I've waited 3 years to make this post

Since we're in the grundle of the year, there's something I want to suggest to folks that will make the new year a hell of a lot better all around: pay attention to what you're paying attention to. That is: be aware of what you're consuming and WHY you're consuming it.

This is why I don’t trust the "Never Trump" Bulwark guys. They’re perfectly comfortable with real people being harmed, so long as the harm comes via a process they can label “liberal democracy.”

Sorry just remembering this moment when this got presented in parliament as a legitimate death threat

And how exactly do you propose to “kill trans ideology“ without killing trans people

suzanne moore bravely breaking out the k-word, doesn’t she know you’re supposed to say unalive or you get demonetised

"legitimate questions" "just protecting women"

I'm a hobbyist streamer. I play niche indie games at inconvenient hours. I stream for fun and to show off indies I think deserve more love. Steam says I played more than 100 demos this year. I'm pretty proud of that. Finding indie bangers and bringing more people to them is an absolute delight.

Yes, questions about affordability, jobs, housing, etc., but it's fun to think about. Mostly I'd just want to avoid the heat, with certain locations getting special dispensation for family reasons or just being rad. Give me snow on Halloween or April Fool's Day over heat and humidity.

And now I'm a magical girl and a keytarist in a riot grrl band. Quite the promotion. Thanks, @magicariot.com!

I don't read too many other opinion sections as I try to keep a strong wall between my personal and professional lives, but have any of the "Donald the Dove" crew offered public mea culpas for being wildly, loudly wrong? Big ask, I know, but it feels important these days.

something very important for Dems to realize is that the tech overlords are not people you can win back by promising a lighter touch and saying a few nice things they’ve gotten a taste of mask-off fascism and they are not going back, they don’t want to play nice with the peons anymore

she just got the house to pass her bill criminalizing trans care for people under 18 years old. the only mention in this piece is about how she’s upset trump hasn’t done *enough* to harm trans kids. oh and a quote from her saying trans people are all “perverted”. what is going on at NYT?

Also from last night's stream, my 2025 tier list of fully released games. Rather than lean into good or bad, I sort them by how much I enjoyed them and how likely I am to replay (or keep playing) them. Note: "fun but done" means I enjoyed the game but am unclear how much replay value there is.

Spent part of last night's mega stream assembling my game tier lists (yes, plural) for 2025. I played so many demos this year I had to give them their own list, seen below. Always a delight to have games like Hell Maiden or Taste of the Wind come out of nowhere and shoot to the front of the pack.

ain't this that communist video game no one shuts up about

it will never stop being funny that this post *still* gets new people to discover or remember the game

Heavily sighing while resetting the "days since a correspondent invoked the Thucydides trap" counter. I had such high hopes of getting out of this year without hearing this nonsense again ... and yet, 2025 persisted.

Hong Kong leaders: focused on what's truly important -- enforcing national security and the government-mandated Two-Minute Hate against Sanae Takaichi.

TONIGHT: Last stream of the year, so it's time for my 2025 game tier lists. Played so many I need one for full games and another for demos. Then, Hades 2 until we roll credits. Live NOW at www.twitch.tv/trooperbari/!

Following in the footsteps of fellow high-profile, conveniently timed Jesus-finders Russell Brand, Conor McGregor, Milo Yiannopolous, and Donald Trump. Odd how this lot seems to keep finding their way to a god who happens to hate all the same people they do.

I spent the bulk of Christmas Day teaching 14 year old who wants off the algo how to use their brand new CD player. I have never in my life felt more like the holder of sacred arcane knowledge.

in 2026 we are NOT hustling, we are NOT grinding, we are doing just enough Job to have money for Video Game

Hitting your mega event KPIs is nice, but taking up arms against Beijing's foreign policy foe of the week is essential.

They gave Balatro an 18+ only rating because it had poker cards in it. Disney Solitaire has literal actual real money gambling with dark pattern lootbox microtransactions and is for ages 3 and above.

whats Mandarin for "oh lawd he comin"

Here’s to 2026

“it is illegal for you not to like me”

That time of year again!

