Why the Swedes love doing something that Americans hate
sylver_dragon @ sylver_dragon @lemmy.world Posts 4Comments 965Joined 2 yr. ago
sylver_dragon @ sylver_dragon @lemmy.world
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Considering that Congress just (fucking finally) handed the President a whole lot of money in "Presidential Drawdown Authority". I suspect the conversation is going to go a whole lot like:
US DoD: We bought all these former Soviet shit-boxes to prevent them being used by Russia and to build goodwill with Kazakhstan.
US President: Hey, look at all these former Soviet shitboxes the DoD has sitting in inventory. We don't need these. I'm giving them to Ukraine who can find a use for them.
From the last patch notes:
This next patch will also begin introducing our official modding tools, letting you change up visuals, animations, sounds, stats, and more to overhaul Baldur’s Gate 3 into the weird nightmare realm of your dreams.
So, maybe.
I suspect that may be part of the reason Larian isn't making a Baldur's Gate 4. At the very least, they probably realize that lightning is very unlikely to strike twice, so why tempt fate? Get out of the series while everyone still loves you. They probably also recognize that they would face a Knights of the Old Republic 2 situation where the IP owner will want more profit faster, and so they will set deadlines which don't fit with Larian's design model. At best, BG4 would be a rushed mess, with Larian struggling for years afterwards trying to deliver the game they wanted to deliver and burning down all of the goodwill they have built up with gamers. It's just not worth it. If they walk away and stand up their own IP, they get complete control and can take the time to deliver what they want to deliver. Sure, they don't have the built in fanbase that a D&D title would have; but, I suspect they are going to have a lot of that fanbase follow them anyway.
Sadly, Hasbro absolutely will be willing to burn down any and all goodwill BG3 has built up. I expect we'll see some smaller developer handed BG4, put under unrealisting timelines and the result will be a disaster. It will not be the fault of the development team. I suspect any dev team is going to be salivating at the prospect of making a D&D title. It's a dream project and they will bend over backwards to get it. They just won't realize, or hope they can avoid, Hasbro breaking their back in the quest for short term profit.
They had to choose between a brewery and Boeing. The brewery at least understood how important process control is.
Na, that would be the dog shooting her in the face. We could only be so lucky.
This article covers several methods. Personally, I'd look for a BIOS based tool first, as that would be free and easiest. After that, the Diskpart Clean All command is probably fine for anything other than Top Secret data which a government based threat actor would be willing to put a lot of resources into recovering. If it's just your tax documents and porn archive, no one is going to care enough to dig out anything which that command might have left behind.
Marketing is far from dead. Larian themselves used it to great effect with BG3. Does no one remember the announcement trailer released for BG3 well in advance of any gameplay footage? That's marketing, though and through. And yes, it worked plenty well on me. A D&D game based around Mind Flayers, made by the folks behind Divinity Original Sin? Shut up and take my money. Also, when I noticed the outline of a Nautiloid ship in the background, I may have needed a change of shorts.
The difference with BG3 was that Larian didn't just pull an Edward Bernays style marketing as a con. They delivered a good product, worked with players to fix any issues and have gone above and beyond supporting the game after release. They have done everything right to build long term customer relationships. Maybe they don't reach the same level of profits some other companies might, by stuffing microtransactions in every orifice. But, I suspect they are profitable and seem to be better built be continue long term and not have to tear the company up and saddle one of those pieces with insane amounts of debt.
While I can't promise that I'll buy their next game, I'll undoubtedly keep an eye out for it. Larian puts out a quality product and doesn't fuck their customers. That's what makes their brand of marketing work.
So, how long before there's a fire sale at Asmodee, selling off all the valuable titles while the company itself craters under this debt burden?
The original Sacred was an ok game when it released. Nothing super special, but not bad. Sacred 2, was a janky mess. Maybe that got fixed eventually, but it was bad enough I shelved it and moved on well before finishing it.
Even more important that the one time bump is the very last line of the article:
Starting July 1, 2027, the rule requires Labor to adjust the salary threshold every three years to account for updated wage data.
Rather than having to fight for these things every few years, we need to just tie minimum wage and the overtime floor to CPI. But, that's something the GOP will fight tooth and nail.
Seems like the Biden Administration has been trying to speed run the "good ideas" list as we move into election season. This is a great change. The bullshit "refund" system airlines have been using needed killing. We had a family trip get canceled due to the pandemic and ended up with a "credit" from the airline which had a laundry list of restrictions on it, making it very difficult to use. If I pay a company money for a service and they fail to provide that service, there should be no situation under which they are allowed to keep my money.
On the other piece of this, it will be nice to see baggage fees up front. I'm probably weird in that I don't mind paying per checked bag. Most of my travel is with my family and we really don't need a checked bag per person. So, I'd rather pay a bit less for the tickets and pay for the bags we do need separately. At the same time, I'd absolutely love to have that cost be considered when I am searching for flights.
They're less laws and more "guidelines".
