You definitely should turn her on before you start stirring...

Basically if you need the same logic in two places instead of copying it to the second place you make it into a function and use that function in both places.

That way if you need that logic to change you only need to make that edit once regardless of whether you use it one time or one thousand times.

Tuesday our group met. First we played some weird memory game about being an orchestra conductor which was really bad. Then we tried the 5th mission in Port Royal Big Box... twice.. in vain. We ended the evening early because:

On Wednesday we met again to play DnD. My character had an emotional reunion with a lost family member and we encountered our first gelatinous monster.

On Friday there was a public game night in town which I attended. The group I landed with first played two rounds of Frantic - a domestic UNO alternative but for some of them it was too chaotic so we cut the game short. We then played Ricochet Robots and the ladies at the table completely trunced me out of the gate. But after about 4 rounds I got up to speed and managed to race ahead after all. From this we moved on to X-Code where we managed to win the 4 basic missions and the first mission of the blue box. At this point we believed that the evening would wind down soon so we snuck in a quick game of Shark Attacks - where I finally did not come in in last place! Only to then learn that the game night would go on a bit longer this time. So picked up Las Vegas as well. I hadn't played so many different games in one setting in ages and really enjoyed it. The evening also served as a nice way to cap off the organizer's 5 year run in hosting these game nights.

Glad to see Terraforming Mars getting some love...

The size can make it a bit intimidating but there's literally something for everyone. There are kids games, family games, party games, advanced games, super heavy games, roleplaying games, wargames and probably some I'm forgetting now. There are toys, accessories, fan stuff, everything.

I went alone for many years, I've gone with my GF, I've gone with friends. Every experience is a bit different but I've never not had fun. The only negative thing I've ever experienced was some people hogging a table for a game I really wanted to try but most booths now are pretty good about queueing up.

One thing you have to understand though is that Essen is a fair not a convention. While you can play games, you won't necessarily get to finish them. Some booths have time slots and will tell you to wrap it up when yours is over. And if you play with strangers some might only be looking to "get a taste" for it and then move on. But if you're "stationed" in Essen for the night there are several hotspots where you can go to play properly.

we also got out at midnight to watch the Perseids. We've been doing this for a few years now and never seen such an intense shower. Like you said, we also saw some fat ribbons across the sky. Not a whole lot but very impressive one. We also had a lightning storm on the other side of the valley.

I never considered using normal binos to look for Andromeda. What magnification do you have?

Regular boardgame nights returned from summer hiatus. The full group assembled for 5 player coop Great Wall. The game has amazing table presence and pretty interesting mechanics but absolutely no balance.

• Some leaders are just vastly better than others (pay a chi to make one additional damage vs get a massive discount when you recruit.)
• Missions have massively different difficulty levels and some are nigh on impossible for 5 players.
• Events are just ridiculous. Their immediate effects are ok but their ongoing effects are just way too punishing. Still the basic gameplay loop is compelling and we're probably gonna play this on occasion.

On the weekend my sister also hopped over for a visit and we played:

• Thanos Rising - I basically had one decent turn, the rest was all a wash and with only two players pulling we had no chance.
• Earth - First time for my sister but she quickly took to it. This was the first game where I dared to take one of those terrains that forbids you from taking a particular action (growth) and I got by quite decently. Getting another card on every plant action was well worth the tradeoff. With enough card draws, I could fuel a lot of compost actions and on top of it I got lucky and drew the terrain that gives VP based on composted cards. All in all I won with a commanding lead. But after initial confusion over the common scoring cards (fauna) it was nice to see that everyone ultimately got the hang of it and scored at least 3 of them.
• Würfel Ligretto - Early morning we decided to wake ourselves up with someting frantic. So frantic in fact that one of the dice tumbled off the table and somehow into the kitchen installation. But we were ultimately able to find and retrieve the bugger and complete the game.
• Moving on from that we played Shark Attacks - a push your luck game where I consistently have less luck than everyone else. At least this time I lost to my sister instead of my GF.
• Pharaon - We capped the visit off with this game that I had kind shelved for a while. GF wasn't in the mood for something heavy and just watched leaving it at a 2p setup. I must say I vastly preferr this game with less players. While I apprciate that it does go to 5 players and works it just becomes soooo much thighter. Spots per player are 7.5, 5, 6.25, 5 (from 2 to 4 players) and more importantly with 5 you might not even have the opportunity to go in a particular sector if everyone else prioritizes it.

