It's already begun

The election is barely over, and the incoming administration is still months away from taking office, let alone taking any official action. And yet.

Already, corporations are raising prices in anticipation of the lean times to come (and with the assurance that there will be no meaningful effort to curb arbitrary price hikes).

Already, businesses are canceling bonuses so they can stockpile supplies before the promised tariffs hit.

Already, girls are facing taunts of "your body, my choice".

Already, Black students are receiving messages telling them they should report to plantations for cotton picking duty.

Already, calls to crisis hotlines have spiked to many times their usual volume.

Already, hate is emboldened.

Already, the world is a darker and more dangerous place.

And there's no reason to believe it won't get worse before it gets better. If it gets better. But we need to believe that it can get better, and strive to make it possible.

Perhaps a variation on the serenity prayer is in order.

Lord, grant me the power to endure what is beyond my ability to prevent, the courage to make a difference where I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Feel, grieve, commiserate. But stave off despair, and never give up.

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(Yes, I threw in a Zelda reference. Things are so much simpler in video games. Where there is evil, you invariably have a clear means to fight it head-on. If you succeed, problem solved! If you fail, you can just load and try again. And if you still can't prevail, well, you can always put the game aside, no real harm done.)

On Backlash Against Taking Title IX Seriously

In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Education released a finalized version of the regulations to be followed in ensuring Title IX non-discrimination protections in education, to go into effect at the beginning of August. Major provisions include clarifying that sex discrimination includes discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. And from the reactions in some quarters, you'd think the world was ending.

Zombieconomy Sim Analysis

Introduction

Zombieconomy Sim, by Craze, appears in Befuddle Quest 4 Dead, the fourth in a series of collaborative puzzle games organized by kentona, which I recently (as of this writing) streamed a playthrough of on YouTube. It's largely similar to the Economy Sim minigame Craze contributed to Befuddle Quest 2: Charmed & Dangerous, but zombie themed.

And I found myself failing it repeatedly (refer to the end of Befuddle Quest 4 Dead (part 1 of 3)). So, as I tend to do, I went ahead and took a look at the design. After coming up with a plan, the next attempt went much more smoothly (refer to the beginning of Befuddle Quest 4 Dead (part 2 of 3)).

PoGO Battle Requirement for Level 44 Clear!

So! News that probably no one cares about, but I've finally met Pokémon GO's challenge requirements for reaching level 44.

Background

Back when they increased the level cap over the original limit of 40, Niantic also added four special challenges per level that need to be completed before advancing, in addition to increasingly hefty experience requirements. Some of them have been pretty neat, like catching 200 in a single day or evolving Eevee into every possible form. And then there's the challenges for level 44.

Woes for Modern Hypocrites

"Snakes! Cold-blooded sneaks! Do you think you can worm your way out of this? Never have to pay the piper? It’s on account of people like you that I send prophets and wise guides and scholars generation after generation—and generation after generation you treat them like dirt, greeting them with lynch mobs, hounding them with abuse."

- Matthew 23:33-34 (MSG)

North Carolina Republicans learn no lessons

You might have thought the fallout from the infamous bathroom bill would have taught them something. If so, it seems you'd have thought wrong.

Although it fortunately stands little chance of becoming law as long as the state has a governor with any sense and the GOP lacks the numbers in the legislature that would be needed to override a veto, North Carolina's SB 514, introduced on April 5 by a group of three Republican state senators, has some truly disturbing provisions that eclipse even Arkansas's recently-passed HB 1570, currently the most brutal anti-trans law in the nation, though similar bills are pending in other states, including at minimum Alabama and Tennessee.

Demographics Done Wrong

The wave of pointlessly cruel discriminatory transphobic hate bills sweeping the nation wherever the party of Trump holds power (not to mention their similarly repugnant voter suppression efforts) is more than I feel up to addressing right now without descending into incoherent expletives, so I won't. Look to people like Chase Strangio or Katelyn Burns or Esther Wang, or organizations like the ACLU or the Trevor Project, or heck, even this satire by Lily Osler for more on those and why they're garbage.