GamerGate’s Pyrrhic Victory

Games Journalism is like fewer than 40 people now. Magazines are basically gone and websites are close behind them. None of this is a surprise to me, but it’s incredibly sad. We had something awesome for a while there. Younger generations have no idea what they missed out on.

As a longtime fan of Computer Gaming World, which I would argue was one of the greatest magazines ever published, I could not agree more. In absolutely related news, we’re informed of the game industry’s darkest hour since the Video Game Crash of 1983:

The movers and shakers of the video game industry will gather Thursday in Los Angeles to celebrate the annual Game Awards, the sector’s equivalent of the Oscars. But no amount of glitz and glamour can put a sheen on what has been one of the worst years in the industry’s history, marked by waves of layoffs and studio closures.

“Game industry continues to be just incredibly bleak behind the scenes,” Mike Bithell, who heads a small British studio, posted on the Bluesky social network this month. “Ecosystem is in free fall. Doubt there’ll be an easy solution, or a quick one. This darkest hour has dragged out to a darkest couple of years.”

At least 14,500 people in the sector were laid off worldwide in 2024, up from 10,500 in 2023, according to the Game Industry Layoffs website. Many studios have also closed their doors. In recent months, French giant Ubisoft announced it would close its branches in San Francisco and Osaka. Sony-owned U.S. studio Firewalk — behind this year’s spectacular flop “Concord” — met a similar fate in October.

The fact that the financialization of the industry led to its complete failure, and that its convergence led to its inability to perform its core function, is not even remotely surprising. The suits were bad enough in the late 1990s; I remember GT Interactive’s vice-president – and eventual Atari president – once calling me tell me that he didn’t like the color of the laser bolts in an early demo of Rebel Moon Revolution.

“Harry,” I said. “You’re a lawyer. First, we’re working on the 3D engine now, so we made the lasers bright pink and bright green so it’s easy to see where they go. Second, you’re a freaking lawyer! Leave the game development to the game developers.”

But the invasion of women and other status-seekers, who were chasing the cachet of being in the entertainment industry as well as the high-paying jobs available in game dev, really sunk the ship. They were more concerned with story and characterizations than gameplay, and once the social justice movement got started, representation and inclusivity and diversity and every form of sexual insanity. I flat-out quit playing new games; I haven’t paid any attention to a mainstream game in years and I’m very, very far from alone.

The good news is that the independent game industry is alive, well, and thriving. It’s actually rather reminiscent of the late ’80s and early ’90s when it was possible to develop a successful game with a small team of 2-to-10 serious and motivated gamers. #GamerGate won, in the end, but it has been a costly victory indeed.

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Burying the Fraud

John Plaice discovers that the evidence supporting Einstein’s theory of relativity has either gone missing or never existed in the first place.

The Principe team was led by Eddington, in his capacity as director of the Cambridge Observatory. Eddington’s role was largely personal. He understood the theory being tested and was experienced in the type of astrometry required to measure the predicted effect. But his observatory was not known for its expertise in eclipses, and the equipment he used was largely borrowed from the Oxford Observatory. He was accompanied not by one of his own staff but by Cottingham, who was familiar with the equipment to be used, as he counted both the Oxford and Cambridge Observatories among his clients. Cottingham’s role was largely to maintain the equipment in working order at the site. It is probable that Eddington alone handled the data analysis of the Principe expedition. We cannot determine how this was done because none of the data analysis sheets or photographic plates have survived. We do know that Eddington began the data analysis on Principe by himself, so it is almost certain that he continued on his own when back in England.

Wait, what? Neither Eddington’s data analysis sheets nor his photographic plates have survived?

The obscurity of Principe extended further than just the day itself. Eddington began his data reduction alone while still on the island. It is probable that he never enlisted anyone’s help after his return to Cambridge. If he kept any notes or records, they were later lost. Even the plates he took have long since disappeared. They may have been disposed of when the observatory was cleared out after the Second World War. Eddington had passed away, and the university was anxious to remove Winifred, his sister, from the premises in order to rehouse needy academics in the postwar housing shortage. A fellow astronomer called Chubby Stratton was sent in to go through Eddington’s papers and seems to have thrown out a great deal of material, judging by the relatively small amount deposited at the Trinity College Library. Apparently, no one thought the eclipse plates were worth keeping. No one now can examine what Stratton did and second-guess his methods and decisions. In this sense, it is not surprising that doubts have been expressed about Eddington’s results. Apart from what he published, we have nothing else to go on. To be fair, he published in some detail, but it would be nice to have the plates. Apart from the fabulous published images of the prominence, which show no stars because of the clouds, we have no record of the eclipse at Principe other than the data and tables of calculations given in the report.

