• 69 Posts
  • 3.88K Comments
Joined 2 years ago
Cake day: October 4th, 2023
  • tal@lemmy.todaytoNews@lemmy.world•People With Severe Diabetes Are Cured in Small Trial of New DrugEnglish
    0·
    1 day ago

    The problem with this is that there’s currently no way to target immune-suppressing drugs to say: “Hey, just stop attacking your own cells, but continue doing everything else an immune system is supposed to do

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergen_immunotherapy

    Allergen immunotherapy, also known as desensitization or hypo-sensitization, is a medical treatment for environmental allergies (such as insect bites) and asthma.[1][2] Immunotherapy involves exposing people to larger and larger amounts of allergens in an attempt to change the immune system’s response.[1]

    We do have some limited ability to “train” at least some aspects of the immune system not to attack certain things. I’ve no idea whether that approach can be used for something like this.

  • tal@lemmy.todaytoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world•What are your favorite games that you never see mentioned anywhere?English
    0·
    3 days ago

    Escape Velocity also had a sequel or two done by Ambrosia Software themselves. I remember playing and enjoying them.

    kagis

    Escape Velocity Override and Escape Velocity Nova.

    It looks like Ambrosia Software’s website is now down, so I assume that one can’t legally purchase it any more.

    It looks like Escape Velocity was never ported to anything outside of classic MacOS, so playing it today probably entails obtaining a classic MacOS emulator and abandonware copies of the binaries.

    While Endless Sky is neat and last I looked still getting expanded, it also didn’t have as much story content as the Escape Velocity series either (again, at least last I looked).

    The image of each planet in Escape Velocity series (not really worth keeping IMHO, as they were saved at 8-bit depth) were done with KPT Bryce, a now out-of-print terrain generation and rendering software package. Probably one of the better-suited applications for it, as it was pretty good at letting one quickly turn out alien-looking landscapes.

  • tal@lemmy.todaytoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world•What are your favorite games that you never see mentioned anywhere?English
    0·
    3 days ago

    I definitely enjoyed the original Syndicate. While I like the aesthetic and the music, it isn’t an incredibly deep game, but I did like the thing. I could go for playing the thing in HD, 24-bit color, maybe upscaled graphics, and at a high framerate.

    IIRC, Syndicate Wars didn’t review as well. I can’t recall whether I ever got around to trying it.

    For anyone who hasn’t tried Syndicate, the game is a cyberpunk, squad-based isometric-view pixel-art game where one has to perform various missions to gain control of territory; might be assassinating someone, capturing someone, clearing enemies from an area, etc. Doesn’t have destructable terrain, though vehicles are destructable. Late game missions tend to have so many very-durable bionically-enhanced enemy agents charging at one’s squad that one has to keep the squad pretty much bunched up and using either rocket launchers or miniguns just spewing out a ton of firepower in their direction.

    In its time, Syndicate was pretty well-known, though I dunno how many people born later would be familiar with it today.

  • tal@lemmy.todaytoNews@lemmy.world•Oklahoma senator seeks legal opinion on drag showsEnglish
    0·
    3 days ago

    I think that Senator Julie Daniels does have a valid point. People of one gender wearing clothing traditionally worn by the other is prohibited in the Bible:

    Deut 22:5:

    A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

    1 Corinthians 11:14-16:

    Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.  If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.

    I mean, that’s pretty explicit.

    And I suppose that one could call exposing children to view of an adult doing so obscene. Maybe society would be best off if we jailed people with the temerity to do such things.

    On an entirely-unrelated note, I see that in the article’s picture, the senator cuts quite a striking figure in her pantsuit and with her short hair.

    1000009201

    Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, awaits votes on a veto override during the Senate session on Thursday, May 29, 2025. (Photo by Janelle Stecklein/Oklahoma Voice)

  • tal@lemmy.todaytoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.world•What are your favorite games that you never see mentioned anywhere?English
    0·
    3 days ago

    Hmm. I don’t know if they’d stand the test of time, but a few older games I enjoyed a lot back in the day that aren’t going to show up much of anywhere due to age:

    • Loony Labyrinth, a 2D video pinball game for the Mac and Windows by Little Wing Software. I’ve played huge numbers of tables on newer and more sophisticated engines, but that table kept me coming back for more hours of gameplay than any later ones. Not on GOG or Steam, though Little Wing sells copies directly.

    • Flying Nightmares, or AV-8B Harrier Assault. Untextured polygon flight sim where you’re operating off a US amphibious assault force; probably one of the few games kind of like Carrier Command 2 that I can think of in that you can also control other of your forces (though Flying Nightmares focuses on operating the Harriers, and Carrier Command 2 the amphibious assault ship). Doesn’t look like GOG or Steam have them.

    • Eufloria. Steam link for an HD re-release. One of those “real-time 4X” games, but using plants and seeds and minimalistic graphics.

    • Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. A spiritual successor to Carrier Command. One has an amphibious assault ship, can construct autonomous vehicles and move your ship around. Unlike Carrier Command 2, this is a single-player game. Wish that someone would make a more single-player-oriented Carrier Command 2. The graphics haven’t really kept up with the time, and it tends to encourage exploiting the AI’s weaknesses, but I’ve had a lot of fun with it.

    It’s not exactly unknown within its niche, but because it is niche, Rule the Waves 3, a game that simulates naval fleet command and development.

    EDIT: Oh, here’s an oddball, not quite as old game: Ghost Master. One acquires and upgrades different types of ghosts, then places them and uses their abilities to scare humans away from a location. Nothing else very similar to it out there that I’m aware of.