I am very, very progressive. Here are my hot takes:
Transgender participation in sports can lead to unfair advantages. I hate that I believe this, as I do not want anybody to feel ostracized or as if they are discriminated against. But I think it’s true nonetheless :(
Reading smut does not count as reading. Listening to audiobooks does not count as reading.
The US was never the land of the free.
Music needs to broadly adopt alternative musical scales.
State-sanctioned suicide is essential to a developed nation.
Pinball is grossly under-appreciated, and its progression is a great example of doing new things with old ideas.
Any nation that wants nukes should be allowed to develop them.
Luigi’s Mangione’s eyebrows are off-putting.
Eating breakfast is stupid if you have a job that isn’t physical.
Transgender participation in sports can lead to unfair advantages.
There is oodles of science that absolutely confirms this.
Almost all men are stronger than almost all women. It’s why high school boy’s sports teams routinely wipe the field with Olympic-level women’s teams. Like, they absolutely dominate the women’s teams. Even world-class female bodybuilders and strength athletes only moderately exceed the upper quartile of the male population. As in, not other bodybuilders and strength athletes, just normal men who have high-but-not-unusual levels of fitness.
And because the Venn diagram of when changes are best applied to the human body, and when subjects are old enough to give informed consent, are two separate circles with one hell of a gap between them, most FtM changes occur after the bulk of the musculature that provides adult strength has been developed.
As a progressive it absolutely sucks to admit that. But facts, evidence, and even reality have a very strong left-leaning bias.
dint they have a trans MTF that was dominating the womens sports, and now women refuse to compete agianst her because it was so unfair. i think it was wrestling.
Bro how are audiobooks not reading? Worst take of the bunch, and frankly pretty ableist.
Studies have consistently shown equal comprehension from whether something is read or spoken to you. So firstly you’re literally consuming and understanding the exact same story in your head.
Audiobooks are also far more accessible, you can listen to one and drive, clean, cook, brush your teeth, etc…
And like for many people, audiobooks are THE best way they could possibly consume books. Say they have dyslexia, visual impairments, adhd, etc… that all make reading take much more mental energy. That all disappears in audio format.
And like there’s so much you can add with stuff like graphic audio, you can have a whole cast, music, sound effects, things you simply can’t do just via the written word.
And lets not forget the tradition of human storytelling began from passing on stories purely my mouth. People told a story and remembered it and spoke it again. People are naturally built to take in stories audibly, and its no wonder many people find this method (of telling the exact same friggen story!!!) more natural. Also like we’re these oral stories somehow less legitimate until they were written down?
When you read, your brain is working hard behind the scenes. It recognizes the shapes of letters, matches them to speech sounds, connects those sounds to meaning, then links those meanings across words, sentences and even whole books. The text uses visual structure such as punctuation marks, paragraph breaks or bolded words to guide understanding. You can go at your own speed.
Listening, on the other hand, requires your brain to work at the pace of the speaker. Because spoken language is fleeting, listeners must rely on cognitive processes, including memory to hold onto what they just heard.
I don’t think one is better than the other, but they are fucking different. I listen to audiobooks and I read books. And I do a lot of both.
The statement “audiobooks aren’t reading” is an oversimplification. It would be better to say that audiobooks can be less beneficial to certain people.
I say this from personal experience - when I listen to an audiobook, I am not devoting my entire essence to the task, there is still room for other activity. I don’t like that. I think there is much to be gained through the solitary and mentally taxing reading that print necessitates.
But yes, many people prefer audiobooks. That’s okay. I still think people should challenge themselves, however, in both the books they read and how they read them, in order to broaden the scope of their understanding. The potential for personal growth is astronomical; who knows what one misses when they aren’t 100% committed to the information?
Eating breakfast should be for anyone with an active lifestyle, not just folks with a physical job. And as a coach, the only time I get angry at a student is when they don’t eat breakfast. You’ve got to fuel the work and that starts with consistent eating.
I agree with the pinball thing about it being under-appreciated; but I’m not sure what you mean by the progression.
If it has anything to do with the purely physical and mechanical nature of the game I probably agree. The complexity of the board and the fact it is fucking real makes it way cooler than any video game that exists.
Re: progression, it has stagnated. I suppose there’s only so much you can do. But when you compare the tables of the 70’s to the tables of the 80’s to the tables of the 90’s the progression is astonishing.
Ah, I see. Yes! They got more complex over time. I grew up in the 90s and seeing some boards from earlier periods just kinda depresses me. They’re too simple! 🤣
It’s not really controversial, probably. I just wanted to get it out there.
This is unsubstantiated, but I imagine that if you asked a retro gamer (pac-man, dig-dug, galaga, etc.) about pinball they would probably say it sucks or that they don’t care about it or that it’s not for them.
