The Art Of Not Asking Why

We arrived. Krickland feels colder than New York, probably because of the humidity next to Washington Lake. It’s a chill kind of evening here, with no obligations. My stomach is full, and I’m ready to go to bed, but it’s too early for me in this time zone.

We’re headed to Seattle tomorrow to meet friends. I’m excited to have a camera with me in a place I don’t know again, and I could use some time off.

Today, I broke down and wrote in my Emacs journal instead of my written one for the first time in over a year. There was just too much to write, and there were too many places I wanted to mention and link to, something I can do easily with Emacs OSM package, as I mentioned before. There was resistance at first since I was writing something personal since Emacs is not as intimate as my notebook, but the words came flowing soon enough. I’m glad I did it this way. We’ll see if I switch back or not; I’m not sure at this point.

On the other hand, I almost finished my pocket notebook and I’m ready to start a new one. It’s been good. I like that I can open it and look through my various reminders and notes and start working on things I need whenever.

Jason Becker]] writes that that the situation in Israel is not simple for him, and it frustrates him when people pretend it is:

how angry I felt toward Americans who overnight felt like they were experts on this conflict. What little I could say is “a whole lot of people seem to think that this is all very simple and clear – simple and clear what the United States should do and what Israel should do– and anyone who has ever spent any time understanding the Middle East would not be so sure.”

As an American-Israeli with most of his family still in Israel, I feel the same way. In fact, these days, I automatically block/ignore anyone new who has some sort of “free Palestine” or its equivalent emoji on their blog or a pin on themselves. The notion that you can reduce what’s going on to a mere pin on a bag or an emoji is infuriating.

I hate car horns so much sometimes. Someone was blocked in the street, and they leaned into their horn for half a minute (after that, I put on my noise-canceling headset).

What’s the dea,l you think they’ll move from the soundwaves? Do you have to make it my problem too at 07:30 AM?

I said I’ll do it, but I finally did: macOS Sequoia. My main concern is dealing with the permissions (as described here among other places).

I ran and upgraded Homebrew and its various packages with no issues. Emacs however seemed to have “forgotten” how to access the Desktop. Looking into this.

I’ve been looking for signs of an alternative ending for Mad Max since last night when I finished it in vain. Maybe happy Hollywood ending spoiled me, I couldn’t just let it end like this. But maybe it’s supposed to end like this, as other pointed out in Reddit and elsewhere; maybe that’s the point. Mad Max is a tragic story of the end of the world, and a man ending with it. To that extent, the game is brilliant.

The game 🎮 is played as Max from a third-person view angle, on foot or in his car. As the game progresses, you advance and upgrade mostly the car but also Max himself, with major upgrades locked until you finish certain missions. I played all of those, main story ones and side ones, and enjoyed them all. The mechanics of the game are responsive and polished for the most part (some of the racing missions force you to use a different vehicle, and those drive like a wet sack of potatoes shot out of a tar-loaded circus cannon); combos land with crunchy satisfaction, car chases end with dramatic explosions with the help of Chumbucket… Chumbucket! Let me rave a bit about the best character in the game, which made the whole story for me.

Chumbucket is a mechanic (“black finger”) hunchback you’re introduced to early in the game, and he’s with you to the end. The voice acting by Jason Spisak is the best in the game, hands down. In my opinion, Chumbucket also has the best backstory too. He gives you tips and direction in the game, acting both as a guide and as an extension of some of the most popular car weapons in the game, like the Harpoon and the Thundersticks.

The game has plenty of those backstory moments, which makes it an excellent supplement to the world in the Mad Max movies, and being able to drive wherever you want and learn more about different sites is an excellent bonus if you love the movies. Max will comment about the different relics you find in the world, and you’ll get more bits and pieces about “The Fall.” Everything from the “big nothing” to the storms, from shipwrecks to enemy camps, oozes with Mad Max style. There were times I stepped out of the car, climbed on a hill somewhere, and admired the view. It’s one of those games you can sink into.

If you like the Mad Max movies, and you have a taste for action post apocalyptic games, you won’t be disappointed. This 2015 title is available on most gaming platforms including macOS and Linux costs less than half of a full AAA game.

For Halloween, I decided to get parts 1 and 2 and see if I could finish it this time. The game 🎮 is beautifully animated and creepy. It does indeed feel like a kid’s nightmare.