This is for the observations that proved without a doubt that classical physics was wrong, and made Eddington a star and Einstein a superstar! So today we have no physical evidence that Eddington actually observed what he claimed to have observed.

Based on what we already know about the core falsehoods upon which Clown World has been constructed, I think it is fairly safe to conclude that the theory of relativity will eventually be shown to be not only intrinsically false, but completely impossible, given the way in which the evidence that originally supported it and helped it become established now cannot be produced or reproduced.

But I will defer to the physicists in the community rather than formulating an actual opinion on the subject, since on this topic I have not done the math and I know they have.

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Pure Hopium

Just in time to gift it to all of your Democrat friends and family, and in preparation for the inauguration, the soundtrack to the second coming of Donald Trump to the White House has been released. MAGA Thunder has released SEVEN (7) different mixes of its FOUR MORE YEARS single celebrating the recent US presidential election.

You can listen to all 25 minutes and 48 seconds of pure political hopium on Youtube. The MAGA Thunder masterpiece is also available on Spotify and iTunes.

Four More Years – The Storm 4:43
Four More Years – The Real America 4:42
Four More Years – The Man is Back 3:13
Four More Years – Red State Country 3:23
Four More Years – 47 Seconds to Trump 3:12
Four More Years – Lightning Strikes Twice 3:22
Four More Years – Alpha City 3:13

Unauthorized subscribers can also listen to Four More Years – Rocket Girls which was not released to the public since it’s a little too brilliant for the average individual to comprehend, as well as Four More Years – Health and Human Services. A Booster Patrol cover is also in the works for the inauguration, which will take the level of awesome to eleven. Be sure the share the love this Christmas season.

You knew that he was coming back,
The man you couldn’t stump.
You knew you couldn’t stop him,
The man named Donald Trump,

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The True Anti-Tolkien

George RR Martin isn’t the anti-Tolkien. It’s the denizens of the Hellmouth who are desecrating JRR Tolkien’s intellectual legacy, as Fandom Pulse points out that The War of the Rohirrim is much worse, and much more intentionally subversive, than its box office failure would indicate.

Hera is kidnapped by Wulf and rescued by a strong female shield maiden-to-. The maiden goes toe to toe in combat with Wulf and his forces and rescues Hera singlehandedly. No men are required.

Later, when Helm dies, his one regret (even though both of his sons died horribly in this conflict) is that he didn’t listen to Hera. He affirms, despite her having done no deeds to deserve it, that she should be the one to lead her people, calling her both “cunning” and “strong” to unsubtly reiterate the point of the strong female lead.

However, the institution of marriage is struck again as the film progresses. During the final siege of the keep, rewritten as Wulf not being present but in battle with Frealaf in the original Lord of the Rings lore, Hera puts on a wedding dress to confront Wulf.

While it’s yet another cringy moment in which she goes toe-to-toe with a warrior man, fighting and having no problem being stronger than him in combat, the most subversive element is again an attack on the sacrament of marriage.

While it could be construed at first that Hera is willing to sacrifice herself for her people, she doesn’t. She simply kills Wulf with the help of the shield maiden woman, showing again that women can be stronger than men.

Wulf mocks Hera asking why he would marry her now. She once again reiterates that she will marry no man. This is where it gets creepy as Hera says she is wed “to death.”

Everything is sacrificed on their subversive altar. Literally everything. Heirs and families really should think twice before accepting riches to destroy the legacy their predecessors have left them. While it’s good to see that there is no audience for these absurd abominations, they never should have been made in the first place. And the opportunity cost is severe; there is plenty of room in Middle Earth lore for a dozen movies and series that will never be made because the Hellmouth is totally incapable of respecting the source material.

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More Christmas, More Carols

We’re hosting our annual Christmas party today, so posting will be light. But please enjoy the latest releases from Vibe Patrol, being a spin on Good King Wenceslas as well as a new celebration of the Christmas season called The Word Descended. I like cheerful odes to the season as much as the next man, but the divine descent into darkness is the aspect of Christmas that strikes me as the most meaningful, and which I find the most compelling.

