TIL - thanks!

In terms of my post, I was interested in the Khajit specifically, as I think the extensive specifics written of both their culture and their variant morphology would make for some incredible storytelling and plotlines. It’s one thing to meet the parents when your girlfriend is Caitian… quite another if she’s Khajit.

Mom could be looking like this:

…while Dad is looking at you like:

Haven’t seen those, so wouldn’t know… I’m more interested to see what the Federation would do with the Khajit as they exit in Elder Scrolls - all of the different morphologies - from the giant Senche-Tigers to the tiny Alfiq.

I’d also really dig seeing a throwdown between a Klingon and a Pahmar-raht:

In many cases, the mod team was selectively replaced after the story ran out of steam. A number of smaller communities did go dark and stayed dark, but Reddit forced the opening of several of the major ones.

There was a significant migration to lemmy, but many didn’t stay, and ended up back on Reddit. We’re in the middle of a 2nd surge with the removal of old.reddit.com from the public (not logged in) front-end, but it’s more of a steady stream as individual users get fed up, not the big wave that hit with the API announcement.

I think this time folks are going to stay. Reddit’s content quality and frequency of OC has plummeted, while it’s been steadily rising on the Fediverse. And the dialog here is vastly better.

That’s the real driver as to whether people stay on a social media site - the conversations with other users. Reddit has started to heavily censor and manipulate that conversation, and is dying as a result.

On the Fediverse, that conversation is alive and thriving. And as long as it is, this place will continue to grow.

Overwhelming intoxication.

Sounds like Elon’s Bitter.

5 is being generous. At Netflix, you’re lucky to last one season.

The core of your question is really “Why do people suggest therapy when I want to talk about my negative emotions?”

Because working through a damaged psyche isn’t something your friends and family are qualified to do, and they’re likely going to make it worse or damage their relationship with you if they try.

But I get why you’re asking - you reach out during a dark time looking for support and community amongst those you know, and they use “you should talk to a therapist” to dismiss the conversation, which really doesn’t solve anything and ends up making you feel worse by suggesting that only a professional you pay would want to listen to you.

Old skool definition of technopope - John Paul II in 1995:

The track he played

Disclaimer: this is all probably fake. Sadeness was old news by 1995. Also I’m high.

Not that you (or anyone reading this) should start up again, but if you roll your own the price goes down dramatically.

I’m in the US, where a pack of my brand (American Spirits) was $15/pack. At a pack a day that came out to $450/mo. Pack of Drum rolling tobacco is $10 for 1.5 ounces, which will last about two weeks, so $20/month or a cost decrease of 96%.

If you’re near a Native American reservation, you can get 6 ounce bag of Signal or Farmers Gold pipe tobacco for $15 - which will last about two months at the same rate of smoking.

In general, the taste and quality of rolled tobacco is better than what you get in cigarettes. Just get some papers ($3) and a zig-zag cigarette roller ($3) and you’re good to go. You also end up smoking less on average (I’m down from a pack a day to about 8 right now), although it will be unfiltered, so I’m not sure how that balances out from a health perspective.

Because the rich pay the middle class to keep the poor in check. It’s that simple really.

It’s the deal the military and police have offered for a long time - recruit heavily from the underclass with the promise of social mobility, up to the next tier - the middle class. In exchange, you agree to oppress and/or kill people from your former social class.

It’s somewhat ironic that this meme is presented from the perspective of two monarchs, who clearly already understand the social dynamics at play, but hey, it makes for good rabble rousing.

Finish the PhD, then get a new job.

$65k will be worth half of what it is or less in 10 years. You will, at best, get a raise of about 5% per year. You will see a 20% - 30% raise if you jump ship with the PhD provided you go for corporate positions (you’ll barely be treading water if you decide to teach).

The stability of the current job is an illusion - they will let you go the moment it becomes profitable for them to do so. The only person who can ensure you stability is you, and the only way you can do that is by maximizing your earning potential so you have enough wealth to survive a jobless period. Do not rely on unemployment benefits - they’re a joke and often arrive as much as a year late.

Source: I took the stable route at that same salary number. Was laid off after 10 years during COVID, while I was sick. My next position I jumped from 65k to 90k, and with the next to 110k within three years. It took over 18 months for me to receive my unemployment benefits.

Companies have no loyalty to you. You are a resource to be exploited. Treat them the same way, and you’ll be much wealthier and likely happier for it.

Sometimes… Cyberpunk 2077 at launch is one example where the supposed optimization was less than optimal.

The other element is that it’s easy to get locked out of updates if the developer chooses not to support them on console. For instance, L4D2 on the Xbox 360 is absolutely gimped in comparison to PC, where it has new official campaigns and a thriving modding ecosystem 15+ years after launch… an ecosystem an Xbox 360 user can’t touch.

The PC is more money up front, but drastically cheaper over the lifetime of the product. It’s also more versatile, and capable of upgrading along with almost infinite backwards compatibility for older titles.

Consoles will be a couple of hundred (or thousand, depending on the PC you chose) cheaper, but you are forced to buy games within its ecosystem, usually at full retail price - a library of 10 AAA games will cost $600 on console, where you can get the same library on Steam for half or less of than that by simply keeping an eye on sales. The console won’t be upgradeable. You cannot easily pirate games, and there’s no such thing as DRM free gaming. And backwards compatibility is janky or simply removed for most consoles.

The only place consoles really win out is in live social gaming - it’s a lot easier to get a group of friends to play PS5 on the couch than it is to get them to play PC on the couch. Aside from that, though, it’s sort of like comparing a tricycle to a Harley… yeah, they’re both bikes, but the differences become real clear once you get out on the road.

Not exactly - those were strategic hacks designed to sway public opinion and engage a legal enforcement apparatus that proved to be toothless.

However, tactical hacks doxxing the rank and file combined with subsequent community action could have an enormous effect. Removing the masks of these thugs is key to protecting the innocents they’re targeting. After all, it’s our right as citizens to know who’s working for the government - we’re the ones paying their salaries.

As I said in a previous comment in response to a statement similar to yours, know thy enemy, for he lives among us.

Also, you posted this comment three times for some reason.

Depends on who they are. My cat is pretty hot.

I will cosplay my cat and start an OnlyFans if Anon follows through on this one.

Counterpoint - it’s not about exposing the powerful. Everyone already knows the evil shit they’re doing.

It’s about doxxing their rank and file and making sure we know who these masked thugs are.

They know where we live, and we pay their salary. Why shouldn’t we know where they live and what they’re doing to our community?

Know thy enemy, for he lives among us.

Artichoke. The name describes how it tries to kill you.