I was so excited for this game in 2012. It was going to be the perfect hybrid of two of my favorites, Freelancer and X3. 12 years later, I barely even play anything except the latest souls game and the occasional grand strategy dad game that I’ll be obsessed with for a week and never touch again. What a waste.
No, it looks amazing but by the time it came out I was already pretty over it. 15 years ago I would’ve been obsessed with it. I am glad to see it’s still receiving DLC though.
I used to love these games that were giant simulation sandboxes with massive scope where you start off as nothing and grind your way up to the top, whether by fighting or trading or crime or whatever. And I loved sci fi and fantasy settings. For whatever reason, I completely lost interest in all of that, and moved on to other hobbies.
Bean, chickpea, and lentil dishes last a week in the fridge (probably more tbh).
Also, if you have a desk/cube, a great tip I picked up from a vegan friend is to keep a jar of peanut butter and a spoon in your drawer. Before I became remote, I would eat about 2 tablespoons at 10, 3, and 5. Probably not quite as good as the protein balls but cheap and effective.
Seems like people don’t think about it that way. Blaming “capitalism” for everything you don’t like is easy, but all it means is that these things exist because consumers want them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be paying for it.
A top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders.
In Western news and media, everything has to boil down to a good vs evil story. It’s part of the reason our society has become so polarized. In reality, there’s often no good sides in a conflict.
The two tobacco companies Altria and Philip Morris International combined made up 2% of the branded plastic litter found, both Danone and Nestlé each produced 3% of it, PepsiCo was responsible for 5% of the discarded packaging, and 11% of branded plastic waste could be traced to the Coca-Cola company.
I wonder that any time these statistics are brought up. Like 100 companies are responsible for 70% of greenhouse gases - well isn’t it cause there’s 8 billion people buying their shit? They’re not just running those factories for the fun of it.
I don’t know if others are experiencing a similar situation. My all feed is very sparse with engagement. If I sort top six hours or by top 12 most posts have between 5-10 comments. I feel like there was more in the past? Is engagement dropping off? I’m on lemmy.world as my instance.
Honestly, I’ve stopped chasing substitutes a while ago. Giving up meat and dairy is going to be a lifestyle change, that’s why people struggle so much with it. You can’t expect to just sub in imitations and keep eating the same foods. They’re not close enough to fool anyone, and they’re usually expensive and unhealthy.
The best way eat vegan is to fill your diet with minimally processed legumes, grains, fruits, and vegetables. Learn to cook a few staple meals from cultural cuisines where animal products are expensive (most cultures outside US/Canada and Western Europe) and you’ll realize how much great food you can make with a few simple ingredients and one or two pots. A huge number of them fall into the same basic formula, so if you learn one, you can easily make them all. Plus, it’s much, much cheaper than eating meat.
I’m not vegan but I do eat 95% vegan because my wife is and I agreed to buy and cook solely vegan in the house. I come from a culture with plenty of (accidentally) vegan home cooking already, so it wasn’t hard at all. But those substitutes are gross to me. Apologies to those who like them.
There is a universal type of “recipe” that covers a ton of basic dishes around the world:
Fry hard veggies in oil until soft - can be onions, leeks, carrots, celery, potatoes etc.
Add spices, soft veggies, and/or pastes and stir to form a sauce - tomatoes, peppers, garlic, ginger, etc.
Stir in your beans/chickpeas/lentils/peas. Most beans should be cooked, lentils and peas usually can be dry/raw.
Add water, bring to a boil, and simmer. Amount and time depends on if you want a soup, stew, or just some sauce.
Add leafy greens and anything that should be dissolved - spinach, kale, lemon, vinegar, sugar, cilantro etc.
This can make lentil soup, Mediterranean or South American style bean dishes, chana masala, coconut curry, and lots of other stuff. Most can be made with a single pot.
Sorry, how is it a luxury? Vegetables, grains, and legumes are far cheaper and healthier sources of calories and nutrition than meat, despite the government subsidies. This perception that you should eat McDonalds and rotisserie chicken every day if you don’t have money to buy groceries is so strange to me.
Fry hard veggies in oil until soft - can be onions, leeks, carrots, celery, potatoes etc.
Add spices, soft veggies, and/or pastes and stir to form a sauce - tomatoes, peppers, garlic, ginger, etc.
