Open Thread

Open Thread #186

Aaron "Sleazy" Elias

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33 thoughts on “Open Thread #186”

  1. I just learned that one of national German newspapers ran a story on myocarditis in connection with the vaxx:
    https://www.fr.de/wissen/corona-impfung-herzmuskelentzuendung-risiko-coronavirus-impfstoff-nebenwirkungen-gesundheit-news-91045646.amp.html
    I consider this significant as this connection has been kept out of the mainstream thus far, and the vast majority of outlets still refuse to report on it. I think the problem is that there are now a lot of people who either suffer from post-vaxx myocarditis or know of someone who does so that you can no longer just pretend that it does not happen.

    Reply

    1. I was reading the answers to a mechanical question on Quora this morning and there was an add for study participants needed who have suffered “strokes and heart attacks”. I wonder if there is a connection?

    2. This stuff is popping up all over the internet, for absolutely no reason at all. We have also learned nowadays video games cause heart attacks and that kids and teens can get strokes and heart attacks.

    3. Where the hell did you read that games are causing all these problems? Literally everything except the vaccine itself seems to be doing it.

    4. I wish I had saved those stories. There were few I came across but Google must have memory-holed them. However, I came across a study from 2020 that claims that playing Fortnite can kill “at-risk individuals”:
      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7300337/
      The idea is certainly out there and may get picked up again.

      EDIT: After digging around some more, I came across a paper from 1983 that tells us that games are getting really excited about those ultra-high-fidelity Atari 2600 games:
      https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6647166/

  2. My acquaintance was severely disappointed with El Zonte in El Salvador. I’ll provide further details in a bit.

    Reply

    1. my acquaintance’s el zonte report:

      el zonte is super busy. accommodations are too expensive.
      stayed in better accommodations in vietnam for 1/10 of the price. san salvador also considerably cheaper. bars and restaurants close at 8pm. they said the priciness was due to the holidays, but he’s skeptical. beach is amazing.

      for a westerner, el zonte might seem like a decent deal, but not to anyone that’s hung out in Southeast Asia.

    3. “for a westerner, el zonte might seem like a decent deal, but not to anyone that’s hung out in Southeast Asia.”

      While maybe valid from a tourist point of view, Southeast Asia is not where I’d like to be when escaping covid tyranny. Not sure how comprehensive the laws around BTC are in Southeast Asia either.

      I guess people have different priorities.

    4. El Salvador is like two strides from where I live, and I never heard of El Zonte before. It sounds like one of those enclosed beach towns built especially for rich tourists that are so in contrast with the rest of the country it’s not even funny. We have a few of those in Nicaragua, supposedly guys like Colombian narcos and Roman Abramovich hang out there, own cabins and yachts, etc. Another universe.

    5. To clarify, two strides but an actual gulf in between. To go by land to El Salvador, one has to cross a little bit of Honduras, but it’s not far by any means. Stalling at the border might take a while longer than usual though, because of Covid, but nowhere in Central America are governments pushing vaxx-tyranny thankfully.

    6. The laid-back approach towards Covid is why I looked, albeit briefly, into several South American countries.

    7. “Albeit briefly…”

      Wait, so you’ve already ruled out Central and South America in favor of the other options in Asia or Europe?

    8. No, not definitely. There is too much happening, even in Asia, to make this decision. Right now, I am busy with downsizing my life so that I will be able to move quickly, if needed.

  3. Aaron, remember how we were talking about Chrono Trigger being unrivaled and I was complaining about how no RPGs since have really ever tried to utilize the seamless and near flawless turn based battle system? An indie dev recently released this trailer for a Chrono Trigger inspired RPG, and there’s even a guest appearance from the original composer. It looks quite good. Scheduled for a 2022 holiday release:

    https://youtu.be/vqK-1WGqYmI

    Reply

    1. This looks surprisingly good. With regards to videogames, I find it unfortunate that some companies never followed up on certain winning formulas. Particularly Chrono Trigger is a great example as it was both a critical and a commercial success. In contrast, given the incredibly poor sales of, for instance, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, I can understand why this game did not get a sequel. (Sony hinted at a sequel for about one second, though.) Now compare this to Capcom which puts out sequels until people stop buying them. It may be unfortunate when they run a franchise into the ground but at least you do not need to write fan-fiction on gaming forums about how great a sequel to this or that game would be. If it is economically viable, they just create one, until they are no longer economically viable. Similarly, I do not think that people would have complained about Chrono Trigger 2, 3, and 4. You would simply have dropped out once you have had your fill.

    2. Capcom is indeed going all in on the RE franchise. I’m pretty sure we’ll probably get a look at the RE4 remake this coming year at some point. I suppose Square attempted to try to cash in on the CT name with Chrono Cross. I played the latter first when it first came out and had no idea how true it was when fans of CT would claim that it was much better. The only thing CC really had over it was nice CGI cutscenes, updated virtual instruments, and a slew of dozens of characters that ended up making the game worse than better. I also think it’s funny that this Indie dev (assuming the game ends up being really good) is attempting this strategy, meanwhile Square put out that subpar Octopath Traveler game a few years back, which is looking like it’s going to be put to shame by some tiny team hardly anyone has heard of. We’ll see what the reviews look like. They also did some retro Ninja Gaiden-esque game in the past called The Messenger that has rave reviews.

  4. The German CDC equivalent released data on the moronic variant. As it turned out, > 95% of the infected were vaxxed:

    I did not check the source but as this was retweeted by one of the largest German newspapers, I assume that the information is correct. Still, I am well aware that Uber’s mom probably has not verified the data yet, which means that we cannot consider it 100% official, despite the fact that it comes from a government agency.

    Reply

    1. I found the source (PDF). The relevant information is on page 14. Uber’s mom still thinks that this data cannot be trusted.

    2. Was just about to post this. You beat me to it.
      Guess the vaxx is neither safe, nor effective. Imagine my shock

    5. You can embed images via the following tag:

      I had to embed this as a screenshot as otherwise WordPress tries to interpret the code as a link.

    6. I don’t know guys. I don’t think I can look at that PDF or try to make any conclusion based off of it until Uber tells me what is the CorrectThink in this case, and what is the right way to interpret all of this, and how much significance we should give it or any.

    7. Uber’s mom just called me. She said that this is a pandemic of the unvaxxed and that at her local hospital they are stacking coffins from wall to wall. On a parting note, she advised me to get vaxxed because Omicron is a killer.

    9. Ubermensch isn’t banned (I assume), but he’s going to get hounded out by a very peculiar “yo’ mama” joke, un-fucking-believable. 😀

    10. No, I have not banned him. There is a good chance his mom figured out that he is reading fringe blogs and put an end to it, though.

    1. On a serious note:
      Is it just me, or is the speed increasing at which the narrative is falling apart?

      Thoughts?

    2. I think your observation is correct. Also, collapse tends to happen in an accelerating manner. If not, then it was not visibly accelerating, i.e. a company may cook the books, and suddenly they are bankrupt when in reality, this is only the endpoint of a long series of events.

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