Currently Listening To:
Month: August 2026
From the Twitters
“We don’t regulate steel” is one of those beliefs that reminds me of the oft-quoted observation about naive libertarianism: “like house cats, completely dependent on others but convinced of their fierce independence.”
Sharing because as “oft-quoted” as Dean says it is, I’ve never heard that before and it’s brilliant.
Dollars vs Butts In Seats
Yes, $430M is more than $402M in 2026. But the problem is that only the $430M number is from 2026. The $402M number is from 2019. Thanks to said inflation, $402M earned in 2019 is actually closer to $525M in 2026 if you simply adjust using the consumer pricing index numbers. The reality is slightly more nuanced because movie ticket prices don’t track exactly to this number, and actually overall inflation has caused the CPI to rise faster than ticket prices. Still, the 2019 number is almost certainly closer to $500M when adjusting for 2026 movie ticket prices.$525M – or even just $500M – is still more than $430M. So what we’re really celebrating here is that things are more expensive with time. That includes milk. That includes movie tickets. Congrats, everyone.
The 30 Year Old Diskettes That Made World History Encyclopedia – CivFanatics
It’s crazy to think how seemingly unrelated things came together and led to the creation of the world’s most-read history publication with millions of monthly readers. Civilization was one of the last gifts my father ever bought me, and it was a true gift for my path in life. No item that I own from my past has had more impact on my trajectory.
— Read on civfanatics.com/2026/08/04/diskettes-that-made-world-history-encyclopedia/
Winning and Losing in Solo Journaling RPGs
What makes a journaling game a game and not just journaling prompts?
There are plenty of people out there that would look at even the most gamified journaling game and say “It’s just prompts.” How do I ensure that there is still a game in there? (For the sake of this thought experiment, I am ignoring the answer “You don’t need to. It can just be prompts.”)
If I think that the act of losing, it is probably less fun than the act of winning. However, losing is still more fun than playing a game that guarantees winning. This leaves the possibility of losing as being the key. If I can keep the threat of losing in a game, but still have it be a game that the player will probably win, will that create the most fun for the most players?