Stir in your beans/chickpeas/lentils/peas. Most beans should be cooked, lentils and peas usually can be dry/raw.
Add water, bring to a boil, and simmer. Amount and time depends on if you want a soup, stew, or just some sauce.
Add leafy greens and anything that should be dissolved - spinach, kale, lemon, vinegar, sugar, cilantro etc.
So here is a really simple one I make at least once a week, as you can eat it hot or cold, with or without rice. It makes a great packed lunch. You can make the beans or chickpeas ahead of time or use a 30 oz can, but cooking them is much cheaper. Either way, make sure you rinse them off. I put in 1 cup dry beans/chickpeas (makes 3 cups cooked) in my Instant Pot with 4 cups water for 25 minutes for beans, 35 for chickpeas, instant release. Then I use the pot to cook the meal.
Also, you can chop and freeze most hard veggies (carrots, leeks, onions, celery, ginger, garlic). They aren’t as good as fresh, but it’s a lot more convenient if you have to cook after work.
This recipe is really flexible so I’ll just tell you what I do, but the ratios are all preference:
1 large onion, finely chopped
Equivalent amount of carrot, quarter slices
3 cups cooked pinto beans or chickpeas
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
3 tablespoons tomato or red pepper paste (I use half of each but red pepper paste can be hard to find in US grocery stores)
Juice of 1 lemon or white vinegar
1.5 tablespoon sugar
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Optionally, bay leaves, paprika, and parsley
Step 1: frying hard veggies. Heat up a medium or large pot (stainless is best but any material will do) and add enough olive oil to fully cover the bottom and a bit more. It might be more oil than you think you’ll need. Fry your onions until soft.
Side note about onions: you can cook them quickly in 5-10 minutes at medium-high heat. They are ready when soft and translucent. But if you have the time and want a complex flavor in your dish, you can cook them for up to 20-30 minutes at low heat. Always salt them to help draw out the water.
Either way, add the carrots when the onions are almost done (2-3 minutes left).
Step 2: make the sauce. Add your garlic and let it cook a bit until fragrant. Add black pepper and optionally a couple of bay leaves and paprika. Stir for 30 seconds to let the spices bloom and then add your tomato/pepper paste and stir continuously until a sauce forms. About 1-2 minutes. The oil should be reddish.
Step 3: add the beans. Just stir them in and make sure they are covered in the sauce.
Step 4: water. Add 3 cups water (less if you’re in a hurry) and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Step 5: anything that should be added to the water. Add the sugar and lemon/vinegar. This is really to taste, so you can add more when it’s almost done if it needs it. It should be just a little sweet and tangy. You can also add leafy greens like kale or spinach, but I don’t add them if I plan on eating it cold later.
Let it simmer until it’s a very beany stew (not a soup), but at the very least 10 minutes. It should be a little watery. Check the flavor and add salt, pepper, sugar, lemon/vinegar, or olive oil as needed. Parsley makes a great garnish.
This can be eaten hot or cold, with or without rice. Will keep about a week in the fridge.
I’ll reply below with a lentil soup recipe that’s more or less the same thing.
As much chopped leeks as you can handle. Should cover the bottom of the pot at least. Leeks are huge, cheap, delicious, and freeze really well chopped, so I always keep them stocked. You can use onions instead, but I think leeks are much better for soup.
2-3 medium carrots, quarter slices
2-3 celery, sliced
2-3 cloves garlic
2 cups dry/raw green or brown lentils or split green peas
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup pearled barley or orzo pasta (or other pasta/grain, or just use more lentils)
Half bunch kale leaves in bite size pieces
Extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon or white vinegar
Salt, pepper, paprika
Optionally, bay leaves and turmeric
Step 1: heat a pot with oil and cook your leeks, carrots, and celery until soft. Leeks cook a bit longer.
Step 2: add the spices and let them bloom. Add tomato paste and stir until sauce forms.
Step 3: stir in lentils/peas and barley/orzo.
Step 4: add 7 cups water (adjust to preference) and bring to a boil, then let simmer. Cook for 30-45 minutes (or 15-20 in pressure cooker) depending on the lentils/peas you picked. Lentils are done when they are just about bursting.