I can't blame you. It literally took us pretty much weekly sessions for over a year to reach the final scenario. That's a daunting comittment. I actually low key burned out on the game a few times during that period. But it always pulled me back in again.

I grew up with the Ravensburger box of classics so, board games were always a part of my childhood. They quickly captured my imagination and I began to draw roll and move boards, explaining to my mom what should happen on each space.

When I got older the whole family got into games and that turned into a nice sunday tradition.

Eventually I got sucked into BGG and never financially recovered...

The discovery texts in the book just broke up the pace so much. Spliting the party made the down time insufferable and the "combat/diplomacy" mechanic was horrible.

We're a group of 5 so someone would had to sit out every time and after one play I told everyone I would be happy to be that person...

Yeah. It got recommended to me as an easier Tzolkin. Well, it IS easier but not anywhere near as interesting and every game feels sooo samey.

Hoping to borrow Ares Expedition from a friend soon. Played it once in Essen and wasn't wowed. Gonna be tough beating TFM after that...

Had it not pulled a Wii

A good expression for the situation. Wingspan's success is definitly to a large part because of it's accessibility. Every problem you have (no cards, food, eggs) has an immediate, guaranteed and obvious solution. Everything you CAN do improves your position. And if you play on the blue side there is barely any direct competition in the game. There's no way to shoot yourself in the foot. There is no requirement to plan ahead.

But it does have some potential to plan ahead, optimize and compete for those who want to.

It also doesn't fall into any of the typical setting tropes like fantasy or sci-fi that might put some people off. It's production values are pretty enough to catch some eyes.

There are better sober games and there are better drunk activities than Munchkin.

If you're at a point where you're having fun with Munchkin you'd be having fun without it as well...

After seeing what the scenarios with different win conditions looked like I am GLAD most were just "kill all monsters".

As for session length we always played just a single scenario (unless we lost the first super quick). It took us a good year maybe one and a half to play through the campaign. IMO the problem is less the session length and just how much of a time hog this game is in general. We're talking 150+ hours dedicated to a single game.

As a Swiss person I would like to apologize for that woman's "English".

Busses have their uses. Lots of commentor have mentioned the flexibility in setting up / changing routes. But there's also the flexibility in sizes. You can start a line with a large van or small mini bus and your only overhead is the driver. From there you can scale that up according to demand up to frequently run articulated busses. Meanwhile your minimum investment for tram includes at the very least a not inexpensive track installation.

Don't get me wrong. If you have the passenger volume that investment definitely pays off. But I don't like this unnecessary competition between two modes of transport that can be very complimentary to each other and are both better than individual cars.

The secret source of humor isn't joy but sorrow. - Mark Twain

The situation is dire but not serious - Viennese proverb

Life is too important to take it serious. - ome other proverb

Levity is good. It relieves tension and the fear of death - T80

Humanity has a long tradition of lightening the mood in dark situations with (sometimes inappropriate) humor. Internet memes are simply one of the newer iterations...

Ich hab kein Problem damit. Im Gegenteil, ich finds lustig wie die, die am lautesten palavern wie die männliche Form andere Geschlechter auch miteinbezieht und "die" sich nicht so anstellen sollen nun die gleichen sind, die mit Schaum vorm Mund klagen wie das anders rum aber GAR nicht geht.

Ein gegenderter Begriff ist offensichtlich DOCH nicht so inklusive wie ich mir das all die Jahre hab sagen lassen...

