Bro, maybe the Wally world clientele is different in your neck of the woods but seeing someone with makeup on, or their hair did (leaving aside the question of quality for the time being...) is the exception to the rule.

Love Ahoy's essays. They're so slick.

I'm looking to reenter the dating pool in the near future and this has been on my mind, especially in light of Roe and my location in middle America. Would you be willing to share your personal experience with the procedure? Everyone says it's very easy, but I gotta be honest, it makes me nervous.

Wouldn't the establishment of a new precedent require the Supreme Court to overturn their previous ruling though? I'm not super familiar with the judicial system, so perhaps someone could tell me if I'm on the right track here with this hypothetical series of events

1. Charges filed
2. Defense motions to dismiss case on grounds that police don't have to protect anyone
3. Prosecution counters that that's not necessarily what they are arguing here
4. Judge at the lowest level with jurisdiction decides to allow the case to proceed based on prosecutions argument that they aren't litigating settled law
5. Trial
6. Defendants found guilty
7. Defense files an immediate appeal and a stay of sentence because they still feel like their clients are protected by precedent
8. Repeat until Supreme Court gets a writ of certiorari asking them to take up the appeal
9. If SCOTUS accepts the case, they will decide if A) the defense IS actually protected by precedent in this scenario B) whether previous precedent is constitutional and C) the ultimate fates of the defendents 9.1 If SCOTUS does not take up the case, the lower court's decisions are affirmed and that becomes legal precedent.

Is that a probably series of events? Obviously the suit being allowed to continue and the defendents being found guilty are huge assumptions, but, assuming they come to pass, am I on the right track here?

Right? Like, if I want to be as charitable as I'm capable of being, I could understand that sentiment if you are talking about your own official forums on your website. Like, sure, if you own the content and the forum, you have the power to determine what is and isn't acceptable on your platforms. It's a stupid determination, mind you, but it's within your power. However the impression I gather from the article is that they're referring to the Steam forums, which is absolutely asinine to me.

Hey I just wanted to say thank you for the breakdown. The intricacies of translation are interesting.

I don't understand diddly about the specifics of this article (I'm a member of the normie minority on this site who is neither working in IT, nor interested in the field), but I gotta say, I loved how it was structured and written. In a sea of AI generated crap, or simply parroting talking heads and calling it news, I found the way they laid out the article in two parts ("this is what happened, followed by "this is our subjective opinion on those events based on the wider context") to be very refreshing.

Fwiw, this is not a case of China stepping in and censoring anything about the awards. Rather, it's a case of the Hugo administration in the West self-censoring their nominees because they feared China might step in if they didn't get ahead of the curve.

Of course, that doesn't really change the situation, but we shouldnt get the story twisted here. The blame falls on the administrators who were so afraid of a threat that they imagined that they caved to non-existent demands, rather than the Chinese (at least for direct fault, since you could argue the Chinese government's policies indirectly led to this situation and I wouldn't fight you on that).

Its in the article, my guy.

I'm circle jerking here, but Lemmy needs content so I'm gonna inflict it on y'all. It's just nice to hear that the genesis of this project is a bunch of creative people experimenting and seeing what sticks rather than some suit writing "Live Service" on a white board and circling it a bunch. Maybe a dollar sign or two.

Grim Dawn is the most fun I've had with an ARPG in years. The class system is very interesting and, as far as I know, unique to this game. Rather than just being a barbarian or necromancer or whatever other typical ARPG class you can think of, your class is determined by selecting any 2 archetypes. For instance, maybe you like being a pet class like necromancer, but you want to have a slightly more active play style than just watching your skellingtons paint the map red. So, you mix in the Nightblade (melee rogue) class at level 10. Your new, combined class is called a Reaper, and you have access to both skill trees, free to mix and match as you wish. Very interesting playstyles can emerge from creative pairings.

I am a casual player so I can't offer any perspective on the endgame or anything like that, but if you're looking for something to scratch the Diablo 2 itch with a fun twist on classes,you cant go wrong with Grim Dawn.