Step 5: add lemon and kale
Obviously, a lot of this is to taste. If you don’t have good fresh veggies, the broth can be a little flavorless. You can add a bit more lemon and salt, or bullion if it’s really bland. If you know the veggies aren’t great, just use more of them in the first step. You can also use less water.
You can broil the kale with a bit of olive oil and salt for 3-4 minutes until it’s crispy before adding to the soup. This will give it a less fibrous, more crunchy character.
I’ve watched some here and there, but having to try to catch them when they stream has put me too much in the mind of old tv and catching shows when they air. Watching the recording afterward is maybe good for some white noise, but it’s clearly not the intended experience I think.
10 years ago I was like “why tf would I want to watch someone play a video game when I could just play it myself?”
Now I’m like “why tf would I play this game when I could just watch someone else?”
I guess I’m still interested in what’s going on in gaming in general, but I don’t have any desire to go through all the bullshit of a modern AAA game with a huge repetitive open world, dozens of half assed shallow mechanics (rpg/perk system, loot, crafting etc.), homogenized design, predatory DLC/mtx, and all that. I’d rather play Factorio and watch a streamer play whatever hot new game people are into.
The United States will send a substantial security package to Ukraine, including badly needed air defense systems and artillery rounds, the White House said Wednesday, as the administration — its war chest replenished after months of gridlock in Congress — moves quickly to help Kyiv counter a resurgent Russian campaign....
May be an incident where they could not understand how much things they take for granted cost to the normies, a flagrant disregard for morals or ethics, a blatant show of arrogance or disconnectedness, or anything yould like to share.
Star Citizen Pushes Through the $700 Million Raised Mark and No, There Still Isn’t a Release Date - IGN (www.ign.com)
Nightdive Studios confirm Linux and macOS ports of System Shock are cancelled (www.gamingonlinux.com)
Snapdragon X Elite spotted running Baldur's Gate 3 at around 30fps, supporting claims that Windows games 'just work' on ARM chip (www.pcgamer.com)
Star Citizen gets DLSS and Vulkan support, as new Nvidia driver adds support for F1 24, Hellblade 2, and more (www.tomshardware.com)
The lunch rush is dead as Americans live for the weekend, office workers are pinching lunchtime pennies (www.nbcnews.com)
Little things you can do to save the environment (jlai.lu)
EA is looking at putting in-game ads in AAA games — 'We'll be very thoughtful as we move into that,' says CEO (www.tomshardware.com)
YouTube could roll out ads while videos are paused after “strong traction” in experiment - Dexerto (www.dexerto.com)
Alex Honnold climbing a mountain without ropes. (files.catbox.moe)
Hamas official says group would lay down its arms if an independent Palestinian state is established (apnews.com)
A top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders.
Survey finds that 60 firms are responsible for half of world’s plastic pollution (www.theguardian.com)
The two tobacco companies Altria and Philip Morris International combined made up 2% of the branded plastic litter found, both Danone and Nestlé each produced 3% of it, PepsiCo was responsible for 5% of the discarded packaging, and 11% of branded plastic waste could be traced to the Coca-Cola company.
Has community engagement dropped off suddenly?
I don’t know if others are experiencing a similar situation. My all feed is very sparse with engagement. If I sort top six hours or by top 12 most posts have between 5-10 comments. I feel like there was more in the past? Is engagement dropping off? I’m on lemmy.world as my instance.
When I die, turn me into soup (lemmy.world)
Aluminium drawback? Why US still uses so many plastic bottles?
Thoughts? I am currently trying to avoid using plastic packed drinks as much as possible due to it’s limited and finite recycle count
What's the draw of watching/following streamers?
I’ve watched some here and there, but having to try to catch them when they stream has put me too much in the mind of old tv and catching shows when they air. Watching the recording afterward is maybe good for some white noise, but it’s clearly not the intended experience I think.
U.S. unveils $1 billion Ukraine weapons package (www.washingtonpost.com)
The United States will send a substantial security package to Ukraine, including badly needed air defense systems and artillery rounds, the White House said Wednesday, as the administration — its war chest replenished after months of gridlock in Congress — moves quickly to help Kyiv counter a resurgent Russian campaign....
When did you realize that rich people live in a world of their own?
May be an incident where they could not understand how much things they take for granted cost to the normies, a flagrant disregard for morals or ethics, a blatant show of arrogance or disconnectedness, or anything yould like to share.