. I would like to think that my child will steer clear of religion at this point and that he will remain a free-thinker but I suppose only time will tell.

The loss of belief for me started with a loss of faith in the people I was always taught to trust. I never want my child to ever look at me that way when they realize everything they were led to believe is made up.

You beat me to it. I loved my Dreamcast. It had so many great innovations like the VMUs, those chonky controllers, high density discs, and some really excellent games. If you picked up a VGA box it could also display on a PC monitor and you got super crisp video output…I played a ton of Phantasy Star Online and this was the ideal setup. Sadly, Sega screwed up their timing on the release since the PS2 was around the same time, if I recall correctly, and I think that is what ended their contention as a serious console maker since I am sure they lost bucket-loads of money.

I finally unloaded my DC about 6 years ago during a yard sale to a console collector…ahh well, good times.

Yeah I am hoping the Dev improves the controller support since I noticed the same thing; I believe that is on the to-do list before 1.0 release. I switched to mouse and keyboard controls and have been playing for over 40 hours with a ton more to do in the game.

Another one to consider if you prefer less intense (i.e. frustrating) combat is Swords N Magic and Stuff. It’s on Steam in early access and is a steal for about $25. It offers the large open world and tons of exploration along with a variety of play-style options, crafting, and farming. The only thing it doesn’t really seem to offer is the over-arching narrative but there is definitely lore to discover along the way.

This may be one of the most repulsive human beings in US politics (top 10 for sure). I lived in SC when she started her run for the national stage and she was simping for everyone that would give her air-time. Then she got in a car accident and the other driver was killed and Mace wouldn’t shut up about how it “was God’s plan that she survive and run”. I am so glad she failed and is losing her spot for now at least, I wish her only the worst.

So I started reading this post since I figured it would have some interesting comments but its becoming apparent that there is some sort of ulterior motive here for the OP. I suppose it should have been obvious this was an exercise in bad faith since their initial comment includes, “…for no logical reason at all”. But congratulations on getting some decent engagement on this platform.

OPs basic question is being answered with valid points and their responses indicate that they are just reacting defensively and trying to explain away or excuse all of the horrific things the Catholic Church is provably responsible for. As for me, I wouldn’t trust my kid with any religious organization because I think they all have a pedo problem and can’t keep their hands off of children; their minds or their bodies…just look who keeps getting convicted of these crimes and I can assure you it isn’t the atheists people should be worried about.

So true. As a former feral/latchkey kid I am no essentially no-contact with my parents because of how shit they were and still are. I don’t want my kid to ever wonder if I am proud of them or love them so I never miss a chance to say it. Things can happen so fast and tragedy is all too common in the US with a child in public school.

Same. The only time I have ever waited in line for a game release was the midnight launch of The Burning Crusade expansion for WoW and I can’t say it was worth it. Certainly never did it again if that tells you anything.

If you combine that rule with the ability to endlessly stack Draw 2 or Draw 4 cards, you have what I think may be the most evil version of Uno that can be played. We called it Thermo-Nuclear Uno (i.e. Mutually Assured Destruction) since you knew that dropping a Draw 4 would almost certainly lead to someone being buried in cards and it might even be you. Even if you manage to dodge the stack, payback is coming and you won’t get lucky every time. I can remember games that we would finally just quit after an hour since no one would ever be able lay down their last card. Merging two decks can make this even more brutal and cuts down on interplay shuffles too.

Plotting to murder babies obviously. Post-birth abortions are a thing according to Fox News…no /s

I think you may be forgetting the fact that they tend to just shoot people. I can’t imagine shooting someone in the back is out of bounds for this fine bunch.

Too right. I got pushed out of the Windows ecosystem by the forced obsolescence of Win10 and after dabbling with an older version of Ubuntu in the past and iOS, Cinnamon felt like I was hanging on to what I was trying to leave. GNOME just worked for me functionally and aesthetically. I use Win11 at work and hate every minute of it.

It was at least on the version I tried and it was super annoying trying to figure out why it wouldn’t detect my GPU which was an RX 9060XT and not supported by the default Linux Kernel. Once I upgraded the Kernel, that got my AMDGPU stuff working but I could not overcome other graphics issues like persistent tearing (even with V-sync).

This is the exact same reason I ultimately gave up on Linux Mint and switched to Fedora. I could not get rid of tearing and I fragged X11 (and made my OS un-bootable) on multiple occasions trying to fix it using recommended tweaks to config files. It was looking like a Wayland based solution was what I needed so I chose to move on.

GNOME haters can just put away their knives since I am no fan boy; I just wanted to completely escape anything resembling a MicroSlop experience and Workstation gave me a clean DE, more current package releases, HDR, Variable refresh rate , and solid gaming performance with a minimal amount of fuss. CachyOS was next on my list if Fedora didn’t work and I am still considering trying it out someday. That said, there is no question that making the switch to Linux as a new user can be daunting and I would still suggest Mint for older hardware with less of a gaming focus.

You bring up another important positive for the instant pot: when I wash the rice, I tend to scrub hand-fulls between my fingers under running water and swirl it around as the bowl fills. Since the inner pot is stainless steel, I am not worried about damaging a non-stick coating like you tend to see on other rice cookers. Additionally, once the cooking cycle is complete, I have learned that letting the pressure drop over a period of about 10 mins before venting helps release the rice from the bottom of the inner bowl so sticking isn’t really a problem and I never get any burnt rice either.

The one thing I am not sure about is how well the rice would keep if it is left on warm all day like you describe for households that make a large batch for multiple meals. I typically make just enough for the meal at hand and some leftovers for fried rice later so I suppose the instant pot serves it purpose well but it may not be the solution for everyone.

This is really interesting regarding the extra water and I suppose it makes sense with the more basic models that have a vent hole. I have been using an Instant Pot for a bunch of years now and have a custom pressure cooking setting that gives me fluffy and perfect brown rice using water at a 1:1 ratio. I believe the cook time must be slightly longer than the white rice setting(default button). 21 mins and about 10 mins to cooldown before venting gets perfect results 100% of the time.
I have been tempted to invest in a more traditional cooker like a Zojirushi thanks in large part to “Uncle Roger” but paid $45 for the Instant Pot and I don’t really use it for anything else.

NieR: Automata. This game was definitely not something that I would normally pick up but it kept showing up on “must-play” lists so I figured I would give it a shot when it was marked down like 70%. The initial impression from the intro/tutorial was pretty underwhelming due in large part to the confusing change in gameplay from top down shooter to side-view to normal 3rd person but once I got through that I found the setting and presentation of the game really compelling. I was even reading about the lead developer and searching for other projects to potentially pick up once I finished this one. That lasted for about 10 hours or so…spoiler ahead but I figured out how to hide the text if you haven’t played this and are considering it.

Obviously this is a bit of an unpopular opinion based on the super high scores it gets and others stuck it out for multiple replays to see the “good” endings but I just couldn’t convince myself to even finish it the first time. YMMV.