So wie ich das sehe bin ich 40 Jahre lang hauptsächlich mit "generischem" Maskilinum angesprochen worden. Von mir aus können wir gerne 40 Jahre lang ein "generisches" Femininum verwenden. Bis dann sind wahrscheinlich die auch meisten Fossile ausm politischen Diskurs "herausgealtert".

It's SinnERman - he's not a spice, Maze!

They had Emma Watson!

Republicans are probably fully on board with these new charges. I hear they have quite the obsession with former white house residents deleting stuff that pertains to the government from private systems...

For his post is dark and full of errors.

Uhm. GoT isn't exactly the first to use this expression...

Very interesting but the article - for me - was too scarce on details of this farming system so I took to google. For anyone who wants a TLDR: This is basically a combination of "forest farming" and "terraforming/re-wilding"

• forest farming uses a mix of different plants with different grow heights so the available are isn't just fully utilized in 2 dimensions but the third as well. This mixing avoids many issues with monocultures, and better protects the ground against the sun.
• the second aspect is using different stages of plants, first to reclaim dead land with primitive but hardy "pioneer" plants, follow them up with "bioaccumulator" plants that have higher needs but are excellent at enriching the land with biomass before culminating in plants that have the highest needs but also support the most diversity and are most productive.

We made delicious Jambalaya Tuesday evening. Such a great dish! Tasty and you're basically just throwing ingredients in a pot and make sure they don't burn...

So eine banane Aussage!

An older more polluting car migth not be the better option. But if the new car is one of those giant murde boxes then it's not going to be an upgrade either.

Exactly

Remove? No. Overcome? We're already doing it.

Our society is far more accomodating than it has ever been. Different sexes, ethnicities, skin colors, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities and whatnot enjoy more acceptance and equality now than ever before. Something like the EU - a voluntary alliance of this size - would have been unthinkable probably just 100-200 years ago. And for all its flaws the participating nations have grown closer through it.

We still got ways to go particularly internationally and we must be ever vigilat against those that want to drag us backward but the progress is undeniable.

Da macht man nen Witz und der Mazda nur rum. Teslass ich nicht zu!

So producing them and shipping them around the globe needs to be reduced dramatically. So that point still kinda stands?

The supply side is the wrong place to tackle this problem though. If you limit the amount of new cars that may be produced, people will simply drive their older ones for longer.

Yeah. Just pipe it to /dev/null

As much as that one kiffer in my building bothers me with his constant smoking I think it's amazing that we're at a point now where the police basically have to give the drugs back and we even have some places with a legal pilot program.

Yes your honor, the whole department got together to ensure the confiscated material was indeed incinerated. Do you happen to have a snack with you?

to each their own. I'm just happy there will be a choice

If you integrate the digital into an analog game, it's no longer an analog game. It's now a video game with a physical dongle. Looking at you LoTR:JtME!

In some places they only allow morning deliveries, then for most of the day cars are banned. This means shops can still easily stock up while keeping the area free of traffic when people are out and about.

Another strategy is not allowing through-traffic by installing modal filters. Which means you're only gonna drive in there if you actually need to go there. Basically the cul-de-sac idea from suburbia but without the sprawl that pulls everything apart and without restricting bikes and pedestrians to the same convoluted labyrinth.

They seem to have a real problem with speeding (the article mentions up to 50 in a 20 km/h zone). That's massive. 20 is really just barely more than the idle power of a car. It's what we have in Switzerland for "encounter" zones where cars are allowed but pedestrians have full priority. Speeding through that at 50 is crazy.

It's an interesting approach and it seems to be working. So I say good for them. But at the same time I can't help but think that there might have been more conventional things to try. Signs don't really work well on drivers. Physics does. A few hefty dips and bumps get drivers to slow down real fucking fast. Looking at a top down image of the intersection there's a REALLY wide turn on one side that is very obviously tempting to speed through. But there's also a small "square" next to it which could have easily been extended to make the turn more sharp. A few more of those fat concrete planters and drivers will learn really quickly that this space isn't for them anymore.

Well, I for one welcome our new digital vingette overlords!

It's about time...