Lego Indiana (TM) disapproves of the links.
“Metal Gear Solid 3 and Silent Hill 2 remakes coming in 2024, Sony says”
“Indiana Jones Temple of the Golden Idol Gets its First Discount” TW: Lego
Probably NSFW, but it’s been stuck in my head all week. TW: country
I want to see a mash up of Metal Gear, Silent Hill, and Steamboat Willie.
I’ve only seen one usage in my news feed. But kind of funny. And apropos given it is a Pirate game.
I might throw some money at a Silent Hill effort. I didn’t realize how long it’s been but the two or three I owned have been unplayable for years.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2487350/Alex_Jones_NWO_Wars/
LOL!
Jalopnik is on the case
2023 has officially come to a close, which means it’s time for us to dig through yearly sales reports for fun tidbits. For example, did you know that despite Chevrolet killing off the Bolt, sales increased 63 percent compared to 2022? Or that Miata sales were also up nearly 50 percent? What’s less fun, though, is that the U.S.’s obsession with massive pickup trucks isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
——-
This is all, of course, fantastic news when you consider that vehicles with tall, blunt front ends are uniquely dangerous to people, and full-size pickup trucks are only getting bigger and heavier. No wonder the U.S. is the only developed country with roads that keep getting more dangerous.
Stupid consumers, why do we let them buy whatever they want?
Way back in high school, when my physics teacher was teaching us about force and momentum and all that stuff, he mentioned that’s why he’s got a pickup truck in the parking lot. Trucks are the opposite of dangerous for the people who are riding in them.
Says someone who’s never visited any of the many countries where it’s much more dangerous to be a pedestrian.
But hey, shooting your mouth off is more fun than being honest.
Thanks for the article about IP. Being a visual artist I’m still not sure where I stand, but at least now I know the arguments.
IP is a tough bear for me to wrestle, too.
Trademarks are easy to defend. Someone copying your trademark and representing themselves as you is fraud.
Patents are government-granted exclusive rights to an invention, but it is limited. And you must pay continuous annuities to keep it in effect.
Copyright are government-granted exclusive rights to a creative work. They protect small, independent creators against large conglomerates with vast distribution networks (not a justification, just an explanation). However, 95 year copyrights are obscene.
The current copyright regime for recorded music is absolutely insane and needs to be dismantled.
^^ this.
Copyright also applies to software, which means there is literally no software in the public domain yet, and there won’t be for another 30+ years.
Except for software specifically released into the public domain.
True, and open source is close enough to public domain for government work.
There is some debate as to whether or not that’s actually possible.
IMO, many of the open source licenses are close enough to be practically considered a contribution to the public domain. When the only requirement of the license is the software equivalent of “don’t scratch my signature off the painting”, it’s in the public domain, more or less.
100% agreed on Trademarks.
Patents and Copyrights are in contradiction with natural law, in my opinion. However, as I have said before, getting rid of them would be last on my list if I was named dictator. Reducing copyright back to something reasonable like 28 years would be pretty high up.
Patents have a certain logic. Before patents you had trade secrets and public domain. With patents you have the in-between step of public disclosure with limited exclusive rights.
Patents were intended to get discoveries into the public light instead of being hidden as trade secrets. The resulting patent regime, though, is riddled with problems.
Copyright has never had a logic beyond protecting starving artists.
The resulting patent regime, though, is riddled with problems.
*counts all the cash earned by navigating those problems*
Its a mess, and it’s on purpose. Regulatory capture from 1000 different angles.
Regulatory capture from 1000 different angles.
Yup. Good for the lawyers.
Of course the current copyright regime is just a bludgeon used by massive corporations against starving artists.
Not sure if you’re taking that position seriously, or just by way of
amplification, but the reasoning for copyright is not protecting
starving artists. Rather, the reason is the belief that without
some sort of protection, people will be less incentivized to
create art in its various forms. In particular, the thought is
that if anyone can copy your work, you (or fewer people that
would otherwise anyway) won’t write your book, or whatever.
The trade-off between then incentivizing artists via copyright
and preventing the public from copying those works is left
to the political process to decide how long and on what
terms those protections should apply.
You can construe this I suppose as “protecting starving artists”,
but the reasoning is that we will have more works of art
than we would otherwise without copyright, and that this
is both desirable, and that copyright is a reasonable
means to that end.