You're correct, HR is there to benefit the company. However, in this case, the goals align. OP wants to stop being sent objectionable material while at work. HR wants employees' actions to not open the company up for litigation. Being able to prove that dickhead is engaging textbook harassment while on the clock should be an open and shut case.

All of this is to be taken with a heaping handful of salt, since regulations differ wildly by jurisdiction, but this seems pretty clear cut to me.

Jorphdan (the ph is silent) has dozens of videos exploring the lore of the Dungeons and Dragons multiverse. Those worlds have been the setting for enough videogames that I think it applies.

You might also check out Eckhart's Ladder. He focuses primarily on Star Wars but with some digressions into Halo and other science fiction universes.

One of my personal favorite gaming essayists is Grim Beard, though his particular style may or may not gel with you. His videos are generally about a single game and often encompass a game's conception, development, gameplay, reception, and legacy. It's not exactly a lore channel, per se, but I feel like it might be in the ballpark of what you're looking for.

If Russia keeps it up, they might not have those either.

Biden has done what he is able to do. He proclaimed presidential pardon for federal marijuana charges in late 2022. However, the executive branch has no authority to impact state level charges, which would likely be the vast majority of people affected by marijuana policing over time. In a world where government works as intended, state level organizations should take their cues from what the federal government is doing, but, as I understand it, they are not necessarily beholden to slavishly adopt the federal posture. Perhaps someone with a deeper understanding might illuminate us further.

file770 article written by two journalists who reviewed the committee's emails after one of said committee leaked them to atone for her role in the controversy.

Feel free to read the whole thing. It doesn't take long. If you prefer primary sources, the work-product they refer to is linked within the report. The conclusions the authors draw seems sound based on the evidence. Sure it's possible that the CCP meddled "off-the-record", but to assume that in contrast to what the evidence states seems like hunting for a Boogeyman to confirm our prejudices.

I think you're being glib, but my assumption is they are using household in the IRS sense, I e. A household consists of any one taxpayer and whoever they can claim as dependents.

I disagree with your assessment that far right and populist descriptors are opposites. Admittedly, there's a degree of subjectivity in definitions here, but my understanding is that conventional scholarship has coalesced around a definition of Populism that is agnostic of the left/right spectrum.

For example, this journal article from 2012 defines it as "a thin-centered ideology that considers society to be ultimately separated into two homogeneous and antagonistic groups, the 'pure people' versus the 'corrupt elite', and which argues that politics should be an expression of the general will of the people".

If you care to read a little more, the authors break down their definition into it's constituent pieces and provide context, but the important piece is that you can see how populism can come from both the left and the right.

As examples, we can look at, say, the Occupy Wall Street movement from a while back. Very much spawned from left leaning ideology, but it's defining feature was casting the "corrupt elite" (in this case, the fabulously wealthy) against the general people (i.e. the 99%). On the other side of the coin we can look at Donald Trump's MAGA movement. The image he wants to cultivate is that of an outsider, someone not tainted by the corruption of the Washington elite. That resonates with a sunset of the population.

Both of these movements have radically different goals and politics, but the framework of those arguments follows the same general template.

I apologize for the US-centric examples, but that's what I know. As consolation, the article I linked to is specifically a comparative study of European vs Latin American populism.

I've definitely gone through the Harry Potter series a couple of times at different phases of my life. Definitely had a different experience with every reading. Not always positive, but at this point it's part of the tapestry of my childhood.

Man I hope the Red Letter Media boys put together a retrospective in his honor

Oh, never you fear pal, I'm certain that Hasbro has no intention of leaving the cashcow alone. Larian might be moving on to other things, but those ghouls certainly aren't.

Seconding the other poster. Excellent write up; you distilled every rebuttal point I would have made to OP perfectly.

Don't let her shitty politics get in the way of doing something you enjoy. Death of the author and all that. If you're worried about fiscally supporting her, I'm certain you can find the whole series at reasonable prices in any secondhand bookstore.

Allow me to introduce you to Solasta: Crown of the Magister. It was the OTHER CRPG releases based on the DnD 5e system. Much smaller budget and team, but a pretty faithful recreation.

