I’m glad I’m not the only one who was thinking the square waves sounded cleaner than the other ones. I feel like the alternative ones would create a lot more noise in chords than it does as a single line, the way a whole bunch of people using vibrato sound more out of tune than they would be without vibrato. But I have no easy way to check right now.

I love the minor key, and the baseline. Thanks for sharing!

In the classic fantasy category, you’re probably already familiar with Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett, but if not, both are good for escaping reality. Jones has a fairly consistent style, so pick anything by her. Pratchett varies a little depending on the genre he’s satirizing, so YMMV on specific books, but I think he offers something for any fantasy fan. Don’t worry too much about reading the books in sequence for either Jones or Pratchett, especially Pratchett. For sci fi, William Gibson is required reading if you like cyberpunk and don’t mind weak female characters, and I find his prose absorbing. Don’t worry about sequence for his stuff, either, backstory is not a major component in most of his books.

For more recent stuff, Kate Elliott’s Court of Fives books are absolutely riveting. I wouldn’t call them pure escapism from an emotional standpoint, since there’s a lot of social realism (particularly in the areas of racism, sexism, and class divisions), but the world-building is second to none, and good triumphs over evil most of the time.

IKR?! I personally don’t bother arguing with game designers unless they seem sincerely interested in feedback, because a game with unreadable text isn’t fun for me, and I try not to waste my time playing or discussing games that aren’t fun. If the designer wants to limit their userbase to people who are willing to read cutesy fonts, that’s their problem, not mine. And I suspect it can be a problem when they already have a small userbase, and they make a design decision that alienates some of the very small number of people who have heard of their game.

But in education, or with user manuals, or any number of other products that are hard to replace… yeah, graphic designers should not get the final say when their opinion is that aesthetics are more important than accessibility. If I can’t read the user manual, website, or whatever, I am going to call customer service, but not everyone has the time or comfort level with phones for that workaround.

Thanks for the link! Looks like a great summary of current events. I am (sadly) aware of the stakeholders behind a lot of these discriminatory laws, and their inadequate and offensive excuses for passing them. But Florida seems to have a special flavor of toxicity. A friend of mine who grew up there says most of the state has been a garbage fire for decades.

I think this is a pretty common approach to “free speech” by people who don’t really understand what censorship is, and/or are not capable of empathizing with others. It just never occurs to them that when you claim free speech as a basic right, that means that other people also get to speak. It would be funny if it didn’t create so much harm.

The court’s decision is good news, but what the ever-loving fork is wrong with Florida? Other than RdS, of course, but I kinda doubt he could do this all by himself.