The dark carol was inspired by the verse inscribed in stone in a small Italian church where I used to live.

Il Verbo si fece carne e venne ad abitare in mezzo a noi.

The Word descended,
God made real.
A child is born
For His ordeal.
The Word descended,
Of flesh and bone,
The King will come
To claim His throne.
The Son of God,
The Sacrifice,
To free Mankind
He paid the price.

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When a Pet Thinks He’s a Player

The Hellmouth is always quick to put him in his place:

 In the Heights just launched this weekend.  During what was supposed to be a routine promotional interview the Director, Jon Chu was suddenly being roasted by some sow for not having enough Black Latinos in this movie.  Vox (the crap one), NY Times, The Independent, the WaPo, and the rest of the Woketard media were on the attack over this horrifying issue of “Colorism” that no one had cared about before last week.  Lin-Manuel Miranda finally apologized for this hideous malfeasance on his part.

That is the official story.

The Dark Herald proceeds to explain the actual reason Lin-Manuel Miranda suddenly fell out of favor with the paparazzi.

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Childhood Vaccine Review

The US media is doing its best to ignore the announcement that the Trump administration will be reviewing the need for childhood vaccines under the jaundiced eye of RFK Jr:

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in an interview published on Thursday said he will be talking to Robert F Kennedy Jr, his nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, about ending childhood vaccination programs.

When asked if he would sign off if Kennedy decided to end childhood vaccinations programs, Trump told Time magazine, “we’re going to have a big discussion. The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there’s something causing it.”

When asked if the discussion could result in his administration getting rid of some vaccinations, Trump said: “It could if I think it’s dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial, but I don’t think it’s going to be very controversial in the end.”

Asked in the Nov 25 interview if he thinks childhood autism is linked to vaccines, Trump said: “No, I’m going to be listening to Bobby,” referring to Kennedy. Trump said he had a lot of respect for Kennedy and his views on vaccinations.

Kennedy, who opposed state and federal COVID-19 restrictions and was accused of spreading misinformation about the virus, has for years sown doubts over the safety and efficacy of vaccines, including asserting a debunked link between vaccines and autism.

Here is how you can be certain that the childhood vaccine schedule is a) unnecessary and b) fraudulent.

Former FDA commissioner and current Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb has said if Kennedy follows through on his intentions to end vaccine mandates “it will cost lives in this country.” He said lower vaccination rates could lead to large outbreaks of once nearly eradicated diseases like measles. “For every 1,000 cases of measles that occur in children, there will be one death. And we are not good in this country at diagnosing and treating measles,” Gottlieb told CNBC last month.

This is a blatant and easily disproven false prediction. Measles was not virtually eliminated in the West by vaccines, but by improved sewage systems. The post-1963 vaccination regime had nothing to do with the decline of measles as a dangerous childhood disease. This is easily proven by comparing the number of measles cases and deaths over time to the first introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963 and its widespread adoption in 1968.

Note that twice as many children – 800 – are killed being transported to school every year than the total number of people of all ages -380 – who died from measles in 1960, three years before the first introduction of the measles vaccine. If you genuinely want to save children’s lives, ban vaccines and mandate homeschooling.

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Regional Power != Global Invincibility

A surprising number of would-be war analysts are putting far too much stock in Russia’s inability to prop up the Syrian regime against the combined assault of US, Israeli, Turkish, and jihadist forces. But Russia and China are both REGIONAL powers; their inability to dictate events in the Middle East, or in Africa, is no different than the inability of the USA to dictate events in Eastern Europe or the Red Sea. The further away from their industrial core where force is generated, the harder it is to deliver a sufficient amount.

But the logistical difficulties in a remote location should never be confused with an inability to generate the force in the first place, as Andrei Martynov illustrates:

Russia is outpacing the arms production of the entire EU after significantly ramping up its defense industry and despite Western sanctions, the bloc’s commissioner for defense and space, Andrius Kubilius, has said. Kubilius, a noted Russia hawk and two-time prime minister of Lithuania, was approved by the European Parliament last month as the EU’s first ever defense commissioner. In an interview on Friday with the RND media group, he called on the EU to significantly expand the production of conventional weapons such as artillery and infantry vehicles, as well as long-range and precision weapons amid what he called a Russian attack threat. “The Russians have expanded their arms industry to an unimaginable extent despite our sanctions,” Kubilius stated. Russia now produces “more weapons in three months than the entire European arms industry can produce, and in six months more weapons than the entire German army has,” he added. Kubilius also cited experts who, according to him, say that Russia now produces more tanks than it uses on the front lines in the Ukraine conflict.

