Frank Podmore
@frankpodmore.bsky.social
Award-winning poet published in @pwritersu.com, @stanzacannon.bsky.social, @apparitionlit.com and others; occasional opinions for @roadcc.bsky.social, @labourlist.bsky.social and Sublation Magazine
Reposted by Frank Podmore
SimCity sequel team wanted to do more realistic city layouts but couldn't because everything would basically just proportionally be parking lots
from www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
from www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
![Geoff Manaugh: While you were making those measurements of different real-world cities, did you discover any surprising patterns or spatial relationships?
Libbrande: Yes, definitely. I think the biggest one was the parking lots. When I started measuring out our local grocery store, which I don't think of as being that big, I was blown away by how much more space was parking lot rather than actual store. That was kind of a problem, because we were originally just going to model real cities, but we quickly realized there were way too many parking lots in the real world and that our game was going to be really boring if it was proportional in terms of parking lots.
Manaugh: You would be making SimParkingLot, rather than SimCity.
Libbrande: [laughs] Exactly. So what we do in the game is that we just imagine they are underground. We do have parking lots in the game, and we do try to scale them -- so, if you have a little grocery store, we'll put six or seven parking spots on the side, and, if you have a big convention center or a big pro stadium, they'll have what seem like really big lots -- but they're nowhere near what a real grocery store or pro stadium would have. We had to do the best we could do and still make the game look attractive.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wnovqylk7dhhl4otvtjp5mch/bafkreic3riickqdotxzqggpb5qqsisx3odhml3bemxtah3ndwunsr3nlpi@jpeg)
April 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM
SimCity sequel team wanted to do more realistic city layouts but couldn't because everything would basically just proportionally be parking lots
from www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
from www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Man, I don't know about that. IIRC his definition of socialism was something like 'It's just common sense: you look after me, I look after you, we all look after each other', which might be even *more* vapid than this (though less potentially mass murder-y)
December 2, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Man, I don't know about that. IIRC his definition of socialism was something like 'It's just common sense: you look after me, I look after you, we all look after each other', which might be even *more* vapid than this (though less potentially mass murder-y)
They long for the feel of the wind in the hair they don't have
December 2, 2025 at 11:12 AM
They long for the feel of the wind in the hair they don't have
Reposted by Frank Podmore
In the caving and cave rescue world it has more been a problem of YouTubers promoting themselves. I'm not aware of any LLM issues yet. But it's a much less popular pastime.
December 2, 2025 at 11:11 AM
In the caving and cave rescue world it has more been a problem of YouTubers promoting themselves. I'm not aware of any LLM issues yet. But it's a much less popular pastime.
Reposted by Frank Podmore
LLMs are a statistical language predictor, not a source of knowledge.
December 2, 2025 at 10:58 AM
LLMs are a statistical language predictor, not a source of knowledge.
Thread possibly of interest to @edzitron.com @jamesrball.com for the LLM stuff. I don't know if I know any outdoorsy people on here?
December 2, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Thread possibly of interest to @edzitron.com @jamesrball.com for the LLM stuff. I don't know if I know any outdoorsy people on here?
Finally: I hope the above info is useful. I spent time researching it and obviously, since I'm publishing it here, no one wanted to pay me to write it up. Feel free to hire me for things if you too think info like this might save someone's life!
December 2, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Finally: I hope the above info is useful. I spent time researching it and obviously, since I'm publishing it here, no one wanted to pay me to write it up. Feel free to hire me for things if you too think info like this might save someone's life!