monotremata

Pick a number. Any number.

Sticking only to ones I haven't seen mentioned:

• Tandis : geometry puzzler
• Gateways : a 2d portal-style puzzler
• Elliot Quest : pixel adventure
• Phoenotopia Awakening : also a pixel adventure, had trouble with the final boss but the rest is great
• Wuppo : flash-animation-style comedy adventure
• Alba : sweet game about a girl who loves wildlife
• Salt and Sanctuary : 2d soulslike
• Legend of Grimrock : tile-based first person dungeon crawler ("dungeon master" spiritual successor)
• A Short Hike (really short but amazing exploration game)

Ones I have seen mentioned but can't bear not to mention:

• TIS-100 : the finest of the Zachlikes; a programming puzzle game
• Crosscode : 2d adventure with incredibly fine-tuned combat and puzzles
• Outer Wilds : fantastic time-loop puzzle
• FTL : space adventure "one more run!" game
• Slay the Spire : deck-drafting "one more run!" game

I'm pretty excited about the upcoming "Free Stars: Children of Infinity." I backed them on Kickstarter.

I liked Horace okay at first, but it definitely gets bastard hard in a hurry.

Alright, how about the fact that the TFR in the US has been below replacement since the 1970's, then. (It got close to 2.1 during the 2010s and then dropped again, and is currently around 1.6-1.7.) Is that relevant enough for you? Antinatalism is just as toxic as pronatalism these days. I swear, neither side is willing to actually look at facts.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SPDYNTFRTINUSA

The US population in 1980 was around 226 million, and in 2020 it was around 330 million. That's an increase of about 50%. By comparison, the GDP in 1980 was about $2.75 trillion; in 2020 it was over $20 trillion, an increase of more than 600%.

The problem isn't that we're spreading out the same amount of money over too many people. It's that we're making much, much more money, but concentrating it in the hands of a tiny number of people and letting everyone else scramble for scraps.

He actually does have one positive trait: he's open to the idea of psychedelics for the treatment of mental health disorders. Past administrations have had way too much love for the Nixon-era "War on Drugs" DEA schedule, which treats magic mushrooms as more dangerous than fentanyl. It doesn't make up for all the other damage he's doing, and even this one thing he probably won't handle in an appropriate way, since he's also, y'know, incompetent. But it's conceivable that this one thing could move in a good direction despite his leadership.

There will probably be some slant in that direction, but there'll be a much bigger slant towards killing the elderly, the immunocompromised, those who can't afford medical care and time off, etc. As usual.

It's an episode of "The Climate Denier's Playbook" entitled "Let's Just Plant a Trillion Trees."

Thanks! I debated whether to include it, because it's definitely one of those "well my brain sure isn't normal!" things, but now I'm glad I did.

And the ringer in the phone was a physical bell with a little magnetically-actuated hammer, so if you slammed the receiver down hard enough, the bell would actually resonate for a little while after. You know how some people use a bell slowly fading out as a meditation tool? That's the association I have for that sensation.

As far as I know there's not a way to just add it to the house supply, like they do with water softeners in some places, but you can get drops you can add to an individual glass of water. There are also tablets you can take. What I do at this point is use a fluoride mouthwash in the evening (the purple listerine; you have to avoid eating or drinking for 30 minutes after using it, so the evening is convenient that way) and also get the fluoride treatment at my dental hygienist appointments, along with using a fluoride toothpaste (which you're most likely already using).

It's a hassle, though, especially during the transition. When I moved out here, my teeth got worse in a hurry until I adapted to this new routine.