I admit I don’t have the third one…
“Jim Ryan ‘Pretty Sure’ Call of Duty Will Remain on PlayStation in Bombshell Email”
“Microsoft Says Xbox Has Been Losing The Console Wars Since 2001”
I can only hope you enjoy this; might break your brain a little.
So, I just recently went to France for two weeks to see family after four years, as well as Ireland for a week, just ’cause I’ve never been to Ireland.
I’m thinking of writing it up. Anyone interested? Er, I mean . . . anyone who’s not desperate for content?
Travel stuff always sells well here. I’m sure you will get affirmation.
Yes, the answer is always yes.
We really enjoy pictures.
Sean likes to watch.
Oh, gots lots of those.
How was the craic?
Generally excellent.
Always interested…especially land of the gingers
Also meandered into Northern Ireland for a day (and went to the Titanic Museum/Exhbit, which was remarkably well done). It was very, very sad to see all of the signs of The Troubles, and to realize that they still close the gates on some sectors of Belfast every night . . .
Are the Irish not cleaning up after the Troubles for the same reason the Soviets left bombed out sections of many Eastern European cities – as a reminder?
Sadly, no. There are still tensions there, though they’re on a very low simmer these days. Both sides still seem to take great glee in displaying their nationalist/loyalist sympathies, to the point that you can tell where the town in question’s biases lie based on flags flow and symbols displayed. To someone like me, it’s mind-boggling.
We are a mixed family. Mine is orange and the wife is green.
Which is funny since I’m non religious and went to Catholic school. My wife and son, both public schooled, actually practice.
One of my good friends is an Irish immigrant here and we’ve had hours of discussions on this.
Had a friend of mine who wrote a PhD diss on the gates/walls between the communities. He discovered that when the government wanted to start taking them down in the early 2000s, there was significant opposition, because a lot of people were scared of what might happen.
Had NI turned majority Catholic yet? Tour guide 4 years ago said they were getting pretty close.
As I mentioned to KSuelington, I was in NI during the Troubles, and it is a whole different game over there. Makes our inner cities look like like spoiled children. I am interested in what you saw, and how it compares to what I saw in ’89.
Only if you include the fights with your family.
Nah, seriously, write it up. Out of the blue today, Mrs. Dean said she wants to go to Ireland.
We loved the west coast of Ireland.
Spent several days kicking around the Westport area. Great fun.
Didn’t have any fights with the fam! They’re great people — it vexed me to no end that my government and their government conspired to forbid us from seeing each other for almost three years. Fargin’ bastages.
I highly recommend Dublin, for starters. What a great city! Lively, amazing food (albeit expensive; had one of the best BBQ meals I’ve had in ages just a couple of blocks from our hotel in Temple Bar). Surprisingly cosmopolitan, since many foreigners are now using Ireland as a way to enter the remainder of the EU after Brexit. The existence of Trinity College doesn’t hurt, either — tons of students around.
Ring of Kerry. Must. Cliffs of Mohr. The Burren…
We did a BnB tour 16 years ago and it was amazing. Cities are cities… having a pint at a local pub in these unique areas was much better. Except… food in most of the country was… not great. Or varied. Have to get to a bigger location for that.
I had lasagna with a side of fries at an Italian restaurant somewhere in Connemara. Because fries seemed obligatory in a number of places in Ireland.
Unless you really have something or someone in Dublin spend a day or two there but get out to the West. Lots of fantastic places on the ‘em west coast.
Oh, we love travelogues. Maybe one writeup for each country?
Not a bad idea.
Plus one write-up about all of the screw-ups imposed upon us by various transportation providers during those three weeks, thankyouverymuch Westjet, Ryanair and Aer Lingus, you colossal dinks. The Spousal Unit™ and I have never seen it this bad.
Ireland is cool, France is cool. Just make sure you connet it with bicycles, and not food and I am sure that this crowd will enjoy it.
Food’s not optional.
I would scap the piece then.
/sarc.
Oui.
do it
Mine is orange
#MeToo, but doG I love Kerry: could move there in a minute
I love France, just hate Paris
Ireland and Spain have this undertone like no other places I’ve ever been
Microsoft lost the console wars when they used customers to perform UAT during the Red Ring of Death scandal.
I do give Microsoft some credit for at least trying to make sure that ports work properly on PC as well.
/looks at backlog of terrible, terrible, PC ports in my Steam library
That’s a different division from hardware.