Including the fact that the game opens in a tavern with your party throwing back beer one of them might refer to as a donkey piss (depending on which personality archetype you selected for them) while they wait for their quest sponsor to show up and tell them what's going on. In the meantime, each character introduces themselves to the others by discussing the adventure they had on the way to the present location (as an excuse to run through some tutorials). Doesn't get much more classic DnD start than that.

Yes, for tax purposes, which then implies such a metric can be used for income reporting, as is this case with this chart. After all, if you and a platonic roommate were sharing an apartment, you probably wouldn't want to include their income on your filings to the IRS. For one, the illegality of falsely claiming a dependent, but also simply because the last thing you want the government thinking is that you made more money than you actually did.

Blackgate.com - the remnants of Black Gate magazine, which was published from 2000-2011 and then continued in digital form since. It focuses primarily on vintage literary fantasy, though occasionally the an article will be published in films or new fiction. Of particular note to nerds is the Cinema of Swords column by Lawrence Ellsworth, who fantasy fans may be familiar with as the Principal Narrative Designer for Baldur's Gate 3. I'm not so immersed in the fantasy world that I understand most of what is discussed on the blog, but it is a nice taste of the old Internet, one which might resonate with other fediverse users.

Heyyy time to see if the benefit of 10 years helps me complete Uplink.

Thank you for your service

This is a factually accurate statement, but it reads like you're encouraging someone to get into smoking cigarettes, which is (I thought) a myth invented by DARE types. Hey OP, speaking as someone with a 15 year off and on addiction to nicotine, steady on your course, bud.

They got movie theaters there?

It is possible, though improbable given the divisive political climate. To do so would be throwing away one of the primary advantages of holding a majority of the House. It would require a contingent of Republicans to essentially turn their backs on their party, likely forgoing any sort of financial aid for their reelection campaigns, and becoming persona non grata among their peers. If any group were to do so, they'd almost assuredly be frozen out of any committees they were on, and any legislation they proposed would be DOA. In short, it would almost certainly be political suicide.

So yes, it is possible, but I don't think it very likely.

This is very good, thank you.

Microtransactions, if you're curious.

For sure. My impression is that to focus on character work in the same way as BG3 (i.e. voice acting, mocap, cinematics, etc) would have been an impossibility for the studio that made Solasta. I would guess they did not have the financial support to make that happen.

Personally, I think of it as being of a piece with the old Infinity Engine games. There was the Baldurs Gate series, which, in classic CRPG fashion, was all about player choice and character. But, side by side with those games, you had the Icewind Dale series, which was almost completely devoid of the story focus of the BG games and entirely focused on dungeon crawling and seeing how far the ruleset can be pushed.

Only if you want to be hyper efficient. If you want to roleplay a lowly jobber space captain, it's unnecessary.

...to which dish? Neither sounds appetizing lol

Thanks for sharing this. It's easy to think of all of Russia as complicit in the war, so it's sobering to see that, despite the governments efforts, there are still those who want peace. Here's hoping some day they'll be able to voice their opinions without reprisal.

Thanks for the read. I have fond memories of playing the Sid Meier civil war games that I think came out a few years after this series. However, from your description and my memories, the games seem to share a lot of DNA. I also recall the Ultimate General Civil War game from a few years back. The mention of unit customization down to what equipment they field and who their commanders are reminds me of similar features in that game. Thanks for the write up! I love reading about this era of PC gaming.

Is this mean t as a replacement for, or in addition to the Adaptive Controller kits that were in the news a few years back? This seems like a logical end point for that program (i.e. I remember the adaptive controller looking relatively unpolished in comparison to this product). Another commenter pointed out that the actual cost of the adaptive controller is greater than the sticker price would indicate since you need to add peripherals to the base $99 controller to achieve functionality, but hopefully it's still a feasible option for folks that maybe can't quite swing a $300 purchase.

As a small, optimistic caveat to the above, Biden's pardon does work for anyone who was charged in Washington DC since they don't have a state body representing them. So, yes, typically anyone with a federal marijuana charge is also likely the subject of many more serious charges, there is a population of people that may have received immediate relief at the time, which is good.