
Spoken like a true 12 year old. Lmao

Wow, I gave you a lot of benefit of the doubt in my comments, but you're really out here to just denigrate other people's tastes, aren't you? How refined, how cultured your game library must be. How sweet your shit must smell. How does it feel up there, where you'll never touch a game frequented by us Dorito-eaters and us Mountain-Dew-drinkers? Feels good, huh? Feels better.
What a fucking joke.

For sure for sure. I definitely read it that way, in part, because I have to consciously remind myself that my taste is my own and I should try not to dismiss people who like their art to be more...palatable, i guess? Because I have the capacity to be that guy, unfortunately. So I try to watch a blockbuster every once in a while, so to speak.
I think it was probably the comparison between GTA and Madden and CoD that threw me, because they have almost no similarities besides being AAA.
Their comment kinda reminded me of how the Kingdom Come: Deliverance fandom can be. I mean, I fucking love KCD and KCD2, they're two of the best games I've ever played. They can slow AF though, and frustrating at times. But whenever someone mentions that, or that they didn't like it, someone else invariably comes along and completely dismisses their opinion, like "You just don't understand it," or "Maybe you just don't have the attention span to really immerse yourself." It's like dude, you don't need to make someone feel bad for not liking a game.

I think GTA online could be compared to Madden and CoD in that they all have aggressive(-ly lame) monetization tactics. But the way jordanlund frames it (sorry jordan, I don't mean to rag on you -- like I said, I can also be like this) sounds more to me like a "i only listen to artists with less than 1000 monthly listeners" type of statement

I get it’s a massive franchise, like Madden or Call of Duty… don’t buy those either.
whew, I'm trying to understand your comment, but this is kinda coming off pretty...holier-than-thou? Which, I do get that because I can find myself like that with movies/tv, but still...we gotta let people like what they like.
In this case though, I honestly think this is a pretty terrible comparison. Madden and CoD don't have massive single player appeal that GTA or RDR have. They are total schlock in that regard (though, I hear CoD's recent campaigns are actually good).
GTA and RDR on the other hand very skillfully mix elements of RPG, immersive sim, and adventure game. They're huge sandboxes for the player to explore and discover new things, within which are nestled very well written stories that critique modern life and touch upon themes that, yes, you could find them in various indie games if you look a bit, but are somewhat unique in the blockbuster gamescape. It's difficult to find other single player games with the scope of Rockstar games, though I think it is getting easier.
But comparing GTA to Madden or CoD is kinda whack unless you're looking at GTA Online in isolation.

I don't think there is meaning. I've never read Camus or Sartre and don't really know what determinism is (quick read on Wikipedia, I think I agree with it?), but
I keep living because it makes me feel good for the most part, and because the thought of dying makes me feel bad for the most part.

It has radicalized my previously centrist brother-in-law to the left and continues to do so.

Darktable is a godsend to me for converting film negatives.But I pretty much only use image conversion, RGB curve, then fidget with the exposure and RGB sliders in negadoctor a little more then I'm done. No idea how to do anything else.

Btw for anyone reading this, the original is about a US judge of Mexican heritage who was presiding over the Trump University fraud case.
Trump didn't actually say this about Pope Francis, as far as we know.

I think I probably don't want studio monitors for this set up after more reading.

Beginner question about turntable+preamp+speakers
Edit: Read this first. The solution was to not try to do everything online and go to a local music/record/vintage audio equipment shop and chat with the folks there. They were super nice, showed me the gear they recommended, and now I've got a nice sounding vintage setup that may not be audiophile worthy but is super awesome to me.
Hi there all, beginner audiophile here. Trying to build out my first turntable setup.
I decided on a Fluance RT82 and Douk X1 for a preamp. Now, when selecting speakers, I decided I'd just buy a second pair of the studio monitors I was using on my computer, Kali LP-6.
Now I'm a bit confused on the connections. The RT82 comes with an RCA cable and ground cable I'll connect to the Douk preamp, so that is covered. But the preamp has 4 speaker outputs that are binding posts. There is only a single RCA input on each monitor, so I'm not sure how to connect the preamp to the monitors.
I did see someone online say "why would you connect a preamp to LP-6?

