I was one of the 400 people laid off from Okta last Thursday, and one of the ways I’m keeping busy is writing a series of articles on surviving layoffs (this is my 5th!) and what I’m doing. Follow me on my new adventure!
"We Survive Together:
Interviews with Organizations Fighting against Disaster Ableism and Injustices"
"Human-intensified, natural disasters do not hit everyone equally.
Communities of color, disabled and sick, working class and poor, queer and trans, immigrants, older individuals, and in geopolitically disinvested regions are disproportionately impacted harder by disasters."
Hey Folks! I said yesterday that I was not mainlining #Enshrouded... then spent the entire evening mainlining Enshrouded. I made a bunch of progress unlocking new tradesfolk and then started some minor renovations on my primary base.
Morning Folks! I've been spending some time playing that other new survival game that does not involve catching them all... #Enshrouded. This morning I share some of my very early thoughts about the game after having played around six hours.
"When designing homes for extreme heat, the overarching goal is simply to keep the building occupants cool enough to avoid health risks, particularly when the power is out or A/C is not available. Consider the following when designing a house to be resistant to extreme heat and extend the "hours of safety" that it can provide:" #heatwaves#retrofit#homes#survival#DisasterPreparedness
Repeat >> PNNL: Creating a Cool Room for Extreme Heat Events
"Given the reality of global climate change and the increasing likelihood of extreme heat events, designing and retrofitting homes for resistance to extreme heat and power outages should be considered in all climates. Extending the "hours of safety" that a home can provide when air-conditioning is not available can be life-saving. However, it is not necessary for an entire home to be resistant to extreme heat. Instead, the design or retrofit can concentrate on just one room. "
Not sure just how many types of lichen are growing on the rock in this photo...maybe 8? According to my intro guide, I think I see:
Physcia caesia (white-gray near bottom), Physcia adscendens (gray spiky middle right), Xanthoria parietina (orange-yellow with cups), Usnea cornuta (green-gray branched top left), Teloschistes velifer (orange tips sticking out of the p. adscendens), a type of Candellariella, plus others?
Tips on staying safe in Winter Conditions and when the power goes out, from the National Weather Service.
If Your Heat Goes Out
Close off unneeded rooms to avoid wasting heat.
Stuff towels or rags in cracks under doors.
Close blinds or curtains to keep in some heat.
Eat and drink. Food provides the body with energy for producing its own heat. Drinks lots of water and other non-caffeinated, non-alcholohic drinks to prevent dehydration. Cold air is very dry.
Wear layers of loose-fitting, lightweight, warm clothing. Remove layers to avoid overheating, perspiration and subsequent chill.
Have you just over exposed your hands to the cold and don’t have hand warmers, then there are two locations that can help. First stick your hands under your armpits and second is by your groin. Additionally, to retain more warmth make yourself as small as possible and try find shelter from the elements like hide behind a wall for wind protection.
These are two areas that the body tries to keep alive for biological reasons. Thus this trick works great in a pinch.
I'm not one for "New Year's resolutions", but I am one for overly ambitious projects.
For 2023, Project365 is "One New Game Per Day".
Given that I have 634 unplayed games in my Steam account and {mumble} unredeemed bundle Steam keys, there's a reason my unplayed collection is tagged "Pile of Shame".
I'll pin this to my profile, and give a brief summary here each day (or x, if I miss x days due to work or stuff).
I'll play 15-30 minutes of (at least) one new game I've never played before (or played less than 15 minutes of). I'll give every game at least 15 minutes, even if I hate every minute of it.
I'm also open to suggestions; if you reply to this thread with a game, I'll schedule it, or tell you what I thought of it.
One of the things that's come up is that I have a bunch of games that I've played once, and not touched again.
January 27, 2024 - Day 392 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 428
Game: Palworld
Platform: Xbox Game Pass for PC
Released: Jan 19, 2024
Installed: Jan 27, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 4.9h
Rating: 4 - Good
Palworld is a third-person tree-punching survival game with a new game mechanic of seeking to be sued out of existence by The Pokemon Company.
If you haven't heard of the game that sold 8 million copies in a week on Steam, and is currently sitting at #2 behind PUBG on the Steam chart for record number of concurrent players, the elevator pitch for Palworld is "Pokemon with guns"
I didn't expect it to be quite so literal.
I'd read a piece about survival games by Zack Zwiezen a few days ago, in which he referred to them as "tree punchers" (which I've stolen from him), and he touched on Palworld in the review; so I had no intention of buying it.
However, after rebooting my PC yesterday, I found myself staring at the Xbox app and an install button for Palworld via Game Pass, which meant I didn't need to buy it, and the die was cast.
The gameplay loop is certainly addictive; I can understand why so many folks are playing it.
It starts out like most survival games; wake up in a random location with no idea how you got there, and start punching trees. It's the same gathering-and-crafting loop we've been doing since Minecraft (and probably even before).
Then there's the Pokemon... sorry, "Pals". I'm not a Nintendo girl. I didn't have any Nintendo stuff growing up, and the first Nintendo console I owned was the N64 I bought for our kids for Christmas 2000 (Christmas 2000 sounds like an awesome B-grade movie).
My first encounter with Pokemon was Pokemon GO. I lack the encyclopaedic memory of all the different Pokemon I encountered in PoGo, but upon encountering -and killing- Pals in Palword, they were definitely giving off Pokemon vibes.
You can also collect the Pals, by attacking them with a weapon until they're weakened enough to capture in a Pokeball... erm, Palsphere.
Once captured, you can put them to work in your base, or, uhh... butcher the cute little PokePals, to feed the other PokePals working in your base.
Best not to think too deeply about a game that is also apparently survival horror.
The Pokemon vibes ceased to be vibes and became "you're going to get sued for IP infringement" when I encountered Gumoss.
Gumoss is a grass-type Pal (yes, they've snarfed the 'type' concept too), which feels unarguably like Ditto in an acorn cap.
If I, with my limited recall of Pokemon, can recognise this, I've no doubt the Pokemon fans calling Pocket Pair out are on the money, and it makes sense that the notoriously laid-back-and-not-at-all-protective-of-their-IP, The Pokemon Company, are "investigating".
Which is primarily why I didn't buy it on Steam; I don't want to lose A$44 when they get sued out of existence for IP infringement.