Mine is a few years old now (so not the absolute latest and greatest, not that it was to start with lol) but when I built it, my spouse also built his at the same time. We have very similar builds with some minor differences. But the two biggest differences are the GPU (mine’s an AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and his is a Nvidia with almost the same stats) and the mobos. My experience has been completely problem free. Everything has just worked. His GPU has been giving him problems up until more recently. Even then when something goes flaky he has to work out if it’s because it’s a Nvidia. He regrets not getting an AMD. His mobo is also a bit weird with Linux but only around the rgb lighting. It’s a Gigabyte whereas mine is an ASUS. So if you get a Gigabyte mobo, I would just double check compatibility if you care about RGB lighting.

Makes sense yes :) I’m not looking to minmax damage or anything - more that I don’t like having a bajillion multitools and am wanting to keep them to a minimum (e.g. one for combat, one for mining… etc.) so figuring out what I care more about if the stats are effectively the same. I like the look of the Voltaic and it’s customisability over the Sceptre but I also like the Sceptre because it’s a ‘unique’ and I already have it. Hopefully I’m making sense, very tired today - TL;DR if there’s little difference between them, it gives me more ability to just have what I like aesthetically and minimise the number of multitools I have whilst still reasonably maximising scanning/mining/damage.

Done lol.

Also concur with feeding raw. Our cats never have problems, never need to get their teeth done, have the most luscious and soft coats, their poop doesn’t stink, they’re not at risk of kidney disease, etc., etc. We’re lucky that we have a business nearby that specialises in raw feeding and makes premixes of whole wild and domestic animals meats, including organs (e.g. possum, wallaby, hare, rabbit, chicken, turkey, salmon, etc.) and small bones for cats. Even if you don’t have that, you can make up your own. Just avoid large animals such as venison, pork, and especially beef. Beef is highly allergenic to cats (and dogs). Mimic a small wild cats natural diet as closely as possible - small animals, fish and birds with organs and bones. Feed a variety of meats over the course of a week so there aren’t any nutritional deficiencies. Get hold of some green tripe if possible (not all cats will eat it but it’s worth giving if they do).

We don’t have hush puppies here (or at least here, they’re shoes, not food lol). What pictures I have seen of food hush puppies show them as being more yellow inside than pink?

I did wonder if it could be a very plain lettuce like iceberg with a white coloured dressing. When Brad eats some, it looks thin and round which doesn’t track with coleslaw but does make more sense if it’s pieces of lettuce.

“TV Guide” is still a phrase in our household. Mostly because I used to have a cat with… personality - he loved to push the limits of what was acceptable kitty behaviour. So my go to became ‘threatening’ to throw the TV Guide in his direction (not actually at him!) and saying firmly, “TV GUIDE!” He would always immediately stop what he was doing when he heard “TV GUIDE!” LOL. Fun times and fond memories!

I’m the genealogist of my family. There are things about what life was like when my grandmother was young that now only I know (since she’s passed on). As I research through more and more of my family history, going back further and further, the less and less I know about what life was like when my ancestors were around, especially the minutiae of every day life. But I WANT to know what life was like. It’s fascinating and, more importantly, we don’t always know now what will be important in the future so how can we learn from the mistakes of the past if we don’t even know they existed? My kids will never know directly what living life in the 90s as a teen was like. But I do. I remember. But I won’t be here forever and if they ever want to have even a tiny inkling of what it was like, I need to ensure that the stories, the accounts, the events, the nuance, the opinions… are recorded and passed on, as my grandmother did with me.

The saying, “History is written by the victor” is absolutely true. But if we had the little tiny details from the perspectives of lots of different people, the victor cannot rewrite history for their benefit and in their image. History, no matter how big or small, matters.

If you don’t care. Cool for you bro. Ignore it. But for the rest of us who want to learn, recording and archiving matters. I feel nothing but honour in my obligation to ensure events and history is passed on for future generations.

It’s taken me a while to want to play again. The current grind to find the right planet doesn’t do much for my continued motivation however. :/

You may be less picky than I am about requirements (one of mine is bioluminescent grass which is not easy to find) then let me know and I can give you my tried and true method for maximising the chance of finding paradise planets :)

I have seen other people say that you can also use a save game editor to move your base to another planet, although I haven’t personally tried so I can’t confirm this but could also be something you could look into so you don’t have to completely start again.

That was what I understood about planet gen too. But, by the gods, I’m tired of looking through a bajillion stars in the galaxy map (proverbial needle in a hay stack) and being disappointed at every jump I make) so just desperately hoping there’s a way to cut out the grind and actually move on to enjoying the game. And yes, I realise I could be less perfectionisty but considering the hundreds of hours (well over a thousand in total) I’ve put into this game, it would be nice for once just to be blessed with something that ticks all the boxes instead of just some.

I enjoy reading other folks experiences, especially what goes on in other countries lol. New Zealand is a comparatively small country so we miss out on a lot of exciting stuff. It’s like the “dozens of us” meme but that’s our default existence 😅

I’m a pretty socially awkward person so it was really nice to just be able to chill and be around welcoming fountain pen nerds. I felt very lucky that we had one at all! Maybe you could organise one yourself or find some folks to put one on with? I don’t know that Pelikan has any minimum number requirements for it but clearly they’re fine with only a dozen people lol. ;)

Yeah, I really like my M2 and keep it in my bag as a general carry around pen. I was originally going to get a Kaweco Sport but I was reading too many people having issues with them and decided to look into alternatives. Glad I did because it’s been nothing but reliable and enjoyable to write with.

It’s a 1960s Sailor Mini pocket pen. Image from Bruno Taut’s blog (because it still hasn’t arrived yet).

I haven’t finished researching all there is to know about it yet, but in case folks are curious, you can read more about them here:

• https://estilofilos.blogspot.com/2011/12/sailors-pockets.html
• http://www.richardspens.com/ref/profiles/pocket_pens.htm#link12