Wow, I had no idea. Not that I was about to pick up and move to Chicago, but given that every other city in the country seems to be growing I'm surprised that Chicago isn't. There's nothing they can do about that miserable Midwest weather, but hopefully they get the rest of it sorted out.

Join the crowd... Everyone's moving to Texas. :sigh:

try Denver and the front range , my humble home has doubled in value in the last 6 years

Ya, it's hard to say for sure having not done it. But in my head, the designer should be able to get the basic flipping layout and mechanical design say, 95% done w/out a significant amount of software. So you don't make the work hard and run it in parallel (i.e., have dev write a bunch of throw away code as design is iterated). Instead, you run the layout and programming mostly sequentially. Which I would guess/hope happens even when the designer/mechanical engineer/programmer are co-located unless there's a significant platform change in flight (Pin2k, etc.).

From what I've read, I wouldn't use JPOP as my benchmark for measuring the effectiveness of alternative engineering processes/approaches

Did someone say applejuice?

We don't want them here. They leave because their states and cities have been destroyed but they bring the same thing here.

Well fine, then I WON'T move there.

I like you no matter what Levi. I would welcome you regardless, not that my opinion matters. We would just have to NOT talk about politics. Ill take you shooting and the next thing you know you will be buying an AR-15. But I think you are a New Yorker through and through and would not be moving here anytime soon. You would be bored for one thing. There is nothing to do here compared to NYC.

I've been thinking about moving to Texas but I don't vote.

Is that OK?

I guess so. Will you bring me a AMH ?

Hey guys I have a um friend thnking aboot moving to Texas; do they let the gays in yet?

They have to live in Austin.

Dammit I almost typed "Other than Austin"

We don't take them out behind the barn any more as long as they behave themselves. No parading around in assless chaps or anything. Now the hot lesbians are always welcome.

Shhh, no need to advertise. If people are clambering for that 105 degree/85% humidity Texas summer weather, let 'em have it!

Exact same thing on the Wasatch range along Salt Lake City. Growth is insane, and it stresses me out. Property values have shot up a ton (hooray for increased taxes!), and housing is popping up everywhere. I miss all the open space we used to have and I hate seeing how much more water we're pulling down to satisfy the growth. It all seems unfeasible to me in the long run. The Great Salt Lake is shrinking a lot due to all the water we're diverting for irrigation and drinking, and that's not a good thing.

The southwest has been trying to get a water pipeline from the great lakes. Oh, you're bad at managing your resources? Well here, have ours! What could go wrong..

our crooked leader is trying to sell all the states natural resources as quick as he can...

When I think of all Americans benefitting from “our national resources” I think “yes, travel to the Great Lakes and enjoy their beauty, fishing, and water sports!” not suck them dry to prop up New Mexico and Arizona, etc.

In So Cal, we are working on a plan where people that move here bring their own water, otherwise they can go thirsty.

It pains me anytime I hear any American say this.

It pains me every time I hear this pains an American.

I'm just old and in pain. I do vote though, sometimes. Mostly just to flirt with the old ladies at my polling spot...

Was this supposed to mean something?

Yes.

As a "Programmer" I can honestly say I would never work at Stern and I work at one of the most hated companies in America. I can not imagine Stern being competitive in any measure, salary, benefits, facility, work life, perks. Even the themes are mind numbing. They would be better off to just open source their pins, that would probably greatly increase the code.

It doesn't pain me to know somebody else can feel pain by not doing something that as an American is my right not to do.

C8338839-F83B-430C-83EA-C937F2627C18 (resized).jpeg

BF20B0EB-E7CD-404B-92B2-3874F70F1510 (resized).jpeg

Last election I voted for a homeless dude who won a democratic nomination for a congressional seat. Dude literally beat out like 3 or 4 actual candidates whom campaigned. This dude just was smart enough to submit his name.

Here is an actual quote from him post primary win.

"It's kind of hard to manage money when you smoke and you drink beer and hotel rooms," Schrader said. "I'd like to get an apartment."

