Spyke

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memes

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Defediverse

Yes, let's enter discussion with the literal Nazis so we can try to understand them. There might be nuance to their calls for mass genocide.

Fuck off OP.

memes

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Randall spittin' facts

Communists? Nah, not a problem. I mean I'm a Star Trek fan, and while it's not played up that much the Federation is a post-scarcity socialist-adjacent society. I'm all for everyone having their basic needs met without condition or obligation, and money being obsolete.

Tankies though can fuck right off. North Korea is not a bastion of democracy. China is not more free than the US. This is not a comparison even worth entertaining.

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*Permanently Deleted*

Another one that gets me: buying things but not actually owning them. You buy a game but you don't actually own the game, you own a license to play a game on a service that might shut down sometime in the future or change their mind about the license they sold you. You buy an e-book but the storefront you bought it from might change or remove it, and then forcibly update or remove any copies you have on e-readers. Most people don't even buy movies or TV shows, they just subscribe to some streaming service, and if they do "buy" an electronic copy it's the same issue as e-books.

At least physical copies of movies and tv shows and books are still a thing, but even then we're heading towards a future where physical media may require phoning in before it'll play.

piracy

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I donated some spindles of burned media and programs to Salvation Army expecting they'd throw 'em out. They're selling 'em for $3.

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For religious people they're sure eager to sell used "personal massagers" for $10.

Also, frankly, here in the Reno area it's basically impossible to find a thrift store that's not run by incredibly religious wackadoos. Best you can do is Goodwill, which is far from irreligious. Salvation Army is one of the few that isn't blasting Jesus Rock on the speakers when you're in there.

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Atheists, is there anything religious that sticks with you to this day?

I still act respectful in churches and other "sacred" places, not out of any fear of the Magic Sky Wizard, but simply because other people respect them and it seems like a useful thing to encourage, even if I don't agree with the underlying reasoning. Having a place which most of society agrees should be a quiet, comforting sanctuary is not the worst thing at all, even if the comfort is derived from extreme wishful thinking.

Also, Christmas. Christmas music is great. A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of the best holiday albums ever, though we always skip "Hark the Herald Angel Sings" 'cause it's such a tonal shift compared to the rest of the album.

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*Permanently Deleted*

As others have said, Twitch adblocking still works just fine. There are multiple plugins which block their ads, and you can even paste in a few custom filters to uBlock Origin and bypass them.

In other words, it's not inevitable.

Think of it this way: YouTube has to pay people to work on anti-adblocking tech, whereas pissed off nerds with a permanent "fuck you I do what I want" energy will figure out how to defeat those measures for free.

games

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Helldivers 2 now delisted in 177 countries

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While 177 countries sounds like a lot, it's not where the majority of players are. PSN operates in the top 15 countries by GDP and the top 4 by population.

Of course there's still the question of why they work in so few countries when literally none of their competitors (that I know of) have those limitations.

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The Onion Staff to Go on Strike Wednesday Barring 11th Hour Deal

The guild is seeking contracts that include staffer protections in the event of the sale of the company, improved severance offerings, and basic protections from AI.

In other words they've noticed that a bunch of greedy venture capitalists bought them and aren't gonna let 'em just liquidate/automate their jobs for a quick buck.

They're also probably feeling a bit paranoid after watching Hard-Drive have the same thing happen.

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The future looks bleak...

I can tell this is old because the tip selection doesn't go up to 30%+.

Seriously, tipping is getting out of hand. I compromised by going above 15% to begin with, I'll be cold and dead in the ground before I go above 20% and I will die on this hill.

games

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STEAM starting to issue refunds for players over the 2h playtime limit due to PSN on Helldivers 2

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I'm actually really surprised that Valve is loosening up on this one. They usually play hardball when it comes to refunding a game past the 2 hour mark.

They make exceptions when a game has major issues or implements some significant change that dramatically alters the availability of the product. No Man's Sky, Starfield, and Cyberpunk 2077 all could be refunded outside the 2 hour window - at least for some people. And of course everyone who bought The Day Before was refunded entirely.

I expect they'll be allowing refunds for anyone in a country where PSN does not operate at a minimum. It's really hard to argue that the game is still playable when the required service is not available in your home country.