Sounds like a classic “To Serve Man” type of situation to me… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man_(The_Twilight_Zone)

You can sign up for Proton mail without providing email or phone number, as far as I recall.

Too late: https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/28/24276043/apple-new-usb-c-magic-mouse-charging-port-bottom

Apparently, the navy is still using Windows XP on (some?) ships: https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2024/2/5/navy-looks-to-industry-to-digitize-ships

Then there’s this old classic when a navy “smart” ship was adrift for 2 hours after a Windows NT crash: https://www.wired.com/1998/07/sunk-by-windows-nt/

You do have good points, but even with it going endemic, measures could still be taken to reduce infection, with masks, ventilation, UV lights. I guess what bothers me is that the attitude all of a sudden became “whatever you wanna do”. Not even even a recommendation or requirements for healthcare settings. The healthcare settings in particular bother me.

Once it was determined that it was airborne and had become endemic, the mask requirements in those places should have become indefinite. That would also help reduce the spread of various other airborne diseases. As it is now, I keep hearing of doctors and nurses actually harassing patients to take their masks off. Completely batshit insane.

There is no longer any leadership or appropriate guidance from CDC or any other government entity. Sure, China and New Zealand gave up on it too, but as old folks are sometimes fond of saying, you wouldn’t jump from a bridge if everyone else did it.

The “California Earthquake Authority” provides the earthquake insurance for California: https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/about-cea/frequently-asked-questions

I had not realized before reading that now that it’s actually not state-funded. It sounds like it’s a pool of all insurers together.

I think that’s still too charitable of an interpretation. The CDC under Biden has been a disaster. They completely dropped any recommendations for masking, requirements for masking in high-risk environments (such as healthcare facilities), or even trying to model good behavior. The CDC director doesn’t even wear a mask in crowded environments or photos, and dismisses criticism for this, for crying out loud.

Haha, that sounds wild about the mic and speakers!

Agreed about Trump’s mishandling, but I’m not talking eradication. That was bound to be difficult. I’m talking about mitigation, harm reduction. This was essentially completely abandoned by the Biden administration.

A lot of that is fair, except that it wasn’t just Biden’s early days. The mishandling of the COVID pandemic continues to this day. It’s been a clusterfuck from the beginning under Trump to the present under Biden. The US doesn’t seem to be that unique in that regard though. It seems like it’s been a clusterfuck around most of the world.

I see, that makes sense. Thanks!

lol, holy hell… I am extremely against generalizing and stereotyping any group of people, particularly for things they couldn’t control (country of birth), but it did give me a chuckle that it would be Germans bragging about something like that. Sorry!

That’s just wild, because I’m pretty sure it would be illegal in a lot of jurisdictions. Especially involving minors. Holy Moly.

Top comment here. I was thinking along very similar lines in my commute to work this morning. The polarization that never ends or decreases seems to me to be purely a tool for rich elites to divide and conquer the general population.

The only minor asterisk I would add to your post is that I have personally been trying to avoid the term “cabal” because it can be accused of being an antisemitic dogwhistle. I don’t think you meant it this way, but wanted to alert you to that possible interpretation. In fact, I heard something a little while back that some people even claim that decrying “elites” in general is antisemitic. I don’t agree with this, but I think it’s a good idea to keep this in mind to try to prevent that line of attack.

How is there any hope against misinformation when the top comment on a thread decrying misinformation contains major misinformation itself? Specifically, way more Americans have died of COVID under the Biden administration than under the Trump administration.

Just one source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/09/18/covid-19-deaths-under-trump-1-million-fact-check/75197222007/

Granted, the Biden administration has had a lot more time under the COVID pandemic than Trump had, but the Biden administration has handled COVID in a very far from ideal way (see all the CDC missteps under Biden, for one example).

Please note: I am not a Trump supporter! I am only interested in truth, reason, and reality. Downvoting my post is a sign that you’re not interested in any of those.

Ah, ok, thanks. Now that you mention it, that rings a bell. I understand better what you meant with your earlier post. Thanks.

Technically, probably yes, but you can buy old, opened games on eBay. I doubt you can do the same with GOG games. Digital media is much harder if not impossible to resell.

Wait, this situation is way worse than what’s on the headline. These things (ecovac robot vaccums) have remotely accessible cameras? What in the Heebie Jeebus?

He opened the vacuum’s app to find a stranger was accessing its live camera feed and remote control feature, but assumed it might be an error.

How weird, I wonder if there’s something wrong with my GOG account? I don’t think I’ve received an email from them in years?

How did Roy Cohn die?

Oh, for sure. My friend ended up setting up a permanent server. It’s pretty cool because anyone of us can jump in and play at any time. Although anytime someone does it starts the clock ticking forward, which leads to consequences, as I’m sure you’re aware.