They lost when they decided that the XBox One was going to be a ‘family living room console’ and went away from gaming. After years they revamped the UX to go back to that, but yeah, you lost the plot of what people use the console for.
I’ve been somewhat entertained by the back and forth between Sony and Microsoft over the Activision deal.
I’ve got no dog in that fight, as I play most games on PC, and picked up a Switch when I was traveling more for work.
I want them all to lose.
‘Irresponsibly large’
Because the FTC NEEDS to be involved in monopolistic concerns for videogames. I remember when they jumped into the “super premium” ice cream segment.
https://fee.org/articles/the-ftc-gets-in-its-licks/
You mean video games aren’t a necessity, and if a company actually managed a monopoly people may just stop playing them or going to the Indie games?
Look, if weren’t for the FTC all those people drinking Modelo Especial in the wake of Bud Light’s outreach program would still be lining AB Inbev’s pockets.
We’ve got to take the good with the bad.
But it would be real Modelo, not fake Constellation crap.
Star field is tiny compared to Elite Dangerous. 1000 planets vs a one to one representative galaxy.
Anyone else think that the FDA is engaged in a fool’s errand of playing Whack-A-Mole with these vape producers?
Of course, the fun will really begin if/when the local cops get involved with enforcement. I can just imagine the police reports now:
I was on routine foot patrol when I detected what my training and experience indicated was the unmistakable odor of strawberry shortcake vape…
“made by Chinese company”
You mean, the quality control on a Chinese product is shit? Well, I never . . . .
The dog alerts should be awesome too.
Entenmann’s or forbidden Chinese crack?
When it is 0 nicotine, is it still illegal?
I think the ones in question have nicotine.
FTA, the other one FDA doesn’t like is called Esco Bar. Get it? Har, har…
Way to bury the lede. Guess I’m glad I quit.
But holy shit, someone has some deep lobbying pockets when trad-smokes are still legal, and dope is now legal in many places, but the one item that got me off the coffin-nails is now illegal.
Yesterday I visited the last cigar factory in Ybor City, Tampa. There I learned that the tobacco grown in Georgia, the Carolinas, Maryland, Wisconsin, et al is cigarette tobacco, a completely different variety than the cigar tobacco that’s (mostly) grown overseas, and the one whose end product is blamed for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans per year, is subject to confiscatory taxes, and has a multi-billion-dollar “settlement” by state AGs looking to pad their state coffers.
Two guesses as to which tobacco’s farmers are subsidized by the U.S. government.
Starfield is looking like they are going to hit a sweetspot. Ill be jumping in on that and of course they fully support Mods so I fully expect to to be flying a Thomas the Tank Engine in space the day after.
Looks like fun.
https://bethesda.net/en/game/starfield/article/655gnmbVoUCeBLoSdPdptL/new-starfield-gameplay-trailer
Too bad I don’t have a console or a PC. I haven’t actually done any gaming for nearly 10 years.
Looks like a gigantic timesuck – fun for some, I guess. I decided after throwing them too much money that those games aren’t my cup of tea.
For the last comment section – looks like Russia is opening a criminal case against Prigozhin.
https://tass.ru/proisshestviya/18102851
Putin might be a little worried about a rival for power who has his own army. If he’s not worried, he probably should be.
The weekend is once again upon us, and once again I have plans. I’ll provide the unmoderated free-for-all Zoom for all y’all.
Way to flaunt your having-a-life privilege, Neph.
Thanks.
I got my condo check. It’s been deposited and should clear by the 29th.
So, more shenanigans tonite!
Thanks, Neph
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/06/23/prigozhin-says-moscow-strikes-kill-huge-number-of-wagner-forces-vows-to-stop-top-brass-a81615
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group on Friday accused the country’s military leadership of ordering strikes on the group’s camps and killing a “huge” number of forces.
In an extraordinary declaration against the Defense Ministry, with whom he has been feuding publicly for months, Yevgeny Prigozhin vowed to “stop” Russia’s top military brass and urged ordinary Russians to remain calm.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that President Vladimir Putin was aware of the “unfolding situation” around Prigozhin and that “all necessary measures” were being taken.
Russia’s Federal Security Agency (FSB) has launched a criminal case on charges of inciting an armed revolt, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing the National Anti-Terrorism Committee.
“We were ready to make concessions to the Defense Ministry, surrender our weapons,” Prigozhin said in a furious audio message released by his spokespeople.
“Today, seeing that we have not been broken, they conducted missile strikes at our rear camps.”