I think copyrights are appropriate. Would it be fair for Marvel to appropriate Gravity Man or SNL to start doing Joemala or Hat and Hair skits without paying royalties to creators?
That is essentially the european theory of copyright. Under their
theory, copyright is a natural right. The english and american
theory is that copying is a natural right, and thus copyright
protections are an infringement on it. This is why copyrights
and patents in the constitution, without it, the federal government
would have no authority to pass copyright and patent laws,
as those aren’t rights of which the government only need
specify the exact scope and workings, as they are under the
european system.
There is a free market alternative, but, IMO, it’s not any better. It’s the EULA. Every work will come with a EULA that prevents copying, along with 1000 other provisions that lawyers like me are paid to think up to cover every conceivable corner case. You will own nothing and like it.
Anarchy on the high seas
Researchers have exposed an enormous quantity of previously untracked human activity at sea using a combination of satellite imagery, vessel GPS data, and AI.
As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Nature by Global Fishing Watch, a nonprofit backed by Google, researchers found that a whopping 72 to 76 percent of the world’s industrial fishing vessels aren’t being publicly tracked, with almost a third of “transport and energy vessel activity” found “missing from public tracking systems.”
The resulting maps are a stunning reminder of just how many boats and ships, oftentimes referred to as “dark vessels,” literally fall under the radar, and how these activities at sea have changed in recent years. It’s also an excellent showcase of the power of deep learning algorithms, which can find elusive patterns in massive caches of data — for good or ill.
Ships are out there doing who knows what on the ocean without being tracked by anybody. What is the world coming to?
The new publicly available data comes at a time when maritime activity is expanding at alarming rates and could give policymakers a much-needed overview to enact meaningful change, especially in light of a growing climate crisis.
As our reliance on fossil fuels and depletion of fish stock around the world continues, it’s more important than ever to get a clearer picture of all of the activity that has until now been hiding in plain sight.
Our global socialist dictatorship will make good use of such data.
As fish stock is depleted fewer boats will be out fishing, fishing stock will improve. At some point, probably already reached, a balance will be found.
However, fresh water fishing is (mis) managed by the state DNR who encourage more licenses being sold, in spite of limiting the catch. Youngsters don’t seem to be as interested in fishing when it easier to be playing with their phones.
Thankfully Tres V 2.0 isnt one of those kids. One of the things I love/find annoying about him is that he isn’t tethered to his phone.
He would rather be in some woods or turning wrenches on a car than playing online games.
Yes. The Boy ™ would much rather play guitar than phone, and never liked Vidja games.
Me: Describe yourself in three words.
Dad: Lazy.
Truth bomb incoming. DNC has a new plan to carry the day in the 2024 elections. Spoiler: It’s the same as the old plan.
https://democrats.org/news/2024-republicans-have-a-white-supremacy-problem/
That is so tiresome.
And disgusting. And pointless. Nobody who voted for Trump last time is going to buy that nonsense.
That’s just plan 1 of 3. Plan 2 is lawfare. Plan 3 is the expanded margin of fraud.
The top-of-the-hour news came on the radio yesterday as I was riding around, and all of the top stories were about scary foreign policy stuff. The Russians have hit Ukraine with ballistic missiles obtained from North Korea. The U.S. Navy is duking it out with a Yemenese tribe no one had heard of 15 minutes ago in a gulf no one has ever heard of. The Chinese are being dicks. ISIS blew up a funeral in Iran. Maybe there’s a Plan 4 waiting in the wings: We need to stand behind our commander in chief at a time of war, instead of turning the keys over to a known madman.
Donald Trump has a long record of rubbing shoulders with and defending white supremacists, calling neo-Nazis and white supremacists who marched at Charlottesville “very fine people” — all while using the power of his administration to protect the legacy of the Confederacy.
This is the lie that doesn’t end.
Yes it goes on and on, my friend…
Drugs, ass, etc., but in case anyone missed Vivek Rama….’s REFUSAL to denounce white supremacy, here he is responding to one of the outlets that asked him about it this week…
https://twitter.com/Chris_Carapezza/status/1742394822579650892
Also, I like how one of the white supremacy data points in the press release is Donald Trump dining with Kanye West.
I never expected so many Nazis in Italy
I did Nazi that coming.
