Lurker > Dynalo

I'm about 25 hours in, nearing the end-ish. Just doing a bunch of side quests.

I've been really enjoying it. My biggest complaint is that the AI is effing awful. Characters are completely useless if you aren't controlling them. Given just how bad they are, I'm thinking they used to be better, but got toned down in favour of making battles a bit more difficult without making them damage sponges. But each character has been fun to control in their own right, so that makes up for it a bit.

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It's a weird arrangement I have. I'm salaried, but I still get paid overtime in a weird way. I only get overtime if I work late on billable hours, and overtime can either be paid out at the normal 1.5x rate, or I can take it off at a 1:1 ratio. Generally I just keep two weeks of bank time in case I need it and get the rest paid out.

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Assassins do it from behind.

The last two weeks have actually been busier than usual. I expect it to slow down a bit now though.

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A lot of games from the PS1/N64 era have not held up well. They just really do not look good.

There are very few I could go back to and play without nostalgia powering me through it.

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RCtheWSBC posted...

I'd love to get it, but it's looks like it'll be sold on for at least another 3 months at this rate.

I was disappointed to see all the grossly overpriced listings on eBay and whatnot. I picked it up for $100 CAD when it first came out. Selling it for $300 is highway robbery.

The game is legit awesome though.

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I wear a Fitbit... So no.

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Assassins do it from behind.

I've been rocking Ring Fit Adventure while stuck at home here. I still stand by it being an incredible exercise game that gives an actual good workout.

I still occasionally go for runs or use my exercise bike as well. The gym being closed hasn't impacted me too much so far.

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The few times I've been invited to someone's home when in the US, I was made fun of for taking off my shoes when I got there. Texas, if it's a more regional thing.

There's just no point in keeping them on in Canada. Half the year is snow, don't want that in the house. Quarter is rain and mud. That leaves like maybe 3 months of the year you'd be reasonably confident in your shoes being clean enough to wear indoors. So we just always take them off.

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Office is still open but they have since told me to work from home as I have asthma. I suspect the office will officially close end of day tomorrow.

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Lokarin posted...

Lol that's a business expense - even if your boss forces you to pay for it, you can write it off (if you have it in writing that it's required for your job)

Most business expenses aren't a 100% write off, so he would still be out of pocket for whatever couldn't be written off.

Even if it were a 100% write off, since it's at home he would only be able to claim a portion of it because he couldn't reasonably claim it is strictly used for business purposes.

So, if the boss wants him to have it, the boss should pay for it.

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Haven't been given the order to work from home yet, but I suspect I will be soon.

Not much will change for me. I'll just continue working as per usual.

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The universities just transitioned to only online classes. No free pass for them.

I'm interested to see how this will impact the grade 12 students who wish to go to university. They'll be missing nearly 4 months of material, assuming the universities even choose to recognize that they have the required credit.

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And we've declared a state of emergency. Fun times had by no one.

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Teachers are now just off with pay next week while the school board figures out what they want them to work on while the kids are off. They'll go back to work in April, likely with instructions to create some kind of distance learning program.

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I don't know why I don't make risotto more often. This is god damn delicious. And dirt cheap to make.

captpackrat posted...

I think I invented a new kind of "Mexican" dish. Take a flour tortilla, spread refried beans on it, then place a crispy corn tostada shell on top, cover with cheese, then another flour tortilla, then cook like a quesadilla.

That just sounds like a vegetarian quesadilla... With a tostada shell. Which I'm sure is probably delicious.

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I'm making a risotto. Stirring, stirring, and more stirring

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Haven't played the second one. Or watched any videos about it

Loved the first one though.

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Schools are pretty empty today I hear. Not at all surprising.

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quigonzel posted...

Is this confirmed? Last I heard was just until the end of the month.

https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2020/march/16/class-suspensions


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Dikitain posted...

Not surprised, last I heard they were recommending keeping them closed 8 weeks. Given that it is already mid-March, if they do only make it 8 weeks it will already be less then a month before summer break (here at least, I know some places end sooner)

What most people were expecting was being closed all of March and April, plan to go back in May, extend school to the end of July and only have one month of holidays. Completely shutting down and passing all students was a bit unexpected for everyone.

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faramir77 posted...

Where are you, TC? Almost sounds like Alberta, except students don't pass with their current grade.

We worked our asses off today. We're coming up with a unified approach to dealing with these class cancellations.