Nobody talks about pinball outside of the niche circles, but I think it’s superior to traditional arcade games, superior to modern arcade games, and is generally a perfect amalgamation of the arts: music, artwork, mechanics, and code-based chicanery all contribute to something beautiful.
Take Whirlwind for example. It’s absolutely gorgeous in every way: the Gnosticism in the art, the insanely catchy soundtrack, novel mechanical elements, and brutal hostility make it the magnum opus of pinball, and a perfect embodiment of the chaos of a storm IMO.
Admittedly, the scene is not what it once was. New table manufacturers leverage existing IP instead of creating their own, and the few original tables that are still produced are mostly kind of slop. Compare Total Nuclear Annihilation to Whirlwind for an example.
Whirlwind is definitely my favorite. My other comment went into why, but specifically I really enjoy the jackpot shot, because the timing is very difficult and the payoff is huge. Other contenders would be Taxi (Gorbie cracks me up and those ramp shots are punishing but rewarding) and Pin*Bot (massive skill ceiling, banging IDM soundtrack that was ahead of its time). I haven’t played many post-Williams tables, but of the ones I have played I enjoyed Stranger Things for its simplicity and the Demogorgon shot.
This selection makes it obvious that I grew up on vpins, as Stern does not license their tables virtually. There are still many, many iconic tables I haven’t played or have only dabbled with: Twilight Zone, Black Lagoon come to mind.
Attack from mars I’ve only played a handful of times. The scores are too high for my tastes, but I enjoy the risk-reward UFO shot and it’s generally just a hilarious table.
Looking at the Pinball Map there isn’t a listed Whirlwind table within 3 hours of me but I’ll keep my eyes peeled. The spinning board elements look familiar but it’s possible I played something else with that gimmick. Taxi has somehow evaded me despite being somewhat common. Pin-bot I know well (Bride of Pin-bot too!) it’s a solid mid-80s table that’s always worth a few rounds.
I’m pretty blind to the scores other than as a free game goal, I’m in it purely for the experience.
I do like Pinball (I just suck at it) and I always thought the machines are really really neat. I’m happy to see someone bring them up! I suppose it’s just that they’re a bit inaccessible. Having one in your home is a whole thing and going to an arcade is another whole thing.
I am very, very progressive. Here are my hot takes:
Transgender participation in sports can lead to unfair advantages. I hate that I believe this, as I do not want anybody to feel ostracized or as if they are discriminated against. But I think it’s true nonetheless :(
Reading smut does not count as reading. Listening to audiobooks does not count as reading.
The US was never the land of the free.
Music needs to broadly adopt alternative musical scales.
State-sanctioned suicide is essential to a developed nation.
Pinball is grossly under-appreciated, and its progression is a great example of doing new things with old ideas.
Any nation that wants nukes should be allowed to develop them.
Luigi’s Mangione’s eyebrows are off-putting.
Eating breakfast is stupid if you have a job that isn’t physical.
I’m sure there are more. FIGHT ME!
Some of us wake up with low blood sugar and can be very cranky until that’s sorted.
There is oodles of science that absolutely confirms this.
Almost all men are stronger than almost all women. It’s why high school boy’s sports teams routinely wipe the field with Olympic-level women’s teams. Like, they absolutely dominate the women’s teams. Even world-class female bodybuilders and strength athletes only moderately exceed the upper quartile of the male population. As in, not other bodybuilders and strength athletes, just normal men who have high-but-not-unusual levels of fitness.
And because the Venn diagram of when changes are best applied to the human body, and when subjects are old enough to give informed consent, are two separate circles with one hell of a gap between them, most FtM changes occur after the bulk of the musculature that provides adult strength has been developed.
As a progressive it absolutely sucks to admit that. But facts, evidence, and even reality have a very strong left-leaning bias.
Lol
Maybe we should focus less on letting people kill themselves, and more on helping them not have a reason to?
I absolutely agree. A society must walk before it can run.
dint they have a trans MTF that was dominating the womens sports, and now women refuse to compete agianst her because it was so unfair. i think it was wrestling.
Bro how are audiobooks not reading? Worst take of the bunch, and frankly pretty ableist.
Studies have consistently shown equal comprehension from whether something is read or spoken to you. So firstly you’re literally consuming and understanding the exact same story in your head.
Audiobooks are also far more accessible, you can listen to one and drive, clean, cook, brush your teeth, etc…
And like for many people, audiobooks are THE best way they could possibly consume books. Say they have dyslexia, visual impairments, adhd, etc… that all make reading take much more mental energy. That all disappears in audio format.
And like there’s so much you can add with stuff like graphic audio, you can have a whole cast, music, sound effects, things you simply can’t do just via the written word.
