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[Xanares]

Just want to swing by with a thumbs up for Tarn and Zach for making it into the MOMA exhibition and of course the NYT-article. Heart-warming to see art, skill and dedicated passion recognised in a nice way.

[Urist_McArathos]

We really should do more to help new players, and spread the DF gospel. After all, every new player who stays is someone who might donate in the future, and Toady needs those donations for good old Doc. P.

There's not much more we can do. We offer plentiful help to anyone who posts a thread like this, and we've got plenty of documentation set up to answer FAQs. The only problem is that not everybody makes it to the forums or wiki before they give up in complete confusion.

Fortunately, the NY Times DID mention that the wiki is the game's only instruction manual.  Hopefully, interested parties will then google Dwarf Fortress Wiki (the magmawiki is a top result), and be alright.

[Africa]

Oh yeah, I do kind of want to see this MOMA exhibition. Anyone know when it's on? I'm planning on biking to NYC sometime in August probably.

[Isher]

I wish a little bit of attention had been given to adventure mode (even as an aside). I made a comment on NYT about it but it would have been nice in the main article, esp. since adventure mode will be getting better very soon.

[G-Flex]

It's because of how the body deals with glucose over time. Small amounts of refined sugars and also in the form of carbohydrates induces a sharp immediate reaction - hormones including insulin and such are released to process sugars from carbs and such and convert them down to simpler forms from sucrose to glucose to glycogen.

You know that sugars are carbohydrates, right? Also, glycogen isn't what you seem to think it is (it's for long-term storage, not cellular metabolism, and is not a "simpler form", unless you happen to think this is "simpler" than this), and sucrose does not just break down into glucose. It breaks down into fructose as well, which never, as far as I know, becomes glucose in the body.

This is also why those with metabolic diseases are also told to eat wheat bread and brown rice (complex carbohydrates that take time to digest and be reduced to glucose) vs. white bread and rice, which are processed simple carbohydrates that break down quickly

I'm not sure you actually know what you're saying. Brown rice and whole wheat bread have the same damn digestible carbohydrates as white rice and white bread. The difference is that the former also have fiber (indigestible carbohydrates), which is definitely important, but distinct from the digestible carbs.

The reason that I say HFCS is a chemical that is bad for you - we don't have studies on the longterm effects of HFCS because there's so many other variables involved - however, the sugar content that it contains is the equivalent of effectively sugar-bingeing every time you have it, flooding your metabolism with -as you said- pure candy.

You know what else is like sugar-binging? Sugar. There are reasons to suspect that HFCS is worse than cane sugar, but I'm not sure you actually understand how carbohydrates work. The sugar content of HFCS is exactly the same, post-hydrolysis, of cane sugar. The issue isn't the "sugar content", it's the impurities, and whether or not the body regulates the breakdown of sucrose enough for it to matter whether or not it's broken down beforehand.

A subset of excess caloric intake is sugar distribution.  This is really contentious, and poorly supported.  But in any case, "natural" sugars don't seem any better than "unnatural" sugars.  The fructose that comes from honey is just as bad as the fructose that comes from HFCS, if fructose actually is worse than glucose.

Fructose is better because: 1. It has a higher glycemic index, making it sweeter-per-gram. 2. It leads to less sugar-spiking than glucose, because it has to be broken down first.
It is worse because there are now signs that too much fructose might lead to weird health problems, such as the strange "Metabolic syndrome" or "Syndrome X".
(From my SO, a dietician)

Also bear in mind that fructose is broken down by the liver first, whereas glucose passes right through it. This can have health ramifications by putting too much strain on the organ.

[Xanares]

Re. sugar this is an important video to watch imo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Everything in moderation, except ofc DF.

[BigD145]

That was a great read. Now I want shelf fungus behind my futon so I can poke and dissect it and take it into the university bio lab.

[Greiger]

I wanted to grab a copy for posterity's sake but it seems to be impossible to get a copy of a New York Times magazine down here.

Am I just looking the wrong way?  I know there's a newspaper, but am I wrong thinking there's a magazine too?  Or does wal mart simply not stock anything but tabloids?

[Matz05]

Sniff... That article was beautiful....
 
And yes, caffine and sugar are probably not the healthiest diet but most programmers/mathmatician types seem to need them. Toady knows it could be a problem and can watch it himself! Debating sugar nutrition is futile as there is so much contradictory information out there!
 
 
 
Back on topic, looking at that "three bites" thing; I really hope that "Interaction effects" will be dealt in something like doses that can (but not neseccarily will) decay over time if not at the point of a self-sustaining infection instead of a flat "X exposures" rate. More complicated, yes; but ultimately more FUN!
 