He vowed to “stop” Moscow’s top military leadership and called on Russians not to resist his forces.
“The council of commanders of PMC Wagner has made a decision — the evil that the military leadership of the country brings must be stopped,” Prigozhin said in the audio message, urging Russians to remain calm.
“There are 25,000 of us and we are going to look into why there’s total lawlessness in the country.”
Nah, It’ll be fine.
Still not as worse than stepping foot in the US Capitol. Wonder how this will play out.
Some Kremlin house cleaning.
The twisted conspiracy-theorist section of my brain wonders if this isn’t some kind of behind-the-scenes maneuvering by various interested actors to collapse the Russian military efforts against Ukraine in order to deal with the “attempted coup,” followed by public chest-beating and moves to instigate peace talks (because the Russian effort is starting to run out of steam and resources).
If you can’t win a war, sue for peace. If you need a public-facing pretext to sue for peace, either find one or make one.
Mebbe.
Putin is far more on the peace side than many of the Russian power factions. And Wagner is Putin’s merc army.
So I’d say the conspiracy theory would go the other way around. If this is about internal destabilization and a coup, it’s not a move aimed at peace.
This guy isn’t convinced it’s not trolling.
Who the fuck knows. Everyone has lost their minds.
Lost their minds, and lying.
Spicy.
OK Riven, that was one interesting song vid.
I can only hope you enjoy this; might break your brain a little.
Confirmed on both counts.
Howdy Riven!
To be fair, I think many of today’s cable news hosts could learn something from Cronkite, the “most trusted” man in America, who exuded professionalism and objectivity with his dispassionate style.
What you don’t report can be just as important as what you do report.
Today, on Guilt-Ridden Retards
IN THE SUMMER of 2017, Gemma McGough was unemployed, but also a recently minted member of the UK’s top 1 percent: a multimillionaire from the sale of her company, Product Compliance Specialists. She was in a position where she never had to work again.
Then she read This Changes Everything, Naomi Klein’s book about the impact of capitalism on the climate. It struck a chord. “It was a massive shift in my thinking,” she says. “I sold my Porsche and bought a Tesla. What a cliché, the 911’s got to go.”
In 2019, she founded a new company, Eleos Compliance, modeled on the B Corp principles of transparency and social and environmental accountability. Although she took a salary, the majority of her money now came from investments, bonds, and rental properties—from wealth.
Suddenly swamped with scaremongering mailers from accountants offering legal loopholes to reduce her tax bill, McGough analyzed the tax she was paying on her salaried income versus the lower rates on income from the sale of assets. She reached two conclusions: first, that the country’s tax policy was unfair, and second, that she could be contributing more. Yes, she had worked long hours over 20 years to build her first business, but lots of people worked hard only to be left with “a mortgage and many more hours to work.”
Philanthropy wasn’t enough. McGough and her husband have given away approximately £400,000 ($509,946) in the past three years, mostly to reforestation, rainforest conservation, and strategic land purchases. “It’s a lovely thing to do, it’s a pleasure,” she says. “But ultimately it’s not the answer when you need a system-level change.” So in 2021, McGough became one of four British “wealth-holders” to join the UK branch of Patriotic Millionaires, a group of multimillionaires and billionaires who want governments to tax them more.
System level change, like a global socialist dictatorship which will determine each comrade’s value to society.
Nothing is stopping you from mailing cheques to those who you think deserved it (but didn’t actually pay) and HM Tax Goons.
The organization was set up in the US in 2010 and now has 240 members there; McGough is a founding member of the UK arm, which has grown to 20 members. They attend monthly meetings, coordinate media activity via WhatsApp, and advocate for taxes on net wealth at parliamentary events. It’s a mix of founders and CEOs; uncomfortable heirs; and reformed financiers, such as Citibank trader turned inequality YouTuber Gary Stevenson.
Sounds like a blast. Do they whip themselves, or each other?
@RJ, re your wife: Good vibes to her. I’m having my own BP issues, so I’m empathetic.
That didn’t take long.
Elon vs Zuck
Impressive!
Dream or dystopian nightmare?
Editorial note: The host of this video is just adorable and seriously red-pilled.
Dystopia, but I think pure desk jobs are distopic. I prefer a mix of office time and field time. Same thing every day, that I don’t have a problem with.
The guy is a fucking loser who doesn’t deserve that dog. Grow the fuck up.
I’d rather watch Paolo from Tokyo doing job shadows of far more menial and time consuming jobs yet the people are far more happy. Hell, the two guys who came out to my septic tank yesterday had way more positive vibes and they’re literally doing a shitty job all day long.
