This leads to them pushing their kids to be employees even though that's...really contradictory to their actual lived experience.

Activision had three or four studios dedicated to Call of Duty leapfrogging each other to release one every year. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty)

Their last (2022, pre-acquisition) annual reports literally spell that out.

> For example, in 2022, revenues associated with our three franchises—Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush —collectively accounted for approximately 79% of our net revenues—and a significantly higher percentage of our operating income. We expect that a relatively limited number of popular franchises will continue to produce a disproportionately high percentage of our revenues and profits. - https://investor.activision.com/annual-reports

I think Nintendo should include a few months of free online play for their flagship titles with Nintendo Online service. The fact that all online activity is basically gated to a monthly subscription is one of the few things I dislike as a consumer about Nintendo's product strategy.

If we're going across different "entertainment" forms, I would argue the cheapest form of entertainment is probably football, aka soccer, or something similar as that just requires a ball.

Also, the SNES and N64 both cost $200 on launch. SNES and N64 games cost $60 on launch. 60/200 = 30%.

Fig. 2: Environmental architecture of mortality in the UKB.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03483-9/figures/2

Also, I understand why they tested multi-vitamins and fish oil, but I wonder why they asked about glucosamine?

Numerous studies have concluded that honey does have a better effect on health than the same amount of simple syrup, at least.

> It has been demonstrated that honey consumption can influence plasma lipid, glucose, and insulin levels through different biochemical mechanisms. The decrease in blood glucose may be due to the fact that honey has a stimulatory effect on insulin secretion and improves insulin sensitivity

> My first thought was to work remotely and use the 90 days permitted by the tourist visa. Yet working in Japan on this visa is a gray zone at best and a practice I would stay away from. In fact, the US Embassy in Japan strictly advises against this:

> Persons found working illegally are subject to arrest and deportation.

> Persons believed to be entering Japan without a working visa but who intend to work here can be denied entry into Japan. This means that you will not exit the airport and will be required to return directly to the U.S.

It's pretty easy to filter out "toxic" games if you filter out anything which has a ranked mode and is not designed to be played infinitely.

Unfortunately, games in the online era have trended in that direction, because they are the most profitable.

For example, some variables that affect toxicity: - competitiveness, often implemented by sort of ranked system, but also just any sort of head-to-head competition. Tournaments and betting will do this as well. - longer investment (via playtimes, either of a single "run" or in total) - people won't get mad at a 5-10 minute game as much as a 1 hour game. Games as a service like MMOs where people have 1000s of hours of playtime are the extreme end of this. - punishing gameplay, where a mistake can cause you to lose a lot of progress (Hardcore modes where dying means you have to restart your character, for example) - tone (casual vs serious tone, e.g. Fall Guys vs Call of Duty) - More serious generally results in more toxicity.

Adjusting these variables can even turn a single player game into a toxic one (e.g. self-imposed challenges/achievements, Dark Souls, Jump King or Getting Over It).

Similarly, you can lower the stakes so that the gameplay doesn't devolve into toxicity, even with multiplayer (e.g. Animal Crossing)

I'm basing this on the assumption that, when given the option of "making ends meet" today and saving for retirement, most people put off retirement savings. If enough people do this, prices will stabilize on a 0% savings rate - basically paycheck-to-paycheck.

This assumption combined with the American mentality of treating homeownership as an investment means that people often take on as much housing costs as they can.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9885170/

Quote from the abstract: The direct consequences of MPs and NPs on the thyroid, testis, and ovaries are documented. Still, studies need to be carried out to identify the direct effects of MPs and NPs on the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands.

I think the dystopian future we're heading towards is personalized phishing and/or scams that sends to your hijacked accounts' contacts that you're going through a hard time and requesting donations, using training data from crowdfunding sites.

Or, one-level more dystopian, hijacking social media accounts and advertising AI-generated Patreon-style content using the actual account owner's likeness.

For example, you can't get testosterone or epinephrine, over the counter. Maybe the only other hormones that are as readily available as melatonin are birth control pills, but those are considered pharmaceuticals, and regulated as such.

Additionally, there are receptors for melatonin in a number of systems in the body, and we don't have much knowledge on what those receptors do.

It's strange to me how Melatonin is so uncontrolled in usage, dosage, etc., despite being a hormone.

The article suggests it's safer than current food additives, but I find that statement questionable. We don't understand the full effect of Melatonin on the human body, so I don't know how you can make that conclusion.

You stand out by being a top performer, and will attract other top performers as long as you search them out. Also, in those scenarios, professors will give you more attention, because you are a better student and more enthusiastic than most of your peers.

Perhaps if you are a true prodigy, you might need a top-tier program to reach your full potential... at that point your peers are the professors and high-performing graduate students, but for most students, I think there are pros and cons for being in a top 5 vs a top 50 program.

The way to make a game more replayable, then, boils down to 3 things:

1) Make the game more challenging. This forces the player to change their approach to problems (because their old solution no longer works)

Multi-agent games do this by having a variety of opponents.

Single-player games do this by ramping up the difficulty, generally by making the execution requirements tighter. More complexity, or less leeway for mistakes.

Leaderboard-type games do this by using a "best score" as the goal. (e.g. Rhythm games, racing games, etc.)

2) Adding and/or removing mechanics that force the player to change their approach to problems. Again, this is either because the old solution doesn't work, or you must use the new mechanic in the solution.

3) Add randomness, mimicking either of the above. (e.g. Roguelikes/lites, deckbuilders, etc.)

There's also the possibility of extending play-ability by "creating new content". I think this isn't really "re"playability, since the generated content hasn't been "played" before, but procedurally-generated content and sandbox games have this sort of code-generated-novelty-as-replayability.

As long as there's a thread of trust between the caregiver and the shut-in, you have access/influence with them, and they can be rehabilitated, under the right circumstances.

A safer option might be to completely change their environment, but stay supportive, in order to break any entrained behavior connected to being a shut-in. Might be difficult to achieve this in Japan, though.

If you delete that remaining thread of trust by applying "tough love," they will be forced to face the trauma that they could not before, but without any support.

Perhaps some small fraction might "survive" that ordeal, but it's not exactly setting them up for long-term success.

I do think many parents have no idea how to handle a dependent in that situation. The worst case scenario is when parents have also "given up" on their child ever recovering/improving - those situations need intervention from an outside party.

EDIT: I'd define "tough love" as actions done with the intent of "helping" someone, but with wanton disregard to that someone's health.