Urist Mc1, Mc2, and Mc3 are all maulled by werewolves.
Mc1 is fine afterword, didn't get much contact. Any traces of the "interaction" except normal injuries fade over time.
Mc2 has a weaker than average resistance to it and never actually goes back to a "clean" state, allways with say, 12 units of werwolf curse out of 100, giving him a slightly raised lower cap on strength and hairyness, etc(hard to see on a dwarf!) but not at a level where it will ever progress further. Later exposure will add to that 12 though, and if it reaches critical mass at 20 for him because of his weak resistance, or if something else weakens his supernatural "immune system"...
Mc3 got up to 24 units, and for a while it looked like he would pull through. He recovered from his injuries and was, a few weeks later, examined again. 26. Uh oh. After more observation it was confirmed as still steadily climbing -- 30 now and accellerating. Exponentialy. Better hurry up with that cage, he's behaving even more erraticly than most dorfs, throwing temporary berzerk fits when in combat as he has dificulty recognizing friend and foe! For a while he might be usefull as a mighty warrior that even (occasionaly) listens to your commands, but eventually he is going to shapeshift completely and start eating your dwarves.
 
 
...Looking at the epic extremes we Bay12ers take everything to; I can see adventurers somehow raising thier resistance to curses/whatever and going on a spree of giving themselves a critical dose of everything potentially advantagous generated in thier world. Picture an adventurer with one tentacle limb, patches of scales, assorted body deformities from all the conflicting templates, sharp horns...
At some point NPCs should become hostile though. Letting an adventurer given a patch of scales on his arm from too much contact with demon blood into the inn? Maybe. Abovementioned monstrosity? Just another monster. KILL IT! Then again, early stages of, say, vampiricism should be easily hidable.

[Toady One]

I wanted to grab a copy for posterity's sake but it seems to be impossible to get a copy of a New York Times magazine down here.

Am I just looking the wrong way?  I know there's a newspaper, but am I wrong thinking there's a magazine too?  Or does wal mart simply not stock anything but tabloids?

It's in the 24th's Sunday paper -- the Sunday paper wraps around it, and it is nestled inside.  A lot of the papers have probably been removed after not being sold, but some places will keep the Sunday paper until the next Sunday rolls around, so it is probably out there somewhere.  The table of contents is funny -- they have the three crayon art reward pictures we drew there taking up like a third of the page, telling you to go to page 16.  The ASCII portraits are also more giant so that you can see the characters.

[Conrad]

I think it's especially awesome that the writer got interviewed as well.

You know you're interesting when people want to interview the guy that interviewed you.

[Dae]

I would bet my shirt Scamps attacked the poor guy at some point. 5 days in Scamps' house ? He must've been mauled to near-death at least 3 times.

[tps12]

I thought the real problem with HFCS was not that it's so bad for you compared to other sweeteners, but the fact that US corn subsidies make it so cheap that food companies stick it in absolutely everything. Soda would have a bunch of sugar regardless, but maybe Doritos or whatever wouldn't have any sweetener if it wasn't so dirt cheap.

Good article, though. I had feared that was the kind of lifestyle the Adams brothers enjoyed, though I can see how that's pretty judgmental on my part. On the spectrum of the self-destructive habits of artists, geniuses, and visionaries, a Dr Pepper dependency is pretty mild.

[waerth]

For the money that Toady lives on he might move over to Thailand (where I life) as that kinda money gets you much more food here. And Drinking water is sold in bottles. McD delivers 24 hours a day in Bangkok and many other places till 22.30 or 23.00. Furthermore there are always noodle stands open, 24 hours a day. And most markets go on 24 hours as well so always fresh fruit etc available. Many Thais are lactose intolerant as well which is why Soymilk is a big thing here.

Not really any fresh air in Bangkok to go for a walk though. But the beach is a 2 hour busride away!

As to his lifestyle ..... sounds familiair. I life in a studio that looks like all 3 rooms described in the article combined. I usually wake up in the early afternoon to. And used to life on 2 litres of Pepsi a day (I had to cut that down as it was seriously effecting my health). I still get the shakes though if I dont drink at least one can of pepsi in the morning.  Rest of the day I drink Green tea or Water nowadays and fresh fruit.

I am an actor/comedian here. Run a modeling agency and do some work checking people's servers through the internet to see if they run all right. All in all I get by on a little bit less than 900 dollars a month.

Toady mosy on over!

[bucket]

I found this interview on Boing Boing very interesting

I didn't.
It quickly devolved into: "This game Dwarf Fortress is really hard and boring, but wouldn't it be awesome if Minecraft had these features?"