You’re not wrong, and I feel like it was a developing problem even before AI - everybody wanted someone with experience, even if the technology was brand new.

That said, even if you and I will be fine, it’s still bad for the industry. And even if we weren’t the ones pulling up the ladder behind us, I’d still like to find a way to start throwing ropes back down for the newbies…

Ah, that’s right - was thinking it was a weekday comic! Probably why it wasn’t indexed - it was part of the “throwaway” bit at the top.

No, but that’s the only way you get senior engineers!

Yeah, it sounds like the “escort an immigrant” drives have been pretty effective so far - it sounds like they’re pretty conflict avoidant when they don’t have overwhelming force. So far, at least.

Nice collection! That was most of the ones I was thinking of. But wasn’t there one where the mom tells the dad “Oh, but you look so cute doing the ‘happy hamster hop!’”? Think he was grumbling to her about reading it again. “I don’t want to look cute!”

My fear for the software industry is that we’ll end up replacing junior devs with AI assistance, and then in a decade or two, we’ll see a lack of mid-level and senior devs, because they never had a chance to enter the industry.

The difference being junior engineers eventually grow up into senior engineers.

My kids were quoting that whole name for like a week when they found it! 🤣

Hamster Huey shows up in at least a half-dozen strips. It even has a sequel!

Okay, I’m not a huge griller, but wouldn’t it be better just to build in a thermostat? Let it maintain its own temperature?

Ironsworn was my first exposure to a fiction-first game! I didn’t really gel with the setting, but still really like the mechanics. Ended up backing Starforged (and later Sundered Isles), that seems like a much better fit for me!

Crispy and juicy, now you’re havin’ a snack

Mine would crack up and switch to that

GURPS is my go-to system. It’s incredibly flexible, both in what it allows you to do as a player, and what kind of game you can run as a GM.

It’s an older system, and by default is rather simulationist - it grew out of the same tabletop wargaming that D&D did, and tends to take a more realistic approach to what players can do than more narrative systems. I like some of the more narrative systems as well - Starforged is my other go-to system - but the characters always feel a little more loosely defined to me. GURPS is perfectly happy saying “okay, you can fly, you can turn invisible, and you can’t be killed” - but if you want to make your character more nuanced, it’s not only possible, but encouraged!

On the other hand, if you just want to throw something together and go, you can do that too! One of my players has a character sheet that consists of their racial abilities, 5 or 6 regular skills, and a high level “Security!” wildcard skill. And 3 guns. They’re a nightmare in combat, because “Security!” is their all-in-one skill with pistols and melee combat, along with anything else a person with a security background would be expected to know - it’s been rolled against to evaluate patrol schedules, reading a foe’s body language, and shadowing a mark, among other things. That character plays alongside someone with three different templates (classes), a mount, a bevy of different equipment options, and something like 55 different skills - because that player -wanted- that kind of detail. And they’re both very effective in their domains, and play off of each other well.

That’s the thing that really sticks out to me about GURPS - it’s very playable with a very minimal ruleset (GURPS Ultra-Lite is free, and 2 pages - http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/ultra-lite/), and can seamlessly expand when you want more detail. And not only are there a lot of options for that detail, they also show their work - so if you’re still missing something, you can generally still come up with reasonable rules. It just gets a reputation for being super complicated because the people who discover it tend to get excited and throw everything in…

These seem more in an absurdist vein of comedy to me, rather than having or needing a particular punch line

They certainly haven’t won

The Gods Are Bastards makes the same call-out!

“I’d be careful with that kind of joke, Professor,” Toby warned. “Sisters of Avei consider the use of love potions a form of rape. So does Imperial law, for that matter, but Imperial law doesn’t get quite as…worked up on the subject as they do."

Only Villains Do That, by the same author, has a similar reference - the protagonist receives a “starter bundle” of spells, one of which is Enamour. He’s pretty skeeved that one of his few starter spells is a rape spell.

They can meet them. But the profit margin is slimmer than if they use the giant frame.

Someone posted here a while ago - if you use the URL https://www.google.com/search?q=%25s&udm=14 it doesn’t include the AI search. I’ve updated my Google search links to use that instead of the base Google URL.

Believing doesn’t make a thing real.

But you can get a hell of a lot done because you believe in something.

Choose what you believe in carefully, but you really should choose.