I want to stress, that in the last few years, a very good man, who I will not name, because I respect him, no, he is not my acquaintance–was repeating ad nauseam that Russia “with the economy the size of Spain”. Sadly, there is no such profession as a “good man”, but for most people in the US “intel” community it is worth learning that Russia’s economy is the 4th economy in the world and, possibly, the third. I want to stress that GDP numbers circulating in the “intel” circles are crap invented in the combined West to hide its deindustrialization and financialization of own economies. US industrial base was in steady decline for decades now and realistically, with the exception of automotive industry (granted with huge pure assembly from import parts sector) and aerospace with naval construction… well, that’s about the most important US machine building sectors.

What changed the equation in Syria was the involvement of the Turks and their willingness to help Clown World depose the Assad regime. The Russians quite rightly assessed the situation as hopeless and extricated their forces as well as the Assad family without taking any losses; contrast that with the expense incurred by the futile Us and European attempts to preserve Ukraine and its Clown World regime. But Erdogan has long been open about his dream of rebuilding the Ottoman empire, and Syria is part of that former Ottoman territory.

A deluge of new evidence shows Turkey slowly fortifying its position as future hegemon of the region. As soon as Damascus fell, the director of the MIT—Turkey’s CIA equivalent—Ibrahim Kalin was spotted visiting Jolani, touring Damascus, as well as paying homage to the ancient Umayyad mosque. Several videos showed Jolani acting as personal chauffeur to Kalin, driving him around Damascus with an armed escort. Think about that: Jolani as personal driver to the head of Turkey’s top intelligence agency—that’s not to mention that Kalin was senior personal advisor to Erdogan and is member of his AK Party. So, Erdogan’s personal henchman is already shadowing Jolani, whispering in his ear—what can that mean? And what does that say about rumors that HTS had long ago cut ties with Turkey, with the same going for SNA/FSA/TFSA?

This is why Israel has already invaded southern Syria. In my estimation, Turkey poses a much more significant long-term military threat than Iran ever has, although I wouldn’t assume that Turkey won’t eventually ally with Iran against Israel when the Israeli-Turkish war eventually begins.

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Cuba Joins BRICS

As a partner-state rather than a full member-state, however:

Cuba and Bolivia are expected to officially join BRICS as partner states on January 1, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has said. In an interview with the Izvestia newspaper on Friday, Ryabkov confirmed that both countries had received invitations.

“We are confident that everything will work out in terms of their joining the group as partners,” the diplomat said.

The new ‘partner country’ status was approved at the BRICS summit in October, hosted by Russia in Kazan, and is intended to serve as an alternative to membership after more than 30 nations applied to join the organization.

I think the more noteworthy item is the absence of an invitation for Türkiye. One would have thought they would be a shoe-in, but perhaps the Turkish invasion of Syria was more than the BRICS members were willing to accept. I also find it curious that neither Malaysia nor Vietnam were accepted, but it might be that there will be a separate announcement concerning the new Asian member-states coming from China.

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Christmas and the New Covenant

Andrew Torba calls out the Churchians and their falsehoods.

The book of Hebrews makes it crystal clear: the Old Covenant is obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). It’s done. Finished. Over. The New Covenant in Christ’s blood has replaced it entirely. The Church fulfills God’s promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him (Genesis 22:18) and his seed, who is Christ. (Galatians 3:16-18)

The belief that ethnic Israel retains a distinctive status apart from the Church misinterprets Scripture. It neglects the transformative nature of Christ’s work. He did not simply enhance Israel; He fulfilled its purpose and extended it to embrace all who believe.

If your pastor is preaching anything else on this subject, you’re not in a church.

You’re in a synagogue of Satan.

One thing that is fascinating about the inability of many Christians to pay attention to God’s Word is that we are warned, over and over again, about the various ways in which deceivers will attempt to deceive us. And yet, even in the face of obvious and documented deceit that flies directly in the face of the words of Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul alike, Churchians will insist that their Gospel of Niceness takes precedence over Church tradition, secular history, current observation, and the Bible itself.

But they could not be more wrong. The fruit of Churchianity has been the decline of not only the Church and the nation, but the descent of civilization itself.

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