The comment section on this article is a little bit of hell.

Also, I get that this is part of Microsoft’s duties for its own OS security. But the role it has seems to be a bit too large. Currently it seems, even though it is seemingly working for the benefit of Ukraine in the conflict, that they could choose to aid Russia at any time. I don’t think I like them having such capacity. Being able to interfere in such events in such a drastic degree, if they choose to. Interference in politics in such a direct manner, even if aid with ‘intelligence’ is one of their offerings, cannot really be removed from their capability here. These are basics of state… just what are modern politicians doing. I’d say it is not so much the governments in specific places (like the US) running their regions anymore.

I don’t think China cares. Such places, the powers will sink down their entire region for ‘glory’.

I see

Strength and power are not the same. Strength is often portrayed as the ability to exert force, or to make others do what you want, but those who have worked hardest to build real strength (which is different from muscle mass, something which is completely unrelated) know that strength is the ability to do things on your own without support or resources. Making others do things for you? That’s power. These are not so much quirks of language as they are natural phenomena which are both referenced in their real natures as well as confused and mixed up often.

These ‘strongmen’ are some of the weakest humans in existence.

That said, it is funny and logical. As a person who has not made the decision referenced here, it is funny to watch those who have made the decision. It is essentially resigning your fate to those who want to harm you, it is putting your utmost trust, and sole trust, in those who want to create problems for you. It is even more comedic when such persons who make the decision then take up the banner of legitimacy—everyone else who hasn’t made the same decision is problematic.

Simple logic is hard to use apparently. A person who wilfully tries to harm you persistently, then promises to back off from those tendencies if you obey them, are only going to increase the problems they cause for you if you aid them in… causing problems for you. Funnily enough these people then attribute such events to unavoidable reality. No, they’re probably too embarrassed to admit to themselves that they contributed to it themselves. In doing so, they make it pretty much impossible to rectify the horrible situation, instead relying on the same forces they call problematic to make things better for everyone.

If these ‘strongmen’ are simply seen for the fools they are, everyone around will only see just how incapable they are. Instead you have loads of people who don’t even buy into the ideological horseshit each of these particular persons may have, support them to get them to back off a little bit in the extreme short term, only make it easier for these ‘strongmen’ to create much more severe and long lasting problems for them… which wouldn’t have been possible without their help in the first place. How tragic…but my sympathy only lies with those who did not contribute to such things but suffered regardless.

Dealing with these ‘strongmen’ who are everywhere rather than just at the heads of some nations is also a good thing to do. After all, it is not good to see them go unpunished after messing around, and causing problems, just so they could tell themselves that they have not chosen badly all their lives, which results in them not being able to do anything on their own despite not having real, natural circumstances preventing them from doing so.

In the end I just settled with the logic based ones like minesweeper and sudoku. F-droid has a good version each (and more than one maybe).

PlanetCon is a decent strategy game on its basic settings. I haven’t customised it but have had a fair amount of fun in it. But it is nothing perfect, do not expect too much out of it. If you learn how to not attract the ire of all AI opponents simultaneously though, you can have short bursts of decent strategy enjoyment.

No wonder they sold it at 95% off on steam recently. Did they at least complete the story of this one? It was supposed to be a mobile-like live service thing (whatever is wrong with providing a complete story in one go?).

I’ve only really plaued Arkham Asylum from the Rocksteady Arkham series. It is a decent one, I found it easier to get into than the hour of Arkham City I played. Perhaps I’ll try that again sometime. Though recently I got into Hand of Fate which has a similar combat system.

The natural result.

To think they actually gave one of the reasons of invading Ukraine as ‘fighting Nazis’

Once EVs become the main type of vehicles sold, sellers will lower quality to ‘encourage’ you to replace them more often.

Every industry starts off like this and ends off like that.

Started Mech Armada, a roguelite which is turn based and with a fairly good customisation system which gives full freedom in making units from what you ‘find’ (pay to unlock randomly by paying a resource which is also used for other things so you have to choose) in the run.

Required a fair bit of learning through experimentation but now I, at least keep winning the first map and have just reached the boss of the second. Without any of the ‘roguelite’ bonuses. Which you can unlock with a separate currency earned. I chose not to unlock anything to see how viable it is without unlocks. It is decent. That said, there are more pieces added to the ‘gacha’ as you play. Through an experience system. The experience system carries over between runs but is not really a ‘boost’ since it just unlocks a bigger pool of more varied parts.

Of course. Really it is the opposite of ‘better’

Selling your soul for coin is real easy. No sympathy for this person in particular, this person didn’t even suffer for the evil deeds done.

Do you know how much of a scumbag you have to be to attack a hospital.

They’re quite proud of their actions rather, I imagine. And I do not doubt they proudly make it a matter of morality in some or another way.

Bolster the defenses, make it harder for the malicious.