I second this -- I think installing linux on another hard drive is best. It can be frustrating to jump straight into linux and realize a particular thing doesnt work, not knowing why, and realizing you can't play games at all before doing work to fix things. Saying this as a linux sysadmin.
For a long time I had a dual boot setup for this reason. I wasn't sure why Ubuntu always felt so sluggish gaming (especially Rocket League, which requires a very low amount of input lag)
Eventually I found two things that massively MASSIVELY improved my perception of the performance. First, the kernel I was running. Switching to the liquorix kernel with my NVIDIA card made a huge difference in my perceived input latency (please, if someone could correct my verbiage here. Input latency may not be technically correct.) Secondly but almost as important -- my desktop compositor. I switched to KDE Plasma so I could manually turn it off and make sure that it was off. I never was certain with Gnome, even though I am more comfortable in that environment. Smooth sailing since then. But it was important for me to be able to reboot into Windows if I wanted to play with friends without running into technical difficulties.
Now, I'm fully off of Windows for gaming and, well, everything. It's sick.

Recently found dadrock band Geese. So good. And their lead guy, Cameron Winter, also just released a stunning solo album.

I'm pretty sure they edited it when you pointed out the inaccuracy

Right. Only reason I mention it is because entwine (rightly) noted we should be accurate when critizing the administration, and then accidentally inaccurately described him as a legal immigrant. Legal or not, it was a miscarriage of justice to send this man to El Salvador.

Hey entwine, just an FYI -- Kilmar Ábrego García was not a legal immigrant. He was an illegal immigrant (of course, this doesn't mean he was charged with a crime) who was granted a protection from deportation to El Salvador by a US judge on the grounds that he would be in danger from El Salvadorean gangs. He has had a work permit since 2019.
Nevertheless, he was not granted due process and this administration is violating court orders.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/16/who-is-kilmar-abrego-garcia


TAX WEALTH, NOT WORK

another 11th hour reversal
dumbest timeline

It looks like funding is back on https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2025/04/16/cve-program-funding-cut-what-it-means-and-what-to-do-next/
However, in an eleventh hour turnaround, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it had extended the contract with MITRE. “The CVE Program is invaluable to cyber community and a priority of CISA. Last night, CISA executed the option period on the contract to ensure there will be no lapse in critical CVE services,” a CISA spokesperson told me over email. "We appreciate our partners’ and stakeholders’ patience.”
Permanently Deleted

I mean yeah you're right, that's what it should mean. But that's not what they mean by it. They want to "run the government like a business." That means cutting costs and distributing the cheapest product possible in order to maximize profit. It doesn't make sense, but it doesn't have to for their base to gobble it up.

NIH abruptly terminates millions in research grants, defying court orders
FULL TEXT:
In an unprecedented move, the National Institutes of Health is abruptly terminating millions of dollars in research awards to scientists in Massachusetts and around the country, citing the Trump administration’s new restrictions on funding anything related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, transgender issues, or research that could potentially benefit universities in China.
The sweeping actions would appear to violate court rulings from federal judges in Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., that block the Trump administration from freezing or ending billions of dollars in government spending, said David Super, a constitutional law expert at Georgetown Law, who reviewed some of the termination letters at the Globe’s request.
In a related case brought by an association of higher education officials that specifically challenged Trump’s various DEI executive orders, a federal judge in Maryland twice over the past month blocked the administration from terminating fundin

NIH abruptly terminates millions in research grants, defying court orders
FULL TEXT:
In an unprecedented move, the National Institutes of Health is abruptly terminating millions of dollars in research awards to scientists in Massachusetts and around the country, citing the Trump administration’s new restrictions on funding anything related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, transgender issues, or research that could potentially benefit universities in China.
The sweeping actions would appear to violate court rulings from federal judges in Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., that block the Trump administration from freezing or ending billions of dollars in government spending, said David Super, a constitutional law expert at Georgetown Law, who reviewed some of the termination letters at the Globe’s request.
In a related case brought by an association of higher education officials that specifically challenged Trump’s various DEI executive orders, a federal judge in Maryland twice over the past month blocked the administration from terminating fundin