Maybe they’re into Scheißeporn.
He sure doesn’t seem very happy, but I can’t say his routine is that different than mine.
The host is right. The haters are full of shit.
(didn’t watch the whole thing, but…)
As a mature fella, I’d say he needs to learn how to cook.
Otherwise, it’s a weekday routine video – not wildly different than me now (TBF, cooking takes up a fair bit of after-work time). It is neither a dream nor dystopian, he’s making ends. Hopefully he’s doing something great on the weekends.
That said, when I was 28 I was still out mid-week quite a bit. More than I should have been, if we’re being honest.
He also appears to be a single fella – I suspect if there were a wife/girlfriend with him doing that exact same routine, people wouldn’t think much of it.
Fine, I watched more of the video – he’s got a wedding ring on, apparently. That’d change the whole tenor of the thing if she were in it.
One person’s dystopia is another’s dream. I worked very hard to obtain a very similar, boring life.
Wise – and almost universally applicable – words reportedly spoken long ago by a train engineer (You can appreciate that, Mojeaux!): “It ain’t all sunglasses and autographs.”
Indeed, as Everlast said, It’s a fun job, but it’s still a job.
I have a petty observation:
In the morning links there was an article about a they/them.
This pronoun nonsense is off-putting and stupid and leads to nearly incomprehensible sentences.
There. I said it. I know that puts me in “get off my lawn” old man territory, but that article took a good bit of extra thought to process.
Some dude wants to be a dude-ette and says she is a she I am fine with that.
But step outside of normal grammar and claim everyone has to bend the language to acknowledge your special status? That seems a bit much.
“They was present for the event…”
What?
Add in remembering that Shelly is Xe/Xer while Barry is We/Us…
On the list of silly things we have done, this is going to rank pretty high because of the high ratio of cost to benefit and the ratio of actual importance to passion and vitriol expended on the topic.
If someone tells me their pronouns, I’ll just tell them I don’t plan on talking about them with other people.
Agree with that. My observation is that the nearly all of the ones playing the say my pronouns games are still using the traditional ones. Which makes it more ridiculous.
Finally seeing some rain, I’d forgotten what it looked like. We really need a lot but we’ll take every drop we can get.
There appears to be a Davos / Neocon split on Ukraine. The neocons and Brits are ready to go full retard but I don’t think Davos is on board.
And now we know which side Obama is currently on:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/obama-issues-words-seen-sympathetic-russia-cnn-interview
Things are obviously starting to move quickly. Enough so that Barry opened his mouth about it.
He seems to be running his mouth a lot lately.
It’s telling that he stepped into this one. It must mean that some powerful people are getting scared.
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
I wonder where Clinton and Clinton’s state dept were at the time, behind closed doors. Wouldn’t surprise me if Barry was throwing that faction under the bus just now.
Whatever his motivations, he just created some political space for disagreement with the regime.
Or cutting off the limb they’re standing on. Note that he didn’t directly attach himself to those viewpoints. Unless it turns out to be beneficial.
The Euro/Davos faction is finally figuring out that their destabilization/real property program is edging close to existential catastrophe?
Nah, I think that puts you in the great majority of English-speaking people territory.
Commenting from my brand new laptop! That means more articles forthcoming because I don’t have to write them on my phone anymore
I take it it’s working properly?
So far…downloading The Sims 3 right now. That’s the big test
*throws additional pool ladders to KK’s Sims*
hahahahaha
I wonder how much data I’m going to use downloading this….it’s still going
Now that you have a spiffy new laptop, are you gonna give yourself a happy, fun avatar for here – at least happier and more fun than a black box? 🙁 Maybe a pic of Chadwick? 🙂
Chihuahuas are okay as avatars, but bull terriers are taken.
Nothing is stopping you from mailing cheques to those who you think deserved it (but didn’t actually pay) and HM Tax Goons.
That is completely unacceptable. Those people are diehard collectivists. Individualism is toxic. Personal responsibility is a hate crime.
EVERYTHING NOT PROHIBITED IS MANDATORY.
Interestingly, the Kremlin greeted Obama’s assessment positively, with Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Obama’s fresh remarks represent “rational thinking”. He said, “from time to time such rational thinking finds its way out [of the US].”
Something something blind pig, truffle.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87821224358?pwd=eW55MTRDbDNtQkh2aHd3M1Nmenlzdz09