2023.10.19
The most important contributing factor to the lower birthrate was probably *coitus interruptus*, which was called the "French sin" and was spoken of by French Roman Catholic priests as "conjugal onanism," a term which also included mutual masturbation known as "*les plaisirs de la petite oie*" or "the pleasures of the little goose." Informal terms for *coitus interruptus* included jumping off while the train is still running; fireworks on the lawn; knowing how to blow one's nose; and plowing on the inside while winnowing on the outside.(I ran into this googling about "la petite oie" after Guillaume Blanc's The Cultural Origins of the Demographic Transition in France - this twitter thread has some summary info, but basically saying France's noted early population rate decrease might be explained by secularization.)
And I think it's so funny that, out of all the dumb things that I've done in my life, and all the weird times I've been on TV in my underwear, headbutting thumbtacks or whatever,the thing that I get called out for the most is having just way too many copies of the game "Sneak King." And if that's how I'm remembered, if I ever die in this world, I think that's a valid, noble thing to be remembered for. Just the fact that I made someone laugh once is enough for me. It justifies storing all this and all that. If I could get a good laugh, get a couple of points on Reddit, it doesn't matter. It's about the story, it's about the laughter, it's about the humor. And that's what life is about. It's not about becoming super successful or famous, it's about finding things that make you laugh, and rushing toward them, and holding onto them dearly because we have so little time on this world. And if you're not doing stuff that produces laughter for yourself and others, then what are you doing?I had forgotten about the Oliver Twins (from the UK early 80s home computer scene, maker of the Dizzy games) - interesting comparing them to the Stamper Bros of Ultimate/Rare.
Promo games were interesting - like too many were pointless platformers, but sometimes (like with "Big Bumpin'") they were retro-like explorations of a simple fun idea. I especially liked Doritos' Dash of Destruction. Like Big Bumpin' it leaned on multiplayer - but it had this cool idea where you could be the T-Rex *or* one of the little cars - fun asymmetrical game play, and I don't think many games played with a sense of scale like that - the dino player is zoomed out and can smash through buildings, the more agile car players zip around and have to drive around obstacles - almost Katamari Damacy-like.