Kovukono @ Kovukono @pawb.social

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2

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97

Joined

2 yr. ago

Wow, I entirely forgot that Devour existed until just now. It blew my teenage mind when I first heard it. I also forgot how much I hated that every single store seemed to be playing The Crow and the Butterfly when you walked in.

Vermin Supreme is a real person.

I chose an example I know of that ensures language services are available for its people. If you want to discuss the overall content of my comment instead of a minor aspect of it, feel free. If not, I think we're done.

It's not though. None of those countries are explicitly banning government communication in other languages, and removing other services that have been in place. None of those countries are going out of their way to say to businesses "If you don't communicate in the language of our choice, you'll be required to pay us money."

Coming from the United States, services were often offered in Spanish because it was an uncommon language, but still prevalent enough that people spoke it regularly. Spanish isn't an official language of the US, but they recognized the need to serve their people better and took steps to do this. Citizens might be assholes who would say something like "This is America, speak American," but the government at least made the effort to help. Quebec is echoing those citizens, while saying their own heritage is so fragile that if they have to serve their populace better that it will disappear. I can't imagine any of those other countries you mentioned are so thin-skinned.

I need to file an official request to be served in English with businesses that are serving me paperwork since the bill was passed. This isn't because they can't serve me in English. Previously, they had been without issue. These official requests are cover-your-ass statements so they don't get in trouble when using English versions.

Additionally, the only language you can get certain things like birth certificates, wedding certificates, power of attorney, etc. is French. Need an English version? You'll need to pay for a translator.

Additionally, even if I wanted to access any government services in English, I need to lie. I don't speak fluent French, but have been here for more than 6 months, so technically, none of those English-provided services are legally accessible to me. If I want to find out what forms I need, or get information on government services, according to bill 96 I better learn French right now or stay ignorant.

And this is just the hassle it's caused me. Small businesses have to report headcounts of how many people don't speak fluent French. Signage needs to be put up by next year that's compliant with the need to be "visibly French dominant." Failure to comply means fines.

I don't care what the official language of Quebec is. I don't care if the government wants to devote holidays and school time to teaching about French history. This doesn't affect me, and it's educational and helps keep Quebecois heritage alive.

I care that, because French isn't my first language, I'm made to feel like a second-class citizen for asking for service not in French. I care that government services deny accessibility because they're speaking a different language. I care that businesses will have to jump through even more hoops to do business in Quebec, not because of product safety or consumer protection, and not even because of lack of accessibility, but instead because it's just not a language the government prefers. I got my citizenship last year, and I'm glad I'm a Canadian. But Quebec's government sure as shit doesn't want me living there.

I'm guessing it's the same thing on the backend, but the issue is the exact opposite of what I have. The left drawer works fine for me, but the top is the problem. Could be with something I've set differently for layout, but I'm sure if he fixes it one way it'll fix it all.

We are the Dorg. You will become a good boy. Resistance is futile.

You can't be here!

Is that an actual screenshot from the game?

I take it you're not familiar with famous lawyer Saul Goodman.

To preface this, I don't really like JRPGs. Especially turn-based ones. That doesn't mean I can't appreciate them, it's just that a lot of them have had, in the past, an emphasis on things like grinding over gameplay. This might not be true for more modern ones, but considering I largely avoid the genre, I don't know.

All that said, Sea of Stars does everything so right. I remember playing Persona 5 and having a blast, primarily because of the story and presentation, but Sea of Stars not only has that, but does everything it can to keep you immersed.

Combat is turn-based, but you have the opportunity to time button presses to attacks to do extra attacks. I know that sounds not amazing, but the combat system also requires attacks of specific types to stop an enemy from doing a special attack. Nail the timing, and you can interrupt an attack completely. Fail, and you either have to brace for it, or find another way around it (and early game, that's not an option most times). Likewise, timing the button press when getting hit blocks damage, and with an item early on, it also recovers MP. The game goes all in on rewarding you for actively playing instead of just sitting back and clicking through menus.

Plus, the traversal is just so great. Yeah, an isometric game has great traversal mechanics. It feels weird saying that, but it does. Almost every screen has multiple layers to move up and down, making it feel like a real world instead of just walking from point A to point B. Plus it encourages exploration of those layers for cooking ingredients and treasures, which are hidden away in secrets, but if you've played enough games you generally know where to look.

This is also going to sound kind of like more weird praise, but there's no bullshit with needing to find several keys spread across the world to go back to one location to get a chest. Everything you see can be obtained if you can figure out how to get to it, with literally one exception that I've found in the first right hours. The puzzles aren't that hard, and as long as you're thorough you can find everything.

Regarding the story, it's nothing groundbreaking, but it's presented so well that it's still entertaining. It's almost relentlessly positive, and even the darkest parts are handled in the manner of "we'll get through this" instead of "this is hopeless." It's good, but it's not the best I've played (though given everything else, I wouldn't be surprised if it improved later).

I have no idea if you've played, or even heard of, a GBA series called Golden Sun. It feels a lot like a spiritual successor to it. But the thing that keeps me playing is that not only is the gameplay fun and the story entertaining, but it seems to absolutely value your time. No grinding, you're capable of maintaining your party through good combat decisions, and limited backtracking. You're not there to play a game, you're there to experience a journey, and it keeps you moving forward. I love this game, but I feel safe saying that you could buy this on Steam, and figure out in the two-hour return window whether or not it's for you.

At the moment, Sea of Stars, but I need to get back to Dave the Driver and finish up the Among Us DLC for Vampire Survivors. And also need to finish Unmetal. And then I've also got this metroidvania bundle I got from Humble Bundle to finish. And Beholder 2. Jesus, my home screen is one long waiting list, and I'm still just playing other stuff.

Treasure Planet has solar sails used as the energy source for propulsion for ships.

I want to second Graveyard Keeper. I'm 99% sure I didn't automate it as well as it intended, but it's a lot of fun. The removal of the hard sleeping hours of Stardew is the biggest plus of the game, aside from the setting.

Apparently he's been indicted, but not convicted. He was placed under house arrest, which then was extended to being able to go around the county he was in. That's been extended now to all of Romania.

Apparently, at least for groceries, there's an estimated extra $700/year increase next year, with food costs slowing to 2.5-4.5% increases in general, but sticking at 5-7% for bread, vegetables, and meat. It's still going to cost an average 4-person family $16.3k a year for groceries, though (AKA just over half a full-time minimum-wage salary, prior to paying taxes).

Metro reported a 14% increase in profits for their last quarter compared to last year, and Loblaw's 11%. According to Google's earning statements of the last year, Metro has made 27.4% more profits in the last four quarters than they reported in 2020. Loblaws, on the other hand, is actually down 12%, though Google reports they had two really bad quarters this year, and posted a 40% increase in profits between FY 2022 and 2020. So yeah, nothing as egregious as the article, but they're still outpacing (year over year for the last quarter) both regular and grocery inflation.

I'm sure if I really wanted to, I could dig up the same financial information for Soebys, but I have no clue if Walmart and Costco would keep clean financials readily available for Canada.

I assumed it was the same word for both, but apparently "loath" is the noun and "loathe" is the verb. So it would be you loathe or you are loath.

Currently it's Electric Callboy, namely We've Got the Moves and Hypa Hypa.

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure the meme and OP are both referring to Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent.

Oh hey, it's the cat from You Lovely Lovers.

The only bot option you can control through Sync is to hide PipedLinkBot. Actual bot hiding needs to be done through a website. The Sync settings provide hiding bots in the search, but it doesn't appear to be an implemented toggle yet.