Just because something has a price associated with it, that does not make the pricing model inherently correct or just. The majority of research papers, at least in the U.S., are (or historically have been, I don't know the data now under the current administration) publicly funded, one way or another. Publicly-funded research should not be behind paywalls.
> Just because something has a price associated with it, that does not make the pricing model inherently correct or just.
And just because a pricing model is not correct or just does not automatically give you liberty to circumvent that pricing model. If you think that Nike shoes are overpriced and hey, there's Chinese counterfeits readily available, does not automatically make the latter legal or even morally justified.
That's correct. The liberty to circumvent the pricing model and get the papers for free is not derived from the fact the pricing model is incorrect or unjust. Rather, it's derived from the fact the papers can be obtained for free. :)
I posted the full audio of the 14 Nov 2024 hearing with the bankruptcy judge so you can hear all sides of the story, and the judge's reaction. Apologies it's on the Tweeter/Xitter.
Have you tried Flickwars? I don't own it, but played a demo version at a board game convention maybe five years back. I still keep wanting to pull the trigger on buying it but I've been trying to reel in my boardgame-purchasing problem a bit.
Most flicking/dexterity games are pretty abstract: lightly themed, if they're themed at all. And a lot of the ones that are themed, somehow don't get it "right". Flickwars is pretty cool in that it's got a light space battle theme with asymmetric team powers. It also has a neoprene board which, while not being as satisfying as polished wood, makes a surprisingly satisfying flicking surface. There's a modular setup to the game, where players place obstacles on or (because of the neoprene surface) UNDER the board. This meshes nicely with the space theme as you can consider these obstacles as gravitational anomalies. All-in-all, it's a pretty lightweight game, but it's a fun diversion from heavier board games.
Almost twenty years ago, I brought a crokinole board into my work and it became a very popular diversion. We came up with a cutthroat version where four players could play individually rather than the more traditional 2v2 four-player variant.
Generally, crokinole is a much less punishing game than carrom, if we're talking about Indian carrom boards. American carrom boards, that were really popular in after-school programs when I was growing up, have relatively HUGE pockets than the Indian boards, in addition to being smaller boards. American carrom is like playing 8-ball, Indian carrom is like playing snooker.
I like carrom a lot, but I'm terrible at it. I'm at least a reasonable player at crokinole, and it's a lot easier to introduce others to the game without them getting too frustrated by it.
Often in tabletop crokinole play, the "sand" isn't even used. Modern boards are often slick enough to get away with playing without it, and if it's a board that you roll out regularly, you may not want the cleanup overhead associated with using shuffleboard "sand."
Also note that you'd never use actual sand on a crokinole board or tabletop shuffleboard. Sand, wax, or powder is what the shuffleboard products are referred to as and are made of specially formulated silicone beads (much less abrasive than, say, beach sand) or cornmeal, or even sometimes ground walnut shells.
you don't use those shuffleboard wax beads, you use 'gliss powder' which is often boric acid powder, or like even tinier, microbeads. the stuff the use on those shffleboards you find in pubs is much to corse. https://www.maydaygames.com/products/crokinole-premium-gliss...
With 70$/kg that's at the upper end of typical prices for specialty coffee (though I'm not familiar with US prices specifically). No idea if they are at a level where they can compete at that price point, a single blend as main product is rather odd for a coffee roaster. At this price point you'd usually get various single origin coffees.
knowing "startups" i'm sure their vision is streaming SSH subscription as a service . They track your keystroke rate and automatically ship new batches of $2/oz coffee when you get below 90 keystrokes/min
No joke, but "startup" can often be code for, "extremely high-quality items that are subsidized by VC money". The quality doesn't last, but if you get in early, you can often buy stuff that's way nicer than it should be for the price.
I prefer Mango Languages, which I get for free through my public library. The progression feels better to me, it's not as gamified (sorry for using that word), and there is some (though not a ton of) actual lesson content in there. For example, learning Spanish, it gives some context on the different usages of "Ser" vs. "Estar" for "to be", and it includes discussion on gendered nouns. DuoLingo may have gotten to some brief lesson content at some point, but for me it was too grating to continue with and I quit before I made much progress with it.