I have no idea why it keeps linking that one. *glares at phone keyboard*
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1fVe64OcsD/?igsh=MWxuaHZpcXRobW1tcw==
Why, I oughtta go right up to those Nazis and give ’em a Pisa my mind.
Why didn’t Hitler drink alcohol?
Cause it made him mean.
🙂
Maybe there’s a Plan 4 waiting in the wings: We need to stand behind our commander in chief at a time of war, instead of turning the keys over to a known madman.
What if that bloodthirsty authoritarian militaristic ghoul brings the troops home?
Phantom debt
New record-breaking numbers on buy-now-pay-later purchases show consumers aren’t getting spooked by the emerging payment method that some economists call “phantom debt.”
U.S. shoppers racked up $16.6 billion in buy-now-pay-later purchases during the holiday season, helping to close out a big year for the flexible payment option.
That’s according to Adobe Analytics, which pointed to a 14% increase in buy-now-pay-later purchasing over the holidays in a report released Thursday. Over the course of 2023, BNPL spending rose about 14% as well, to hit $75 billion.
The numbers are a bold-faced win for the emerging payment method. But some economists worry about the lack of clarity on the full size of the industry and the financial health of BNPL users.
It’s gotta be on somebody’s books.
the emerging payment method
Layaway has been around for as long as I have. It’s nothing new.
Yeah, but you probably don’t have a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism, which means you can see things in plain view around you.
Even a credit card is a 30 day “by now, pay later” system. Assuming you actually pay it off.
BNPL services allow shoppers to split purchases into installments, and some options are interest-free.
Who pays for it if there’s no interest? Who bears the risk of non-payment? Do you need to give the store your SSN, address, phone, etc.?
Layaway is when they take it off the floor and put it in a back room until it’s paid in full.
I guess it’s “buy now, pay later”, but it’s less “buy now” than credit cards.
I assume this story is about the weird “pay it off in four monthly payments” thing I see even for small online purchases. You still get it right away (as far as I know), so it’s not really layaway.
Given that context, it’s tough to say what the growing use of BNPL shows about consumer health right now, Quinlan noted.
It could mean people are sick and tired of getting fucked by the credit card industry.
I’d be interested to see the venn diagram users of modern Layaway (BNPL) and people carrying a high balance on their cc’s.
It would just be one big circle
I don’t know why people are ragging on layaway. It’s always been a way for the poors (who couldn’t get casual credit back in the day) to get things without cheating the merchants by failing to pay and/or dealing with damaged goods/repos.
I think it’s a good alternative to get things without credit, but that they may actually need, and still protect the merchant.
The only reason I can see that people rag on it is because only icky people need it.
The perception that it’s used by Icky Class people.
Trumptards, I believe is the correct term.
Check baby, check baby, one, two, three, four
Check baby, check baby, one, two, three
Check baby, check baby, one, two
Check baby, check baby, one
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87821224358?pwd=eW55MTRDbDNtQkh2aHd3M1Nmenlzdz09
I read you 5×5, out.
Wall-to-wall and treetop tall
c’mon with it
TRUCKER CLOCK!
I am still with us.
I am still fuming, three days after my forced, and unnecessary, ER ‘visit.’
I am with pup, who is happily in my bed. That will do. I am a sentient human sans options.
Evan, there are always options. Read. Write. Make music. Make food. Try something new and different, something ‘yesterday you’ wouldn’t have thought of, or considered. Juggle. Learn a new skill. Be kind to those less well off. Options. Always.
Start a journal. Seriously. Maintain the discipline to write in it every day. It doesn’t matter if you think what you write is boring or pointless or won’t matter to anyone.. It’s not therapy, although it may sometimes be therapeutic. It’s a journal, the story of your days. Don’t judge them, write them out. Judge at some other time if you must. Just write your life as it happens. It’s hard. It’s even harder to stick to. Do it anyway.
Or do something else. But you have options. Take some.
I’ve written. Got food. I know how to juggle. No patience for new skills. Adding to my journal is pointless. Repetitive. Scores of thousands of MORE pages?! Christ. No way to edit that, nor will anyone be able to understand without brevity. Levity is a breech. I use it constantly.
I have many options. I’ve taken them all. I’ll drink some more down.
“I’ve taken them all.”