And lets not forget the tradition of human storytelling began from passing on stories purely my mouth. People told a story and remembered it and spoke it again. People are naturally built to take in stories audibly, and its no wonder many people find this method (of telling the exact same friggen story!!!) more natural. Also like we’re these oral stories somehow less legitimate until they were written down?
According to this page, that is just not true.
I don’t think one is better than the other, but they are fucking different. I listen to audiobooks and I read books. And I do a lot of both.
The statement “audiobooks aren’t reading” is an oversimplification. It would be better to say that audiobooks can be less beneficial to certain people.
I say this from personal experience - when I listen to an audiobook, I am not devoting my entire essence to the task, there is still room for other activity. I don’t like that. I think there is much to be gained through the solitary and mentally taxing reading that print necessitates.
But yes, many people prefer audiobooks. That’s okay. I still think people should challenge themselves, however, in both the books they read and how they read them, in order to broaden the scope of their understanding. The potential for personal growth is astronomical; who knows what one misses when they aren’t 100% committed to the information?
I think it’s as simple as you read, or you listen. They are different processes. They aren’t better or worse than each other, just different.
Eating breakfast should be for anyone with an active lifestyle, not just folks with a physical job. And as a coach, the only time I get angry at a student is when they don’t eat breakfast. You’ve got to fuel the work and that starts with consistent eating.
I agree with the pinball thing about it being under-appreciated; but I’m not sure what you mean by the progression.
If it has anything to do with the purely physical and mechanical nature of the game I probably agree. The complexity of the board and the fact it is fucking real makes it way cooler than any video game that exists.
Re: progression, it has stagnated. I suppose there’s only so much you can do. But when you compare the tables of the 70’s to the tables of the 80’s to the tables of the 90’s the progression is astonishing.
Ah, I see. Yes! They got more complex over time. I grew up in the 90s and seeing some boards from earlier periods just kinda depresses me. They’re too simple! 🤣
Explain.
Not because I strongly disagree, but I’m curious since you bring it up as a controversial take.
It’s not really controversial, probably. I just wanted to get it out there.
This is unsubstantiated, but I imagine that if you asked a retro gamer (pac-man, dig-dug, galaga, etc.) about pinball they would probably say it sucks or that they don’t care about it or that it’s not for them.
Nobody talks about pinball outside of the niche circles, but I think it’s superior to traditional arcade games, superior to modern arcade games, and is generally a perfect amalgamation of the arts: music, artwork, mechanics, and code-based chicanery all contribute to something beautiful.
Take Whirlwind for example. It’s absolutely gorgeous in every way: the Gnosticism in the art, the insanely catchy soundtrack, novel mechanical elements, and brutal hostility make it the magnum opus of pinball, and a perfect embodiment of the chaos of a storm IMO.
Admittedly, the scene is not what it once was. New table manufacturers leverage existing IP instead of creating their own, and the few original tables that are still produced are mostly kind of slop. Compare Total Nuclear Annihilation to Whirlwind for an example.
Alright you clearly have experience and opintions, what are your top tables?
I’m particularly fond of Attack from Mars and Medieval Madness, and I’m a sucker for secondary playfields.
Whirlwind is definitely my favorite. My other comment went into why, but specifically I really enjoy the jackpot shot, because the timing is very difficult and the payoff is huge. Other contenders would be Taxi (Gorbie cracks me up and those ramp shots are punishing but rewarding) and Pin*Bot (massive skill ceiling, banging IDM soundtrack that was ahead of its time). I haven’t played many post-Williams tables, but of the ones I have played I enjoyed Stranger Things for its simplicity and the Demogorgon shot.
This selection makes it obvious that I grew up on vpins, as Stern does not license their tables virtually. There are still many, many iconic tables I haven’t played or have only dabbled with: Twilight Zone, Black Lagoon come to mind.
Attack from mars I’ve only played a handful of times. The scores are too high for my tastes, but I enjoy the risk-reward UFO shot and it’s generally just a hilarious table.
Looking at the Pinball Map there isn’t a listed Whirlwind table within 3 hours of me but I’ll keep my eyes peeled. The spinning board elements look familiar but it’s possible I played something else with that gimmick. Taxi has somehow evaded me despite being somewhat common. Pin-bot I know well (Bride of Pin-bot too!) it’s a solid mid-80s table that’s always worth a few rounds.
I’m pretty blind to the scores other than as a free game goal, I’m in it purely for the experience.
Good points, and I agree.
I do like Pinball (I just suck at it) and I always thought the machines are really really neat. I’m happy to see someone bring them up! I suppose it’s just that they’re a bit inaccessible. Having one in your home is a whole thing and going to an arcade is another whole thing.
If you’re lucky, you might have a club near you. Nothing but pinball. They’re usually pretty calm too. Check out the pinball map