Sask. They did a complete 180. Said yesterday that schools will remain open. Then this morning said to keep your kids home if you can, and you have until the end of the week to figure out arrangements for child care.

The teachers were left completely in the dark. It literally hit the media before the teachers were told a damn thing. So this whole coming up with a plan for distance/alternative learning wasn't at all discussed with them and made public anyways. For most of them though, they'll get to "work" from home, so it's basically just a few extra months off with pay. That being said, things could change for the teachers, given that they have not been involved in any of the plans whatsoever so far.

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It just said that they will receive a grade "based on their current grade" and "students will progress to the next grade"

So likely if they had a failing grade, it'll get bumped up to a bare minimum passing grade.

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ZBug_ posted...

I mean I guess so? Its the same as anyone, if they seem uninterested (which your nurse will be. If nothing else because shes at work) you stop. Otherwise its harassment.

My nurse seemed to find it amusing... Probably because I was in recovery and high as a kite. And she probably assumed I wasn't going to remember it anyways. Well I do and it was very embarrassing

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It's late enough in the year that I'm inclined to agree. First semester of University could be rough if the new grads choose to go that route, as they'll be missing some important material. But for the most part, playing catch-up shouldn't be too bad.

I certainly feel for the parents that need to come up with a 6 month child care plan though, especially with daycares also closing. And you aren't supposed to get the grandparents to do it, even if that's normally an option for you.

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Kids pass with their current grade and receive all credits. They now have the next 5.5 months off.

Teachers are to work on a "supplemental program with distance and alternative learning" for students who wish to keep learning. In other words, busy work in order to justify continuing to pay them (and they should still get paid, to be clear).

Was expecting classes to get cancelled. Wasn't expecting them to cancel the entire school year.

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Plenty of leftover Bolognese sauce, so just made some more pasta and reheated some sauce.

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I made tagliatelle pasta with homemade Bolognese sauce.

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Yeah, we're in for a hell of a crash at the rate things are going. This ain't good.

I'm scared to even look at my investments, but I also didn't plan to use them anytime soon, so they're just gonna sit there and suffer.

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In Canada it seems like they only sell thin mints and these generic vanilla or chocolate Oreo style cookies.

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I got that ultra rare and greedy AB+ blood.

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My work email, yes. I'll flag things I need to go back to.

My personal email is a dumpster fire that mostly gets sent stuff I don't care about, so I have a ton of unread messages.

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5'10" or so.

I fluctuate between 135-145lbs.

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I went to McDonald's because I wanted a shamrock shake and this shake has absolutely destroyed my stomach.

Why do I do this to myself.

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The idea of a cruise never really appealed to me... But my ideal vacation doesn't exactly appeal to most other folk either. This year I'm gonna go to Newfoundland and spend a week on the trails.

What does one do on a cruise? Is it most just relaxing and drinking? Are there shows? Gambling? I literally know nothing about cruises. Just the two of you going, or a bigger group?

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I'm currently making payments... But I got a 0% interest rate over 5 years, so there really wasn't any reason to pay it off in full.

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Last time I had to do that, the picture was taken in a place with really yellow light. Made me look like I was sick and dying. I enjoyed that.

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xjayguyx posted...

What do you do for work?

Do... Do you need help setting up that strawman?

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Making some buttermilk fried chicken with sweet corn and garlic mash

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darkknight109 posted...

They've been put into practice in countries around the world and those countries haven't gotten mired in political gridlock. All it means is you'll have to adjust to the fact that if you're the dominant party that doesn't mean you get to do everything you want.

What ends up happening though is coalition governments get formed, and the parties involved often just make deals about which policies to enact, making it harder for the voters to actually know what the government is going to do. This isn't really the same as compromising - it's more akin to trading. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. I'm not convinced that's any better than what's currently going on.

You may vote for one government because they said they wouldn't enact a policy you strongly disagree with, but then they end up forming a coalition, and as part of the formation they agree to pass the exact policy you didn't want. It makes it much more difficult for the average voter to keep track of what the government intends to do, and a lot more difficult to hold government accountable for any of their promises.

That said though, I still find it preferable stepping through that landmine compared to the travesty that is fptp. I just don't view it as a strict positive and I think a lot of people would be upset as promises get broken, especially during the initial adjustment period

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darkknight109 posted...

Racist xenophobes who got the electoral results they deserved.

Frankly I was hoping they'd do worse than they did. But the results still speak for themselves.

darkknight109 posted...