The BBC is really showing its arse with its editorial guidelines recommending the use of a pseudoscientific dogwhistle in reporting that mentions trans people. It's important that they're not allowed to continue using fake-scientific insults in peace. New piece: oolong.medium.com/biological-m...

In fairness the FIFA peace prize has only gone to one warmonger so far so it’s a long way behind the Nobel

Is there still time to squeeze in one more potential Game of the Year candidate? @caseyexplosion.bsky.social and other people whose opinions on videos game I respect have been talking up Look Outside, so let's see what it's about before the year ends. Live NOW at www.twitch.tv/trooperbari/!

, A Study of English Writing 1476 to the Present

Every day is a school day here on Bluesky.

"Ambitious white men in their thirties have not seen much, if any, decline over this period. Their overall employment is up...Educational attainment is up. There may be 1-2% of white men who dipped out of top 10% of personal earnings, though white men continue to be vastly over-represented there."

it's crazy that 500 years ago, you would see the ruler of your country maybe once in your life and hear whispers that they're the Sun God, but now with social media, you get to see on a daily basis that they're the most unhinged, idiotic, and unhappy person you know

Does your family kinda suck? So does Mel's. If you need a distraction on this Christmas morn (or eve, if you're out here), join us for some Hades 2 vibing as we kill time and ... well, kill Time. Going live NOW at www.twitch.tv/trooperbari/.

If — if! — Elon Musk's Generative AI "edit image" button forces Japanese video game companies like Capcom, Nintendo, and Sega to jump ship, it would be the greatest Christmas gift Bluesky has ever received. These companies are notoriously obsessive about protecting their intellectual property.

i hope this holds so we can get japanese politics bluesky cooking

UPDATE: We may see the first time English is displaced as the most popular language among Bluesky posters as soon as Americans head to sleep tonight. Japanese users were close to achieving that feat at 7 am Eastern Time, and their activity is increasing at an exponential pace. This is remarkable.

Anti-trans demagogue and fifth place swimmer Riley Gaines earned $470,000+ last year from a conservative non-profit. Notably, $420k was incentive-based. A neat little window into the way the transphobic grift is being compensated. I wonder what the per-post rate is?

In 2021 I dressed in full PPE and held my phone to an intubated 45 year old man's ear while his daughter said goodbye to him. I truly don't believe in hell but sometimes I wish I did.

Clinicians who actually saw the horrors of COVID (and didn’t get infected, because masks fucking work 🤷🏻‍♂️) are pretty pissed at this. Especially the @newyorker.com - I expect better 🤦🏻‍♂️

The regime’s desire for authoritarian domination is infinite, but its capacity is not. Every act of resistance, every time anyone says no, makes them spend more of their limited resources. It bogs them down, tying up resources they’d use to hurt other people. Enough of that and the regime breaks.

the persistent belief that trans people are stealing valor and attention from the “real” oppressed minorities and that we need to be reminded of our place if we talk too much about the government’s open intent to destroy us is disgusting, reactionary bullshit and people should know better.

this image is maybe the single greatest joke in TRADING PLACES. and also a pretty apt description of the trump/vance/national conservative vision of america

When you let ChatGPT write your stories for you, you get some bonkers facts wrong - like this special tournament celebrating 100 years of professional soccer in Japan (false!) or Nintendo cofounding Kyoto Sanga in 1933 (false! origin club was founded in 1922 and Nintendo became sponsor in 1994).

The confusion and conflation of ‘generative ai that is built on stolen artwork’ and ‘machine learning, character behaviour modelling and proc gen’ is intentional on the part of the grifters peddling the former. They benefit from murkiness of classification, because the latter predates their bollocks

I keep hearing that folk who don't use AI will be at a competitive disadvantage compared to those who do I wonder how long before that flips completely, and there's a big market for people who still have basic creative and research skills