For his honesty I had to give him a sympathy vote. Probably will be the most interesting vote I ever cast.

Well, at least you're helping RazerX feel better about Americans choosing not to vote.

I’m a man of the people

Blah. We're all biased. Deep down it only "pains you" if the vote I'm throwing away would have been for your side.

If it makes him feel any better, I usually vote in all the pinside polls I come across.

Don't sweat it, what with the Wisconsin gerrymandering your vote for anything other than President is probably meaningless anyway.

It’s important to keep up on current events.

And then the Ruskies swept in and took that Presidential vote away from you!!!

You couldn't possibly be more wrong Ben. Attitudes like that are part of the problem, not the solution. I do hate the way the primaries are set up (at least around here) since it forces you to pick a side, but when it comes to the general, everyone that can vote should vote as matter of civic duty regardless if you want to vote for one team exclusively or not. I honestly don't care who you vote for, just get off your duff and vote on election day. If more people took voting seriously maybe we'd have better candidates, less corruption and more than 2 parties to chose from. It genuinely makes me sad that I'm being mocked here because I want people to get out and take part in elections so that we can have our government better represent us. This country could be in a better place if more would take it seriously. It's also one of the best ways you can honor all of the service men and women who lost their lives throughout history defending this right for all of us.

Moderator's comment:

Folks, please keep in mind that discussions on politics are not allowed, and some of these comments are skirting right on the edge.

We prefer to live dangerously

Just wanted to say that I've enjoyed Ben's videos for a long time now from before I was into pinball, so thanks for all the great content (of course this was before I knew about his shocking voting habits!).

Good luck with your film endeavors and hopefully you'll circle around to pinball again sometime in the future.

I think maybe that's a little harsh? They seem like a fine smaller company to work for. They aren't a silicon valley startup with an in-house chef and nap rooms, but I don't think that's their vibe anyway.

To me a lot of a job satisfaction comes from who I work with. Stern seems to have good people working there, seems like it would be fun.

To each their own, I don't fault anyone that wants to work there. Just me personally I can't imagine doing Elvira or Munsters. DeadPool or Pulp Fiction might be ok but I just don't see there being any room to do anything interesting. It's just going to be implement this rule set. Personally I would very much enjoy writing the code if I could just do it. At home at my convenience I would happily do it for free. The code itself is would not be hard, the magic of the rules is the hard part.

Sorry....I just couldn't take you seriously after that....

Stern sucks, their themes suck, their pay sucks, their benefits suck, their code sucks, their staff members suck, blah, blah, blah...........

You sure know a ton about working for stern for someone that doesn't work for stern.

He had me at-

I'm talking about me personally, I can not imagine them being competitive when it comes to "good programmers". I was talking about the audio message earlier in the thread. I'm sure they can get programmers but they are not going to compete with the big boys. I'm not faulting anyones personal taste. Just me personally, I could not write code for Iron Maiden, Elvira or the Munster. I just have no interest in the theme and having to debug and test and basically having it on repeat all day, no thanks. Playing a game or pin and writing the code are very different beasts. Writing the code you often have to do the same thing all day with none of the fun.

If you don't vote you don't get a sticker

I think you're looking at it the wrong way. Example: I'm a musician, and back in college, I was the musical director for our A Capella group. We competed in the ICCAs (think: Pitch Perfect movie). Our small group would meet twice a year, and brainstorm songs we wanted to use in competition, and by extension, other performances. I was tasked with transcribing the music to the voice parts, and teaching it to the group. 75% of the time, I really disliked the songs our group would select. It was initially painful to sit there and listen to each song a million times to write my sheet music.

I found quickly though, that while I didn't have any attachment to the music that was selected, I found extreme satisfaction in creating music that would be enjoyed by others. I imagine that pinball programmers feel the same. Not all of them will enjoy all or any of the themes that they're handed, but to be able to create something that you can see other people enjoy for years and years is a fantastic feeling.

That's very much how I felt helping on RZ and ACNC. Nothing against them as artists, just hard to stay interested as a non-fan (and not paid "stupid enough money" to pretend to care)