Out of interest, what do you do and where are you based? It’s a shitty place to work, but if you’re near an Amazon office and you do Amazony things I’m happy to send a reference your way.

I mean, killing prisoners is cruel and unusual in a civilised society.

Here in the UK you can’t buy more than two packs at a given time…

Pretty much every media outlet across the world.

The opposing party in the UK is electing leaders, and they’ve all been asked what they think of him. Like it or not, but in turning one of the biggest multi-billion dollar social media platforms into a small million dollar right-wing platform for crypto bots, he’s now got a lot of influence on politics across the world.

What makes it funnier is that he probably doesn’t give a fuck about the Tories in the UK, but if Trump loses he’ll own a right-wing platform with zero influence on what he cares about.

My very first lessons were around just this, getting used to the bite point where the clutch needs to be to roll forward, and where you start to apply the accelerator. We practiced a few times on different levels of road, and within maybe 1-2 lessons it was fine.

With that said, I can see it being much harder if you’re already experienced or have passed a test, as it is a new skill to learn. It’s a bit like riding a bike in that aspect, I guess.

I hated learning how to drive, and only really started to tolerate it once I got a new driving teacher. I actually like driving now, mostly because it’s one of the few times where I can turn my brain off while not being unfocused.

With that said…I have no idea why Americans (not assuming OP is American, but know it’s rare over there) have such an issue with manual cars. My family has both manual and automatic, and I prefer manual because it’s much easier to have control. It has never, ever been a distraction for me.

As you can probably tell, I’m a big fan of Enders Game. The movie, though, was absolutely devastating. It’s the only time I left a cinema angry.

The Tiny Desk series is so great, and they’ve found a great mix of established and small acts. I’ll be forever grateful to it for introducing me to Hobo Johnson.

I lick mine for several weeks until I get to the centre.

Twitter isn’t a top company any more.

My mind won’t be the only thing going down the gutter now.

It has essentially killed Harvest Moon as the established farm simulator for relaxed gaming.

If you know someone that loves games, but hates fighting or quick skill-based stuff, they will lose hundreds of hours to this game.

Honest question. At what point will Tesla execs look at Musk and decide that keeping him at the helm is not in the company’s best interests?

Eh, to some extent, but we’ve got the foresight to accept these dishes as being British when you consider that the foods we eat aren’t authentic to those areas. Spag Bol isn’t being eaten in Italy, nor is Chicken Vindaloo in India.

We’ve got a long enough history that we can trace back when the Normans and Saxons came here, alongside the culture changes of Indian settlers, Jamaican workers, Irish, etc. That acceptance is not only why there’re a lot of distinctly British versions of different cultures’ food, but why many cities in the UK also serve decidedly authentic food at some of the best restaurants in the world - and that doesn’t even factor in how some cultures have fused over time.

Or a Kebab, absolutely fucking loaded with enough spice to blow your insides out the morning after.

The perception of Britain that most Americans have is that of the 40’s and 50’s. It’s hardly surprising that it’s completely fucking wrong.

I remember reading something ages ago that camsites are actually huge contributors to Russia, with many of the girls there being Russians pretending to be Ukrainian.

To be honest, a 50% attendance record sounds pretty good. I’m really sorry to hear about this though, the spread looks great, and anyone that puts a watch party on for All In is going to put on a good time.

What time was it on for you guys? I went the first year and had an amazing time, but sadly had work this year. Perhaps you should make the pilgrimage over next year for Forbidden Door?

It’s absolutely mad to me that Sonic Team have done nothing with this since SA2: Battle.

I hate to say it, but it’s literally built for mobile devices! Have a Chao Garden game on consoles/PC, have them be downloadable onto your mobile device, and basically turn it into a Pokémon Go type thing where you can get kids and weebs to exercise and explore the outdoors.

The Ribbon is much better, and has been a part of the Office suite for over a decade, easily.

Poor examples aside, designers and engineers are rarely given a seat at the table in big tech companies. Most tech CEO’s were either tech managers or sales people at some point, and are so far removed from IC work or valuing specific crafts for their user value that someone on the UX side probably doesn’t get a say in how this shit is built.

Some UX designers either work to very specific business constraints, or work on stuff that has zero benefit to the end-user. Some engineers work on stuff that solely provides metrics for shareholders and leadership.

I’m tempted to set up a blog just to post about this subject, because it’s everywhere, but big tech is now so top-heavy that for years many huge decisions have been made on a whim by execs. Tech has grown so large and powerful that tech execs (and those clinging to their coat-tails) put themselves outside of the echelons of what an IC can reach, and far above the user. Years of MBA double-speak and worshipping the altar of guys like Gates, Bezos, and Jobs means that it’s “good” to be opinionated and ignore fact over your own judgement. This results in senior management deciding “let’s put AI here” or “the colour scheme should be mostly white”, despite reluctantly paying hundreds of people many thousands of dollars a year to KNOW about this stuff.

That, in essence, is why everything feels shitter nowadays. It’s because some fifty-something MBA cunt believes that you need AI, or a good UI needs more buttons - stuff we’ve known for decades is fucking stupid. That’s irrelevant though, because by being “General Manager of UI at MegaCorp” and having an assistant to arrange their Outlook calendar, they know more than you, pleb.