Tipa follows a Greatest Showman nitpick down an Age-of-Sail research rabbit hole, then ends up buying Seafarer: the Ship Sim to scratch the commercial-shipping itch.
Azuriel reviews Death Howl, a “Soulslike deck builder” with grid battles and brutal fights—evocative vibes and clever death-howls loop, but frustratingly limited combat info and constrained deck depth
Bhagpuss checks in on EverQuest II: Rage of Cthurath as a casual soloer—fun, decent value, thinner story, and noticeably shorter Signature questlines that make alts feel doable again.
Naithin’s very-late November(ish) journal: Where Winds Meet quest goals smashed (multiplayer lag woes), Wuthering Waves 3.0 looks promising, and a neat hours breakdown across a bunch of games.
Tobold reviews board game Recall from Spiel Essen: a fiddly, long setup and a 4-hour teach-and-play, with key/slot action combos that ramp complexity fast—maybe too long for regular nights.
Warner Crocker reflects on post-Christmas Chicago gatherings and how “the before times” (pre-Trump, pre-COVID) gave way to loss, new marriages, scattered kids, Zoom traditions, and constant change.
Joar explores life after leaving traditional work: when performance metrics vanish, old productivity checklists feel empty, and “success” shifts toward unquantifiable wins like relationships, presence
Belghast writes through a hollow, workday-after-Christmas haze after losing his spouse, sharing family time, awkward in-law dynamics, and coping via small projects like 3D-printed Star Wars and LEGO
Wilhelm rounds up his 2025 reading—39 books tracked on Goodreads despite the Bezos grumbles—leaning into escapism and calling out how Roman political fiction (hello Cicero trilogy) hits a little close
Bruce Schneier spotlights new research on oval squid camouflage—disruptive vs mottled patterns, contrast thresholds, and posture tied to sitting or hovering—plus the usual open thread for security ch聊
Dave Winer argues AI’s next big win for developers is helping us design a simpler general-purpose programming language—because today’s browser-to-server JavaScript complexity is just too much.
JJM’s 2025 recap: lots of gamedev but no releases, physical editions for 2024 games, Skyrim dominating playtime, and a late-year surge of OCaml that might replace the Haskell plan.