FUN FACT: Five Justices of the Supreme Court were appointed by presidents who were inaugurated despite losing the popular vote! That’s a full majority! And purely by coincidence, all of them are Republicans! :D

…alright, obviously it’s not fun. I can’t believe the audacity some people have to act surprised and offended when people say the Court is illegitimate.

I hate how relevant this question is in so many situations.

Somewhat off topic, but the names of both the publisher and the developer are also used by unrelated tabletop game companies. Hero Games makes the Hero System tabletop RPG, and GameScience (no space, so there’s a difference) make dice. It threw me for a loop.

Fair point. I just don’t like the move, and don’t want to support a company doing it. Even putting that aside, it really makes me worried that they’re at the point that they’re trying to ride on their reputation while increasing profit margins. It makes me think that, if I buy their newer models, they’re more likely to cheap out but charge more.

Same. I’ve been thinking of replacing the cheap immersion circulator we have, and was going to go with Anova. This blatant enshittification is enough to make me look elsewhere.

My bad then! I just saw options for a trial and a one-time purchase, didn’t realize there was a subscription.

Honestly glad to see the option. I’ll take a one-time purchase any day.

It’s a one-time purchase.

edit: It’s a one-time purchase for the “pro” version. I’ve been using the free version for a while and really enjoying it. I’ve been thinking of upgrading more to support the developers than for the added features.

And remember how they made a big deal about Bernie’s age in 2020? They asked for medical records, and even after getting letters from two or three doctors, that wasn’t enough. It was like the birthers all over again: when they got what they asked for, they moved the goal posts and wanted the long-form documents.

Meanwhile, not a peep about Biden, who is Bernie’s junior by fourteen fucking months, as if that made all the difference.

And then, four years later, it wasn’t an issue anymore. Just run the guy again.

On top of that, the DNC would condescend to anyone left of center about electability.

It might even be simpler than that. Capitalism just doesn’t care past the next quarter. And when ownership is disconnected from labor or even from customer, than it’s just a really rudimentary collective intelligence. The shareholders just want the line to go up, and everyone in the corporate structure is accountable to the shareholders, so they all do their part, big or little, to make that happen. It completely dispenses with personal responsibility, whether for negative externalities, direct harm, or even the future as close as months from now.

The last time Google pulled out all the stops to fight ad blockers, I had to update uBlock Origin every now and then until the whole thing passed. That’s all.

So I’m not worried. But I am amused that they keep making ads more obnoxious, which pushes more people to use ad blockers. I didn’t even use sponsorblock until a particularly egregious bit of native advertising. They could probably gain ground by just making ads less irritating, but they absolutely will not.

It’s extra upsetting because they almost have a good point. It’s vitally important to teach kids to think critically and question things.

…but this person is also “teaching” fantasy nonsense. They don’t have the critical thinking to impart on their child.

As others have said, “in-ear monitors.” However, it’s not technically about the quality. Earphones sit in the outer ear, while IEMs go at least a little bit into the ear canal. They do better with blocking out sound, which is better for audio quality, but sometimes you want to be able to hear things around you, so it’s a matter of context.

Also, while audiophiles can get wild with it (and there’s a lot of snake oil in that area), I just got some Salnotes Zeros for <$20 and they’re great.

even apart from audio quality, Spotify is just plain terrible as a music library.

For someone who lives in playlists, it might be fine. But I like to pick and choose albums and songs, and be able to sort the whole collection on the fly. Spotify, and unfortunately a whole bunch of the competition, will have three separate lists for “liked” songs, albums, and artists. Only want to save the studio tracks, and not the demos and live versions? Fuck you, you can like the album or not, it’s all or nothing! And the special edition is the only version we have! enjoy the solid hour of shittier versions of the songs you actually wanted!

I do appreciate the fact that the Cybertruck was so clearly designed by someone who had no idea how to design a car, and that it’s Musk’s pet project. It really drives another nail in the coffin of the idea that he deserves all the credit for the work his companies do.

Then again, his most die-hard supporters draw no distinction between ownership and labor. They’re also somehow able to look at a Cybertruck and think “Wow!” rather than “Wow, is this some kind of a joke?”

And will get stained by tree sap. You should avoid the extreme use-case of parking near trees.

It’s also why I love the fact that it has a tent accessory, despite being a car that can’t handle being outside.

Yeah, pretty much. It ties into the “white genocide” and “great replacement” conspiracy theories, where the mere existence of nonwhites is taken as violence. It also often blames Jews for orchestrating it. It doesn’t make any sense, but it appeals to paranoia and supremacy, and provides a scapegoat for literally any actual systemic problem.

At least in the contexts I’m talking about, and I’ve never seen it used in another, it’s really not that. It’s coming from talking heads fearmongering about nonwhites, portraying nonwhite immigrants as criminals, ginning up a “border crisis” narrative, and even calling it an “invasion.”

First, I’d take a look to see if there are any games you really want to play to make sure they’re Linux compatible. ProtonDB is a great resource for this. The amount of games that work on Linux is actually pretty great, and the coverage is only increasing. That said, the biggest gap comes from games that require anti-cheat software, since that tends to require Windows. It sucks, since it’s a one-sided decision from publishers, and there’s not much to do besides keep Windows around, at least in a dual-boot. If you’re mostly a single-player gamer, you’re probably good to go. If you play AAA competitive multiplayer games, you’re probably out of luck. Best to check before getting started.

Secondly, I’d take a look at Nobara. It’s designed from the ground up to deliver what you want: a plug-and-play, out-of-the-box experience geared towards gaming. I can’t speak from personal experience, but I’ve heard good things. I’ve also heard good things about Pop_OS, which I think makes gaming a priority, too. Linux Mint is also great for offering a smooth transition, but I’m just not sure if there are any hurdles for gaming specifically.

I’ll also add that, while you might need to do some tinkering on Linux, even the regular distros don’t actually have it that bad. For the most part, it’s enabling an option on Steam, maybe downloading a package, maybe some settings here and there. Yeah, Windows still has it smoother, but it might be worth it to not have to fight Windows elsewhere, like with all the ads and privacy invasions. YMMV. For me, the juice is worth the squeeze, because the squeeze isn’t actually that hard once you get a little know-how. :P

Also… you can dual boot. Say you need Windows for some games, or don’t want to futz at all to get them running. You could do that to game or use whatever software only works with Windows, then reboot into Linux for more basic computing. Maybe it’s not worth the hassle of rebooting for you, but it’s yet another option if you don’t want to compromise on gaming, but also don’t want to deal with Windows the rest of the time.

When conservatives fearmonger about immigrants and brown people, one of the current favorite talking points is to say they’re “military-aged.” It’s vague and meaningless, but it implies something sinister, and plays into just about any conspiracy theory an audience member might be inclined to believe.

On top of that, they’re afraid from merely seeing these people. They’re just scared to death of brown and black kids and young adults.

Really reminds me of the “military-aged” thing. It’s just so pathetic.