The “towards the center of mass” force, will grow with the square of the distance reduction to the closest bunch of mass(es)

This is the key point of my question because the mass m of the "bunch of mass" that is close to Venus will be less when you consider the density p with m = p * V, where V is just the volume of mass that is close enough to Venus. Assuming the Suns density is uniform (which it isn't, most of the mass is far away from Venus), p and by extension m and by extension F (the gravitational force) are proportional to 1/r³.

Unfortunately, the actual calculations are far too hard for me, but my intuition would suggest that the 1/r³ relationship of density and volume would outdo any other factors here.

Another thing you might want to consider is the repairability. If you want to swap the battery years down the line, this can become a really important metric as well. iFixit is your friend here: you can just look up a device and check what the repairability score is.

is the GCam app noticeably better than a stock camera app? What sorts of things would it do better?

As I mentioned in my first comment: "Sometimes, the picture quality is decent, but often times it's lacking" when it comes to the ROM camera app. How well a camera does, depends on the app (which is supplied by the ROM) and the driver (usually supplied by the manufacturer). The quality can, therefore, vary from device to device. A few years ago I would've definitely said that GCam is a step above ROM camera apps, but in more and more cases, those have become almost comparable in quality. One aspect where GCam still actually makes a difference is long exposure modes (low light and night photography) as well as offering special modes like panorama or photo-sphere.

The last I checked, the Pixels had excellent sensors but had some camera software issues that I believe were eventually resolved. I’m hoping that isn’t an issue if I’m just using a basic OS.

From my experience, older oneplus devices (e.g. oneplus 7/oneplus 7 pro) and pixel devices (pixel 5 and upwards) have excellent community support, so you should be golden.

Thanks! All of these stories sound interesting. Red Rising has actually been on my bucket list for a while now, but I've been hesitant to try it because the summary sounded like the "stumbling from one flawed decision to the next" thing I was mentioning earlier. Having another person suggest it here, makes me want to try it now.

This song would be great if only there weren't any Machine Gun Kelly passages in it.

I'm glad you liked the idea of the world building twist, and I think I agree with everything else you said as well. Thanks for the feedback!

Personally, and I’m going to be completely honest and frank with you, I don’t think I would play it, (though I’m definitely not the target market), but also, it’s not likely that I would recommend it to someone who wants to learn to code either.

Usually when people want to learn to code, it’s because they have some end goal in mind - they want to make an app, game, website, they want to get a job as a developer, data analyst, QA, etc. or they have something in particular which interests them - such as machine learning, embedded design, blockchain (yes, I know it’s a scam), digital music/art, etc. - and based on what they want to do, I’d recommend them some very different pathways, and it’s very unlikely that your game would be the best use of their time, to be honest.

I appreciate the honesty, and I see your point about the game not appealing to a lot of the target audience. Your suggestion with the platform-first approach and the monetization options sound like a good idea, but it is not the direction I'd want to take. I definitely have to think about it more and figure out, how to address the points you made while still pursuing a project I fell invested in.

I haven't played any of these games before, but if a find enough time, I'll look into them. Thanks for the suggestions!

Despite the name, audiobookshelf recently also added e-book support. It is still in development but (at least for me) is at a point where I've abandoned kavita and am now using it for both my audio, and e-books.

One thing that is never mentioned when it comes to "price tag" articles for NASA projects, is how good of an investment it is. Most of NASA's research projects (especially the ones of the JPL) are done in America by American workers and companies and, therefore, boost the economy. Investments like this also strengthen the scientific community which has a ripple effect on education and future innovations. It is also absolutely necessary if the US wants to continue being the leader in the aerospace industry.

Outsourcing r&d work to private companies means, that innovations will be kept proprietary and patented behind growing price tags that will always be just a little cheaper than doing it from scratch. It also means that shareholders of those contractors get significant margins that won't be injected back into the system. In that sense, privatization doesn't reduce the "price tag" on research projects, it just makes some of the costs less visible for shortsighted financial planners.

Ultimately, research will always be expensive and the real reason for the bad budget estimations is the political pressure that forces NASA to operate at such a low budget (compared to other industries with less or equal economical return). A pressure that is created by politicians who are funded by these private companies and not acting in the interest of the public.

I second this but would recommend n8n instead, since you can self-host it and you're not dependent on another online service.

Peter F. Hamilton is the reason I got into Love, Death & Robots. The first episode is a short story from A Second Chance at Eden.