No, you haven’t. You’ve taken the ones you wanted to take. There are a nearly infinite number of options out there for “how to spend the next hour” to “what to devote my life to”.
Correct! The next ‘Infinite option” is my life to end.
That doesn’t seem to bad. A blissful non-awakening.
*too
I don’t plan on it! Accidents occur.
Ev, is there any scenario where you don’t lurch toward self-destruction? I’m asking with kindness, as I can see you’re in a dark place and you have real physical challenges that make the mental ones worse. What can be done to lift yourself out of this dark place?
This song helped me find my happy place:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Kvy_iC1B8
The life of Henry Darger has inspired me at times.
***
Henry Joseph Darger Jr. (/ˈdɑːrɡər/; April 12, 1892 – April 13, 1973) was an American writer, novelist and artist who worked as a hospital custodian in Chicago, Illinois.[1] He has become famous for his posthumously discovered 15,145-page fantasy novel manuscript called The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What Is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, along with several hundred drawings and watercolor illustrations for the story.[2]
The visual subject matter of his work ranges from idyllic scenes in Edwardian interiors and tranquil flowered landscapes populated by children and fantastic creatures, to scenes of horrific terror and carnage depicting young children being tortured and massacred.[3]: 106 Much of his artwork is mixed media with collage elements. Darger’s artwork has become one of the most celebrated examples of outsider art.
…
Darger himself felt that much of his problem was being able to see through adult lies and becoming a “smart-aleck” as a result, which often led to his being punished by teachers and ganged up on by classmates. He also felt compelled to make unusual noises. The Lincoln asylum’s practices included forced child labor and severe punishments, which Darger would later seemingly incorporate into his writing. Darger later said that, to be fair, there were also “good times” at the asylum, he enjoyed some of the work, and he had friends as well as enemies.
In 1908, Darger received word that his father had died in St. Augustine’s Home for the Aged; Darger never had a chance to visit him since his departure eight years prior. He attempted to escape in 1908 by freight train, but was thwarted by police after reaching Chicago and forced back into the asylum. He escaped once more in 1909 and succeeded, now free in Chicago.
***
Local D congresscritter talking about how the economy is good and he doesn’t understand why Biden’s poll numbers are so bad.
1. Dude’s dumb as a box of rocks, but can be counted on to be loyal blue water carrier at home.
2. He’s an accidental elite now and he likes his perqs.
3. He’s disconnected from real life, especially from his urban constituents. And yet … they still vote for him.
I actually screamed at the tee vee.
I do that. Never helps. Just don’t pull an Elvis and shoot the screen.
Damn your nimble fingers.
Ka-Chow!
Taking care of business, baby!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n2GBlD4tijI
Watching the results of the 2008 election, the Big, Tall Giant, Polock (OG-2X-OG™) had to hide my firearms.
I was about to Elvis the TV.
Better than pulling an Elvis.
Dying on the shitter?
I’m drinking the Tiramisu version. It’s good.
I am having some leftover eggnog. It’s good.
I’m having the best- Milwaukee’s Best, in fact.
Hell it says so right on the label!
Be afraid, be very afraid. The BBC suggest democracy is under threat:
“2024 will be the world’s biggest election year ever. From the United States to the UK, Taiwan to India, South Africa to Mexico, it’s estimated countries representing nearly half the world’s population will head to the polls in some form of election this year. But how much faith do people around the world still have in democracy?
In South Africa this year’s election will be a defining one. 40 years since a post-Apartheid electorate voted in Nelson Mandela, the nation is dogged by corruption and voter apathy with less than half expected to turn out. So are South Africans seeking an alternative to democracy and what might that be?
Meanwhile in India there are some concerns the world’s largest democracy is slipping into authoritarianism. Prime Minister Modi is a key player on the global stage with grand ambitions for India, but his premiership has been dogged by allegations of an anti-Muslim stance. So what does his continued popularity reveal about the state of democracy in a nation where over a billion people are eligible to vote in the general election?
In some Western nations too, there is a palpable dissatisfaction with democracy. In the US, former President Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election result led to the deadly attack on Congress – a sign for current leader Joe Biden that democracy is under threat, not just abroad but at home too.
So as we enter a record-breaking year for elections, is democracy itself on the line?”
Hasn’t it been for at least the past 2 or 3 elections ?
As I have mentioned before, replace “democracy “ with “democrats” and it all makes sense.