Executive councilors discuss effects of Trump administration grant freeze, spending priorities
Honestly the original title is appropriately boring but the real headline should be
A new memo from the U.S. Department of Transportation indicates that it will direct more funding to states with higher birth and marriage rates
Here's the article
CONCORD, N.H. —
A New Hampshire executive councilor is raising concerns about new language tied to federal highway funding.
Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill said a new memo from the U.S. Department of Transportation indicates that it will direct more funding to states with higher birth and marriage rates.
"New Hampshire is one of the oldest states in the nation, and we have one of the lowest birth rates in the country," she said. "And so, I'm very concerned if all of a sudden, there's going to be new strings attached to federal funds."
State Department of Transportation officials said the prior administration also had its own initiatives, and New Hampshire still got its highway money.
We don't anticipate that this will cau

Executive councilors discuss effects of Trump administration grant freeze, spending priorities
CONCORD, N.H. —
A New Hampshire executive councilor is raising concerns about new language tied to federal highway funding.
Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill said a new memo from the U.S. Department of Transportation indicates that it will direct more funding to states with higher birth and marriage rates.
"New Hampshire is one of the oldest states in the nation, and we have one of the lowest birth rates in the country," she said. "And so, I'm very concerned if all of a sudden, there's going to be new strings attached to federal funds."
State Department of Transportation officials said the prior administration also had its own initiatives, and New Hampshire still got its highway money.
We don't anticipate that this will cause any problems," said DOT deputy commissioner Andre Briere. "In the last Justice40 (Initiative), we're also a state that doesn't have a lot of communities that meet those criteria, but we were nonetheless granted discretionary grants."
Briere was referri

Tom Wessels: The Ecology of Coevolved Species

YouTube Video
Click to view this content.

Recommendations for games to listen to audiobooks to?
I recently got a Steamdeck and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations of games that take almost 0 brainpower to play so that I can focus on listening to audiobooks.
For me that means no dialogue and no text to read. Games that have worked for me so far are:
- Rocket League (difficult to play on Steamdeck)
- Vampire Survivors (once I learned what each item does)
- Peggle
Games that I've had trouble with include
- Sifu
- Brotato (gotta read to learn the items)
- Factorio
- Baba is You
Games I have yet to really try:
- Elite Dangerous
- Elden Ring
- Dorf Romantik (this is promising)
- Powerwash Simulator (also promising)
- RollerDrome
- Halo: MCC online (is Halo 3 online viable on steamdeck?)
- Risk of Rain 2
- Hades
Anyone have any suggestions? I'm running out of ideas and may end up just forgoing this hole idea in favor of keeping gaming and books separate

Biden ‘needs to drop out’ campaign official tells NBC News

President Joe Biden has refused to quit his campaign for a second term, but his debate performance against Donald Trump continues fueling Democratic panic.


What are some books I can read about socialism/the state vs corporations/the economic and sociological side of government
I don't really know much about socialism, but I want to learn more. I also don't really know what kind of book I'm looking for, but I'm not really looking to read Marx at this point and I also don't want to read a pop economy book like Freakonomics. I want something a little more legit, or academic, I guess. I'm cool with classics, too, if there is a story out there that explores these themes.
Sorry if that's not much to go by, I'm having trouble articulating what it is I want to read

What is your stretching routine in the morning?
cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/401464
I'm looking for something short, ~5min, but if you have a longer one I'd love to hear it, too

What is your stretching routine in the morning?
I'm looking for something short, ~5min, but if you have a longer one I'd love to hear it, too

Salut! Je m'appelle Jacob et je ne ses pas parler Français
J'ai étudié a université aux université, mais je ne me souviens pas beaucoup. Je ne suis pas certain c'est exact ^^^
Je suis désolé pour mon mauvais discours, mais je suis excitée lire votre posts et comments !
Mais, comment dire "posts" et "comments ?