It’s like the late ‘90s where they tried to connect every common activity to the internet, like bar codes in the newspaper for coupons online.

They got it “right” when they stopped trying to make non-internet things direct you to the internet and just moved the non-internet things to the internet.

Now they’re trying to cram AI into everything. What’s the next step…moving your brain into the AI?

Maybe controversial opinion:

I’m very much against aim assist in crossplay and online multiplayer explicitly because of Xim and Chronos. Devices like the Xim are pretty much cheats and they exploit aim assist in online play to the detriment of the game. I play a popular online fps game and have thousands of hours of gameplay. I can immediately tell who is using a device that abuses aim assist. It’s blatant and often egregious, it’s essentially an aimbot, but just shy of not quite. It truly ruins gameplay.

I understand the desire for a Xim’s legit capabilities, it offers some assistance to handicapped players, it allows direct use of a joystick in games that don’t allow them, etc… but I think those are the minority. The vast majority use it because “aimbot”. That counts for the console players that use them , but PC players seem to get the most benefit as they’re used to mouse/keyboard setups vs the consoles that may not be. There’s not much need for an actual aimbot/esp/etc. if you have a Xim. Yes, they’re that good.

IMO there should not be aim assist in online gameplay, and yeah, *uck these clowns using chronos/xims. They really screw everything up.

Most intrusive?

It think it’s probably a relatively common one: you’re at height, with access to the precipice, and your brain starts entertaining the possibility of jumping. Nothing compelling about it, in fact my rational brain always tells the stupid part “WTF, bro…” but nonetheless, the thought exists.

Occasional other random thoughts pop in to my head on rare occasion, but for some reason the “jump” one is the most common and the most irritating.

Something for everyone.

I don’t know that authoritarian/fascist regimes can be stopped once they’re in motion. They seem to be more the default rather than stable democracies. Even countries that you’d think would have sufficient legal barriers and processes for citizens to keep political extremists out of office seem to be failing and moving to the right.

I’m a fan of the original books, much less so the ones written by Herbert’s son in the expanded universe. Drastically different writing and level of complexity.

I am not a fan of the new films for many reasons. They are not bad, to be clear. However, IMO they stripped out the most important and driving aspects of the Dune universe which is the politics, maneuvering, manipulation, and insane wealth of the Great Houses. The new films are primarily action flicks with invented parts that didn’t happen, belabored parts of the story that didn’t need it while ignoring other parts that should have had more impact. I’m also not a great fan of some of the actors. Chalamet IMO can’t seem to be anything other than a whiny, moody goth-y kid like in so many other of his films. He lacks presence in the role. Zendaya just glares and scowls the whole time. Bardem does a great job, though. Walken…looked like he didn’t “get it.” Momoa, really was written poorly and yet was given made-up scenes that weren’t in the book. They gave the guild navigator’s distorted bodies a miss. In a way I think they did a disservice to the importance of the Worms, they are incredibly important in the books, given fair accounting in 1984 Dune, and reduced to pretty much war elephants in New Dune.

Anyway…I have lots of criticism for the new films. Lynch’s 1984 Dune had plenty of weird stuff and really cringy sfx, like the baby sinking in tomato sauce for one, but one thing it nailed was helping the viewer understand the universe, the politics, they why things were they way they were. They also made stuff up like the weirding modules, which were interesting additions, but didn’t exist in the book.

Yeah, I get it, in true Hollywood fashion each director has to put their own take on a story, and unfortunately that “take” means they’re going to make change just for change’s sake. The new movies are visually amazing. The ornithopters are great, they got that right finally instead of the weird gilded boxes from 1984, the worms are far more impressive and scary….but IMO the story just isn’t there other than “action movie”.

I’ve read the series twice, seen 1984 Dune at least a dozen times and the new ones twice. JMO, fwiw.

Even if you don’t have the guns; liberty, beer, and tits are still pretty nice.

Trump: Cut off aid, let Russia win. War is over.

Did my yearly testing for my job. Last year for some reason it went kinda rough, left feeling like I didn’t do as well as I should have even though I passed. Was kinda worried about this one. It went great. Pretty much nailed it all, learned some new things too. So headed back to work tomorrow feeling pretty good about some important skills.

I’ve been traveling for a long time. Easily one of the worst a things I’ve seen happening culturally is globalization of brands that “dumb down” local foods and crafts. Doesn’t matter where you go, particularly the westernized world, it’s the same shit everywhere. The same brands. Even some of the food is moving towards sameness. Want to find a local gift to bring home? Good luck. It’s all the same stuff made in China, each store has the same stuff on the shelves.

You’ll have better luck outside the metro areas, but usually if you’re traveling to see the sights they are often in more metro/touristy areas.

Doesn’t help that plenty of games have stripped down controls that don’t allow you to change keybinds because they’re built for controllers. I don’t know if embracing is the right word.

Edit: I’ll also offer that devices like the Xim look like controllers, but still allow use of mouse and keyboard.

Just let their parents buy it and let the kid have unsupervised access.

Child labor.

Oh, wait…

I don’t think that $75k was to live comfortably, I think the $75k was to feel happy about your income.

Ninja edit: found it:

…Daniel Kahneman, who in 2010 published an influential study with fellow Nobel Prize-winner Angus Deaton. The 2010 study found that money could only boost happiness up to a point — about $75,000 in annual earnings. Beyond that figure, the researchers concluded, money had little impact.

but…

Now, new research from a Nobel Prize-winning economist and fellow researchers provides a fresh answer. Money does appear to boost happiness — at least for most people — up to earnings of $500,000, according to the new paper published in this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/money-happiness-study-daniel-kahneman-500000-versus-75000/

Where it will blame the left for all the damage the right did.

I don’t know why it’s so hard. I means “Things I don’t like, especially when it pertains to anything that could be called liberal.”

And then Moderna will charge the citizens for it via insurance or out of pocket.

Love being double-charged, don’t you? Your tax money and then your paycheck.

Liberals completely drop their guard and the republicans put someone up who is actually smart but still follows the far right agenda. Trump is chaotic (inept) evil at best, but the danger is getting lawful intelligent evil in.

Biden was a sharp contrast to trump regarding the law before the SCOTUS ruling, too.

Bar Code was one. Cameras streaming patrons in other franchises in other cities so you could kinda interact with them.