Are you saying that because you know it to be true? If so I would love to see a citation, because as far as I know the majority of piracy is happening in "developing economies", i.e. countries without a strong middle class.

Slynt was never anywhere near there in the books.

His take was that '"there are no real heroes or villains" is wrong', so it sounds like you do agree..?

I think there's some confusion about definitions here. A "speed run" isn't "whatever, I'm just gonna get through this game as fast as I can". It's "I've learned this game down to each individual frame and I'm going to show what I can do with that knowledge".

OK sorry I have to take issue with the opening about Undead Asylum. First, I think it's totally discoverable without reading anything—it's pretty obvious you can jump out of the elevator, and if you're at all curious of course you'll try it. Then you'll see a shiny pick-up on a roof nearby and wonder how to get…

A really good storyteller knows that some people are going to drop in in the middle, some are going to ignore some of the setup, some are going to come in with foreknowledge. A really good storyteller writes a really good story despite all that.

Yglesias also thinks 10-minute YouTube videos are an effective substitute for a full college course, so at least he's consistent.

You know, they killed her father, her nephew, her niece, and her sister-in-law—-apart than Robert killing Rhaegar, they basically Rains-of-Castamered her family too…

Just wanted to say here that the lead researcher on this paper, Joan Serra, was born in 1980.  Hardly "old".  Marah clearly took the lead from the Reuters story, which is bizarrely framed considering they actually talked to him.

I was going to criticize the story along the same lines as "Concerned Citizen", but I also like this rebuke.  (I have "liked" both posts.)

I was going to criticize the story along the same lines as "Concerned Citizen", but I also like this rebuke.  (I have "liked" both posts.)

Not really. Someone thought it happened. But "they mostly just cried."

Not really. Someone thought it happened. But "they mostly just cried."

I never watched the first season and I still enjoyed seasons 2 and later.  I can't say whether I'd recommend that or not (since I still haven't seen any of season 1, though I would like to watch 3 or 4 of the best S1 episodes sometime), but it's definitely possible.

I'm not sure what you mean by "bigger picture".  The crazies are really a minority, only about 20% of the population.  Primary candidates have to court them because they're a big part of the Republican party, but they're not going to decide the general election.  The least crazy candidate is far more likely to beat…

Many would say that artists don't get final say on what their work is about (Google "authorial intent").  In fact, some artists would even say that the work isn't complete until the audience has brought their own interpretation to it.

Actually I thought the whole Harry Potter series had this problem.  Quidditch was just a symptom.

I think of "reading to find out what happens at the end" as more of a characteristic of geek culture than American culture.  Geeks all over the world now worship at the temple of basic plot points.

After you get all the goals they restart from the beginning, which has given me surprisingly lots of impetus to keep playing.  I've played through them all four times now.

Well, what do you mean by "real adults"?  I'm a 33-year-old reading it now, and while I'm enjoying it, I can't help but feel its target audience is more like 20-25-year-olds.  Which in turn I can't help but think of as "kids".  I don't have an English degree though.