pkirkner

Phaedrus' Street Crew
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Posts posted by pkirkner


  1. Well, "worst thing to happen to the [car driving] labor market" is a little dramatic. Undoubtedly a self-driving car business will create/replace many jobs due to the cost of administering such a program, lobbying, regulation, maintenance, support (phone, whatever), etc. I imagine it won't be a 1:1 replacement, but it could be pro-labor in some non-obvious ways.

     

    Yeah, that was clearly hyperbolic, and the automation of motor vehicle transportation will undoubtedly be a boon to everyone who doesn't work in that industry, but I don't see how removing drivers from the equation will create much in the way of new jobs. The infrastructure you describe already exists, and just needs to be modified slightly, not replaced. Meanwhile, a little under 4 million jobs will go the way of the buggy whip salesman.

     

     

    I take Lyfts because they show up when I want them, they get me where I'm going and they LET YOU TIP OVER THE COST OF THE SERVICE. Which afaik, Uber does NOT let you do so I always tip my Lyft driver a ton. I hate dealing with taxis who also don't take cards since I usually don't carry cash.

     

    I also prefer Lyft to Uber for that reason, and I prefer both to taxis because they're more likely to show up if my destination isn't in the wealthy part of town.


  2. The taxi business is a mess, at least in my experience on the East Coast. I'm mostly aware the regulations in Philly and New York. Essentially, in response to a high volume of unsafe cabs, a system was established in the 1930's that required operators to undergo vehicle inspections and purchase medallions from the city in exchange for the exclusive right to operate. Over time, the ownership of those medallions concentrated into the hands of a small number of people. Drivers no longer purchase medallions directly from the city, but lease them from middlemen, the most famous of which is Gene Friedman, who's one of the largest medallion holders in both cities I'm familiar with. These medallion holders wield a great deal of power over their drivers and political influence over local regulators, and have largely been successful at keeping cities regulating taxi services with their interests in mind rather than the broader interests of the city.


  3. Last I heard (via twitter) he was willing to be a stand in for another team, but did not have the time to commit to being a regular member this year.

     

    Yeah, he was standing in today as part of Brad Shoemaker's Daily Dota team. They just wrapped up their first match, which they streamed on Giant Bomb / twitch.


  4. Speaking of The Adventure Zone does anyone here follow other rpg tabletop game podcasts?

     

    I listen to Friends At The Table, which has a bunch of folks from the Streamfriends twitch channel and is DM'd by Austin Walker. They just wrapped up their first campaign a few weeks ago and are about to start a new one, for which they've released an audio trailer.


  5. The answers to the above questions will inform the way I play. The tricky part is that the answer(s) will depend on a bunch of factors; not all of which you can control, and not all of which are necessarily identifiable e.g. draft, lane allocation, individual skill, teamwork propensity, map awareness etc.

     

    Yup, a huge part of the early game any time I solo queue is trying to evaluate the other 9 players strengths and weaknesses on the fly. It reminds me more of pickup basketball than any other video game I've played.


  6. Last year you also got compendium points fairly frequently as drops when playing matches. I imagine that will be the case this year, though I've only seen coins drop so far.


  7. I'm in my 30s, and my reaction time is pretty bad, and I don't feel like reaction time is that important to DOTA to be honest. I mean, it matters, but not as much as good decision making, and so I feel like there are aspects of the game I'm better at than these dumb kids! It certainly isn't as demanding as multiplayer shooters or RTSs at any rate (though obviously more demanding than a turn based game).

     

    Yeah, I agree. I find Dota much more demanding on my quick-decision-making skills than my reflexes. It may be that at the professional level reflexes matter more, but I'm not convinced of that. I think that's more of a case of the lifestyle, at least along the path to becoming a pro, appealing to a younger demographic.


  8. The point of tasers is for punishing belligerent suspects with something that doesn't leave a mark and is classified as "safe". In practice, at least, if not in policy.

     

    With as broad a definition of "belligerent" as possible.


  9. Maybe I've been around too long, but at this point I watch trailers for implied features, art style, soundtrack, and otherwise to hold my attention. Games take a long time to make, and are not nearly as straightforward as movies to reach the conclusion of their development. So making a trailer that is more specific, less generic in a story-dominated game, just sounds like a bad, bad plan to me. Remember, it isn't uncommon for AAA games to have entire levels dropped late in development because of changing story beats.

     

    Yeah, it's just a trailer and it's fine on those terms. The trailer for Wolfenstein: The New Order actively turned me off to that game (which turned out to be my favorite shooter since HR despite the lousy marketing). This one just doesn't move the needle either way.