Post your random thoughts.

I would say the former. Afaik you can't claim tax deductions, reimbursement, or per diem for a trip to a con, but you can on a business trip.

If you conduct business, it can be claimed as a business expense. You can even claim leisure with clients for the purpose of fostering your relationship with them as business.

The indie film company I associate with covered the cost of dinner and drinks with the producers and producers' assistant on my birthday last year on the basis of "we talked business for a few minutes".

edited 27th Jul '17 6:25:52 PM by TParadox

At work on Tuesday, there was a kid sitting by himself, playing his 3DS. I bring my Switch to work in my insulated lunch bag every day, so I brought it over to him, and we ended up playing for nearly a full 3 hours.

He was very talkative about video games, knew the history of games made long before he was born (he looked about 12), and had many opinions. He was a constant fountain of complaints and jokes and sarcasm about the video game industry, including many complaints about petty little things that I sometimes pointed out are petty and dumb to complain about. (Like, when we played the Switch for 2 hours and it only used up about less than half of the battery life despite it having an estimated 3 hours - which I'd told him about - he made some snide comment about crappy battery life, and I pointed out that this is actually pretty good performance from a powerful handheld)

His body movements looked a bit "off". And he couldn't stay completely still; he'd move back and forth a bit, like he'd shift his standing position about once every 5 minutes or so, and his movement when he did so was a bit awkward looking.

Anyway, on Wednesday, my coworker thanked me for spending nearly the whole morning with him. She said she'd never seen him smile so much. I said to her, "He has Aspergers, doesn't he?" She said, "We're trying to get an official diagnosis so we can get him the services he needs." (which is basically 'yes' as far as I'm concerned!)

It still blows my mind that I was born over two years before the SNES was released. It's just as much "a thing that always existed" as the NES is. There's also such a leap between it and the N64 that it's weird to think there's no console between them. (Or the Game Cube and the Wii for that matter.)

I actually think of the change from SNES to N64 as a sort of diagonal change. Like we went from good 2D to not-good 3D. I didn't see it as an upgrade since games went from having well drawn sprites, to having poor 3D models.

By the end of the SNES era, there were some good games with prerendered 3D sprites.

N64-style 3D has also aged pretty well compared to other 3D games of the time. Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64 are pretty easy on the eyes today compared to games like Final Fantasy 7 and the original Tomb Raider.

Yes.

I see the PS1 and Saturn's 3D as being like what the old Atari computers and consoles were to 2D. Ugly, and sometimes impossible to tell what stuff is supposed to be.

I see the N64 as being on par with the NES, in terms of how its 3D looks compared to the NES's 2D. You can tell what stuff is, but it sure doesn't look like much.

I see the jump from N64 to Gamecube to be like going from NES to SNES - stuff suddenly looked way better, much more defined and clear, and it was a huge visual jump.

All other improvements from there feel smaller in comparison, I think.

N64 was mostly going for a kind of cartoon styling that ages better than the realism you see a lot of games for other consoles of that era going for.

The theme for Sonic Forces is amazing, as is the theme of Infinite the Hedgehog.

Even the bad Sonic games have had good music. The only Sonic game that comes to mind that DIDN'T have good music would be Sonic R, and even then it's insanely catchy and singable. It's just an awful choice for music in a Sonic game.

"Don't you seeeeee, the sun is shining on meeeeee! ♫"

What do you all think of my new signature?

In other news, the sky is blue and grass is commonly green.

I've heard the idea that Nintendo games (like Mario and Zelda) age better because they don't focus on having "realistic" looks.

I want to agree with but Daenerys has dragons, which makes me think "cool" isn't appropriate. But I can see how the antonym could, Idk, be weird?

Your signature is true as well. Get ready for that Surprisingly Improved Sequel

A few months ago a Brazilian bar owner became known in the Brazilian internet for being "brutally honest" and shittalking his clients, that are all insects that don't know what good food tastes like. And apparently people like that?

Anyways, it seems that it became law in the city he lives in that bars must close by 2 AM. So, complying with the law, he now ends his bar's activities at 2 AM... and then opens his bar at 2:05, because there's no law ruling when you're allowed to open your bar.

That's evil genius right there.

"Alright, everybody go outside and have a smoke break, it's the law!"

I got the results of one out of 27 contests where I submitted my story. I didn't win either place...but got a high score of 8.5. This makes me feel happy about my skills as a writer and how attractive the story can be to some from time to time.

Congratulations! That's wonderful news. :)

My dog is a jerk. She seems to know the difference between "dog toy" (treat ball, tennis ball, bone, squeaker, tug rope) and "not a dog toy" (sidewalk chalk, sprinkler, sock, clump of dead grass, etc.). She only plays with things that are not dog toys. >_<

That must be annoying as hell.

She better be glad she's cute, that's all I'm saying. If the next round of dog toys and long-lasting chews don't work, I'm going to the thrift shop and buying washcloths, giant socks, and baby toys. As long as she's chewing something that is safe and not mine, I'm happy...but we're not there yet.