If a person refuses to see whether they are causing harm even unintentionally… refuses to even try… that’s all that matters. Responsibility lies there when the person causes harm. Same for persons who are aware and are personally fine with causing harm for gain. On the other hand, seeing and personally trying to reduce it, a person can atone for harm caused by oneself. These things cannot be forced. Attempts to be fully aware and not cause harm only brings happiness to the one making such attempts in the end. The ‘pains of life’, which is the purpose for the concept of ‘escapes’ to exist in the first place, go away completely. You could call such pains either the result of maliciousness or the naivety which aids people who want to cause harm.

This is a decision everyone can only make by themselves.

Education has, traditionally, been more about control than anything else. It just seems the two most focussed groups are those who choose ‘acceptable learning’ which is wholly detrimental (and against) to critical thinking and intellectual freedom, and those who take the desire for the lack of learning to the extreme.

The best education is the one which wholly focuses on learning, without restriction. Very few places in the world have that.

Learning did not start with education and predates it by a lot. However, many people I’ve known who are educated cannot comprehend where things came from before they became information. The mindset that you cannot know anything unless you read it in a textbook. I too am educated but it felt most inadequate to me. We live in a somewhat educated world, and most of the educated world believes that the nature of many problems cannot be known and many problems cannot be solved.

That said, what the article states is absolutely worse. It is taking the traditional meaning of controlled education and using it to the extreme. Short term political gain, long term pain. If they are lucky enough to change ways in an adequate manner to avert disaster (and that is a very unlikely if), there will still be many economic and violent socially disruptive consequences which will directly be influenced by this choice. Such models of real forced control are not really sustainable—either the total (or even near total) control is a self-appreasing lie, or it is the prulude to the fall.

Big corporations cannot survive in a real free market. For that very reason real free markets do not exist. So the ‘legitimate businesses’ which do not do things as well as others do can survive.

As horrible as it sounds, no regulation is what makes a free market. But there is no free market because when there is talk of free market, it just means extreme regulation to stifle small, extremely small business. These businesses run by people who work with their own hands are what give the large ones a run for their money. They’re the real obstacle to large entities which do things in not the best way (so almost all of them). What people are left with are legitimate small businesses allowed under regulation after everything has been restricted already… and with the methods these follow, they’re no harm to the big entities. The common human be damned, they’re forced to choose from the least bad option for anything.

‘Free market’ in politics is a joke, an intentional joke. It wouldn’t be a little bit surprising if the ones who advocate for free markets most have a laugh, outside of public view, at people who actually believe their points.

To be fair… real free market would see the crashing of many industries as things go back to being a bit more practical. A slow process which takes even luxury to be affordable—but the meaning of luxury changes. Things inessential for survival would then be deemed luxury and such things, good things which are also very accessible, would be fairly common around. The main flaw with that, however, is the purpose of luxury. Luxury is hardly used to refer to things merely inessential for survival, they’re considered mere vehicles of showing your status and power (even though a relatively simple trick would be to not pay no heed to them). They are objects to enable one’s pride, ‘pride comes before the fall’ be damned to them. One can have solace in the thought that the fall really does come, though.

Note: I do not support deregulation, it just means to allow big corporations to fuck around at the cost of other humans. But then, I do not really support anything.

The rabbit hole of looking harder and being amazed by what exists will probably never end if persons keep looking (till they become proficient enough to be the ones making those things).

There are many games where you just install and play them. I’ve found many after excluding both AAAs and popular indies.

As far as AAA goes, the very emphasis is on graphics, sound, etc (big ehhh to the gameplay). Popular indies are also not my thing because it has become more of a social activity and the makers themselves play on that a bit. Aside from those two categories itself, I’ve got maybe a hundred good games which can be played maybe hundred to a few hundreds of hours each, maybe more. Most of them unplayed.

Old games are also something which are not going away if you check compatibility in advance (or use GOG preservation mark games, which apparently try to fix those problems).

I’m currently playing Battlefront 2004 and Monster Slayers (deckbuilder) but have a shitload of games from many genres installed. Most of them unheard of, being good quality in game design and enjoyable for many hours.

I don’t miss them because they’re still here!

Exactly

Sadge💀

For the industry to exist, someone has to be using said region’s industry’s cotton. Otherwise the cotton industry would’ve shut down.

Logically it does make sense that some dum dums aside, most foreign brands in the region will avoid this while the local ones will take advantage of this. However, it is also so that a large number of business entities are not known for good logic. However, still, it takes a special level of dum dum to specifically get this industry’s cotton after this had become a big issue as it is (which is to say it is not an issue for everyone, and nothing ever is otherwise it wouldn’t exist, but it is still a substantial problem for those caught). Which means someone from a foreign brand probably signed off on using said industry’s cotton, I believe. Because thinking ability is not particularly a strong trait, however in many cases it is also a critically weak trait. So chances are someone did do such a thing, however incomprehemsible it may feel to people did an at least okay-level sense of logic.

As mentioned, local businesses would feel less worse benefitting from it, but also country’s brands which operate in few specific regions only and not in any of the large parts of the world that would, through political office, state that this referenced industry is a moral issue.