It was ridiculous when Steven Harper got a majority with just 39% of the country voting for him, it was equally ridiculous when Trudeau did the same thing 4 years later

No system really fixes that without bringing in potentially other issues.

Fptp is obviously terrible in terms of percent of votes compared to actual power.

Ranked Ballot is the same issue, it just hides it better. There would still be articles proclaiming that x party was only the first choice for 35% of the country.

Proportional fixes it by making it so no government is likely to ever have a majority ever again. You could argue that this is a good thing, but it makes it nigh impossible for parties to keep campaign promises, especially if they're divisive.

I'm curious, which system would you prefer? Proportional is the most fair system, but I quite dislike the idea of what government is in power not being able to get anything done. Ranked Ballot would fix that issue, but would require a shake up in our parties, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Fptp is just a terrible system in general. Some kind of mix would be nice.

I'd also like to see some sort of system in place where the pm is separate from the party leader. Though I don't know how I would want that to look yet. I hate the fact that if you don't like the PM, you're forced to vote for a different party, even if your beliefs are more in line with said party. I do recognize that this may greatly diminish voter interest in the parties themselves as people often only care about whoever the pm is... But I kinda feel like that's all people care about right now anyways.

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darkknight109 posted...

I was disappointed by his failure to follow through on his election promise to revamp the electoral system

He came to a quick realization that that would literally never happen. At least not without significantly more public outcry for it.

First past the post favours conservatives a lot. They will never vote to approve anything different.

Ranked ballot would ensure the Liberals basically never lose an election again, and would be what they would push for.

Every other party would want proportional, but that would cut down on the seats both the Liberals and Conservatives would get, so that would be shot down by both.

So basically he would only want to push for Ranked Ballot, because every other option is worse for the liberal party, and ranked ballot would be torn to shreds by every other party.

Blighboy posted...

so it's much preferable to having, say, Doug Ford as PM

It's still amazing to me that this happened. I mean, Wynne was outright hated there, so I get how it happened. But oh boy. Ford? You couldn't do any better than that? Really? It's like watching a bad soap opera.

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Blighboy posted...

The thing is, most of the other leaders are shit as well.

That was my general thought during the last election. Just looked at the leaders and thought "man. I don't want any of you in charge."

I feel like Trudeau is a pretty poor face of Canada. Too many weird scandals, and his dealings with other countries never seem to go well. He's done a few other things that have bothered me, but I can honestly say I don't think I'd have been any happier if someone else was in charge.

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I... liked it. I didn't actually expect to like it. The ending was laughable, but given the constraints of adapting an RPG into a film, I thought the movie as a whole was overall pretty darn faithful to Dragon Quest V.

I would actually recommend it if you are a fan of the game/series.

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wolfy42 posted...

What recipe/cook time/temp did you end up going with? I used to have one but I have forgotten it, but I'm gonna try making them again soon.

Oven baked at 250F for around 4.5 hours.

I made a paste with 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1tbsp garlic powder, 1tbsp chili powder, 1tsp paprika, 1tsp cumin, and 1 tbsp olive oil. Coated the ribs then wrapped individually in tinfoil. Wrapped all the ribs together in another layer of tinfoil. Then chuck it on a baking tray and let slowly cook.

If you wanted, you could coat it in BBQ sauce after and broil it for a few minutes to get a nice glaze as well.

Gravy made from the drippings is incredibly greasy and delicious.

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Roast chicken with roasted potatoes, gravy, and brussel sprouts.

Ice cream for dessert.

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Dynalo posted...

I was disappointed in my last attempt at short ribs, so I'm making them again

I was right, they just needed about an hour longer than what I cooked last time. This time they are delicious.

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I was disappointed in my last attempt at short ribs, so I'm making them again. Should be ready in about an hour. Serving it with sides of garlic mash and steamed broccoli.

For dessert I just finished the prep work for cardamom roasted oranges, which I will serve with ice cream.

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I started it up on Friday and put a couple hours in. I'm liking it so far, and I plan on playing some more today.

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Dynalo posted...

Also, Regina is permanently on strike right now. Crown corps were on strike a few months ago. Refinery workers are currently locked out (and have been for over 2 months now). I believe the Teacher's are currently threatening job action as well.

And also the protests about a pipeline, both here and in Saskatoon. There's lots going on.

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I made a chicken pesto pasta last night, and I used the leftover chicken pesto to make some grilled sandwiches today.

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