So far, the toggle is built in:
Either way, these recommendations can be disabled by going into the Windows 11 Settings app, so you can avoid them. However, app recommendations are tied to other content in this section, so you'll miss out on some features by turning it off.
Not sure what else will be "missed". But, my guess is they will be "missed" in the same way that one misses a case of chlamydia.
Relevant to the article is the US Limitation of Liability Act of 1851. This law allows a company to limit their total liability to the value of the ship and cargo. It's a leftover from a different age where the US Government was trying to promote trade. Today, it's used by companies to shirk liability when their greed and lack of care leads to death and destruction.
I'm all for doing a risk based analysis of people and having a higher or lower level of scrutiny based on that analysis. "Ability to pay" shouldn't be part of that analysis. Of course, given the history of problems with building such system, I also don't expect that the TSA (or any group) is going to do well building a risk based system which isn't:
I'm willing to watch the trailers. It's why I got the vibe I did. Consider what was presented in this trailer.
What is the core game loop going to be? This is a "cozy" game, that's blatantly obvious. Also, in case you have blinders on, that's how they describe it over on Steam. So, the game is built around collecting resources to upgrade and expand your "base" (home, garden, etc.). By itself, this isn't bad, it's a game play loop many people really love. It's why the name "FarmVille" is instantly recognizable. The problem is that this is a game play loop which lends itself to microtransactions very easily.
And what about the world? Why is this in Middle Earth? Is there some story to tell in that world with this game? Well, not really. And that's ok. Some people will just want the opportunity to explore the world. But, there is also the cynical reason that the world was chosen to reduce the need to do as much world building and lore writing. Also, as a popular IP, it's going to have a built-in audience.
And yes, I'm being cynical. And you're welcome to get all bent out of shape over that. But, if someone is going to put something like this out there, they are inviting comment based on peoples' impressions. This is just mine, you're welcome to disagree.
While I can understand Poland's desire to have nuclear weapons available, this seems like it would be a really provocative step towards Russia. Nuclear weapons positioned that close to Russia will raise the threat of a nuclear first strike against Russia. Even without an unstable strongman in charge of Russia, it's easy to see how a Russian government would be uncomfortable with this. At the same time, with an unstable strongman in charge of Russia, the provocation may not matter. Putin has proven he is willing to invade his neighbor and slaughter thousands, without provocation. So, I'm sure Poland isn't as worried about provocation as they are defense.
Call me cynical, but this made me think it's going to be a FarmVille clone with a "Hobbit" skin and the "Middle Earth" name to suck people in. And then it's going to go full Sauron with Microstransactions. Buy a picket fence for just $2.99. You want a fountain, by all means, that's just $4.99. Carrots in your garden? Oh well, bend over we'll need to plant a carrot somewhere first....
“This could have to do with the fact that many people do not want to be old, so they postpone the onset of old age,” said Wettstein
Pretty much this. I used to think that 50 was old. Now that I'm approaching it and know people past that age, I'm not sure I like that definition any more. I also don't "feel" old internally. Sure, my body isn't what it used to be. But, I am still active and haven't found myself limited in activities yet. Maybe that's coming. But, I'm also trying not to wreck the time I have left by being too stupid with my body. And I think that's where it's less about "being old" than it is being "used up". Sure, I did my share of stupid shit in my youth, we're all young and dumb at some point. With a bit of luck, we all get older. Hopefully, you take a few precautions and get lucky during that stupid stuff and you don't have a broken down body when you are older.
There is also a matter of experience and perspective. The more shit you live through, the more you are able to put life experiences in perspective. It's not only an age thing, being older usually means having lived through more things, but some folks get a lifetime of experience packed in a very short time due to bad circumstances. But, you start to recognize how little you can actually change or control in the world and start to accept the things you can't change. And maybe that's what "being old" is. You no longer have the vigor of youth nor the willingness to take on all the world's problems. You're more interested in just carving out a small patch of the world for yourself to live in as comfortably as you can. Sure, you may want a better world, and may even be roused to go do something about it from time to time. But you no longer believe that you can fix the world and really just want to warm your feet.
Handy Infographic from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO):
.Math warning:
(3.203T / $6.1T) * 100% = 52.5%So, not quite the previous poster's 55%, but pretty close. There is also an "Other" column which likely includes other social spending and may have gotten us to that number. But, it's enough of a mixed bag, and way too much work, to try and pick it all out.
While the US could certainly adjust it's spending in a lot of good ways, the idea that the US spends "nothing" on social programs is provably false. These numbers also get weird and much harder to pin down when we look at State level taxes and spending. Many years ago, I dug into education spending in the US. And while Federal Education spending is a drop in the bucket, the actual number is pretty large, because it's considered a State responsibility and each State spends large amounts of money on it.
For example, my home State of Virginia budgets $29.9 Billion for "Health and Human Services" this Fiscal Year 2024 and $25.0 Billion for "Education", those two line items eating up about 62% of the State budget.