This makes sense to me. I appreciate when somebody communicates their needs in a straightforward way, but also demonstrates an understanding that I might not be able (or willing) to accommodate them. I try to practice this when asking for help. Be clear, but empathetic. And I don't get angry if folks can't help, and remember that everybody has far more going in their lives than what I can see.
I understand this sentiment. I've been an audible subscriber since 2002 and have listened to hundreds of audiobooks, mostly fiction. The ability of the narrator to provide distinct, interesting voices for each character figures prominently into my enjoyment of a book. This technology sounds fantastic, and will likely enable pleasant narration of texts that would otherwise never have it, but I don't think it's likely to replace professional narrators for a large number of cases.
My wife and I have successfully befriended the crows that inhabit my neighborhood. When we first moved into our home a few years ago, I would leave various nuts - and sometimes bits of unfinished bacon - on the back fence when I would see them perched on the neighbor's (tall) home. I would make a clicking noise with my tongue and call out to them in a friendly voice. Then I would retreat to the house and watch from the windows. It didn't take very long at all for them to learn this routine. After a few weeks, as soon as I would "click" one would swoop down from the high perch and land on a nearby post and wait for me to leave the treats. Another would keep watch.
Now it feels like we are old friends. If they happen to be around when we pop out of the house, one will vocalize and come near. Others show up soon after. My wife chats with them and leaves various snacks. They really love peanut butter sandwiches! I kid my wife about how much she spoils the crows with the peanut butter, but she just laughs about her "extra shiny" crows.
I've enjoyed several write ups from The CRPG Addict - it's a true internet treasure. In particular, I appreciate how he treats each game as an individual artifact. That's not to say he doesn't reference other games when reviewing a title - he does. But the descriptions and discussion seen firmly grounded in understanding what the creators were _trying_ to accomplish, rather than pitting one title against another.
Somewhat. He does note when what's offered is significantly above or below the status quo of the year he's working through. I think what he trys to do is make sure it's viewed in the context of how it was originally received and played.
Sometimes things get points or credit for originality or doing something well or first or before common, but also some titles will get criticized for omitting something to it's detriment which was pretty standard by that time.
Update: the most recent iPadOS beta has improved this drastically. The watermark now sits in the notification area at the top of the screen and is relatively unobtrusive.
Thanks for posting that link; I had not seen that lecture before and found it highly enjoyable. For others that might gloss over a random link to youtube, this is a lecture from 2019 delivered by Jonathan Blow titled "Preventing the Collapse of Civilization." In this talk, he discusses the problem of generational transfer of knowledge within the historical context of civilizations who failed to do so successfully. At about the halfway point, he transitions to the related topic of declining software quality, which I suspect will resonate strongly with many programmers on this forum.
Professor Jack. What a gentleman. He's a friend of my graduate lab PI and visited our scientific and information visualization-focused lab in 2008. He made the rounds, quietly and attentively listening to each of us demonstrate and discuss in-progress work. I remember expressing some frustration that academic work in sci- and infovis felt like to complete crapshoot with respect to publication in "respected" journals (e.g. IEEE Vis, SIGGRAPH). The community felt exceedingly subjective, particularly when compared to other branches of computer science. I remember he just smiled, said "May I?" reaching for the keyboard. He typed in the address for this very page. Paraphrasing him: "I sent this paper to all the typical Information Visualization conferences, and they all rejected it. All of them. So I sent it instead to the top cartographic journal in the world. It won best paper," said with a smile. This made a HUGE impression on me, and I appreciated his sincerity, humor, and general infectiously positive demeanor. More than any direct statement, this demonstrated the importance of believing in your own good ideas, even when others are quick to dismiss them. For Professor van Wijk, this was just one of countless interactions with graduate students from across the globe. But it certainly bettered me as a person, and I will never forget it. Thanks, Professor, if you're out there.
The diversity of topics, hand-crafted graphics, and quality of explanation on all the posts on this blog remind me a lot of Andrew Glassner's columns from IEEE CG&A. Really delightful work (in both cases).
Thimbleweed Park was such as joy to play. I originally played it on my desktop, but ended up buying it again later for the Swtich. I was delighted to see my daughter start playing it one day, and she was really enjoying the unique and now-rare gameplay. She liked it so much, she now has a ThimbleCon '87 poster on her wall. If you're around here, Ron, kudos for an excellent artistic contribution to humanity.
