That’s called ‘being Dutch’ 😀

That doesn’t feel too surprising. There’s nothing really new to buy in terms of hardware; likely everyone who wanted a specific console now has one. And others like myself are waiting: I want a Switch 2 OLED, but that’s not available yet.

And there’s also the fact that many game releases now suck, with no real must-have titles for console to boost sales right now. And new physical titles are expensive.

It’s just a dip caused by a combination of factors. If GTA VI releases next november, the chart is going to look like a rocket taking off.

Well, that’d mean missing out on some really cool stuff.

Games like Vampire Survivors and Stardew Valley were made by a solo developer. A couple thousand bucks is a LOT of money for some people. I’d hate to have missed out on either of those.

We certainly do need some quality control, but I don’t think the financial route is the way to go.

And those are the best ones, considering fuckwit writers and producers can’t run them into the ground while you’re enjoying them. The Wire, Sopranos etc. will always remain excellent.

Lower prices? Yeah, I’m sure they’ll get right on that…

You don’t reward a thief and murderer, you shoot them between the eyes. As a Dutchman, I wholeheartedly support shooting every uniformed Russian or allied you can find. Twice.

Here in the Netherlands, we use the Euro. Which has 1 and 2 cent coins. The Netherlands and a few other Euro countries basically stopped using those, instead rounding off to the nearest 5 cents when paying with physical money.

If you pay digitally, you still pay the exact amount without the rounding off.

Frankly, I was amazed that they thought those 1 and 2 cents were useful. You can buy nothing with them and they cost more to make than their worth.

I imagine that might be handy if you’re trying to book something somewhere. Assuming the musician is still alive, of course.

How often do you get disappointed stares when you show up somewhere?

I share my name with a famous referee. I’ve had people try and talk to me about that sport when I’m very clearly not said individual.

Sure, in a technical sense, that’s true - the car radio in our 2025 Hyundai i10 is a DAB+ radio, which supposedly still has backup FM capability. Which is never used, as you just pick the station from a list. It’s never used anyway - I much prefer podcasts.

The other day I got a press release about disaster preparedness for grade school kids.

It made mention of teaching kids how to use a battery powered radio to get information. And it suddenly struck me that my 8 year old nephew likely has never even SEEN an FM radio, much less would know how to tune one to a specific station.

Shit like that makes me feel reaaaaaaallllly old…

I hope her parents took her out for pizza, ice cream and signed her up for a kickboxing class. Because I would be proud if she did that, honestly.

She asked them to stop, the school did nothing. Well, then it’s time to handle it yourself.

It’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility, since Hollywood loves to blacklist folks in general for opinions outside work. But to outright claim X, Y or Z won’t be working at Paramount seems a bit of a stretch.

There’s a lot of wiggle room in that article. It’s reporting on ‘sources told Variety’ that Paramount is making a list, but that they’re not sure who’s on it. But that they assume these people would be.

It’s all silly anyway. Even folks like Kevin Spacey eventually get back to working in Hollywood. Hollywood principles only go so far once the media attention dies down.

This is actually a pretty interesting topic.

I was born in 1982 and we didn’t get the internet until 1998. Which means I was a kid and teen in a mostly analog world.

Your day to day knowledge was formed by things you were taught in school, the things you saw on the news and the people you were surrounded by. That gave you a fairly broad understanding of the world.

If you really NEEDED a correct answer, you’d use an encyclopedia at school or the library, or any specific book on the topic. But you had to be motivated to do that. And even those resources might be limited in scope or unavailable. My local library in the Netherlands would’ve had some books on US history for example, but you wouldn’t really find say, a biography of Jimmy Carter. So at some point, you’d reach the maximum depth of knowledge to be gained in your particular situation.

The internet really helps us drill down way, WAY deeper than what we could find in the 80’s and 90’s. I can now have in-depth knowledge on the most obscure topic and drill down as far as I want.

It’s unfortunate that a lot of people don’t use the web for that. Or end up actually misinformed because of it.

That was a very interesting read!

Did the accident also reset your personal preferences and dislikes? I.e change your favorite color, the way you dressed or foods you liked/disliked beforehand?

A lot of preferences I have are often based on years of habits. I find it very difficult to break them because of that.

Did their parents drop them on their heads as kids? Because there has to be something seriously wrong with them if they think that’s the way to go.

A 60 dollar buy is a VERY hard sell. And a 15 dollar subscription is a completely no-go. Or rather, ANY subscription.

Whoever came up with that is seriously detached from any form of reality.

The guy was a fuckwit, but that looked like a rough way to go. Has to be hard for relatives, knowing that the video is out there.

I hear ya on the skirt/kilt thing.

Heck, at work we’re officially not allowed to wear shorts according to the dusty old company manual that passed my desk many moons ago. I’ve never tested that rule myself, and never really see others wearing them either. Because you just KNOW that it’s going to get you comments from other colleagues. And that’s just shorts.

A kilt certainly seems like a very comfortable option during summer, but only if you don’t really need to carry a bunch of stuff. Cargo shorts always were my preference during summer as a kid and teen.

Society would certainly be better off if we stopped giving a shit about what’s masculine and feminine in terms of clothing and just let everyone wear everything they want without judgement. If a woman can wear a skirt, so should you and I if se want to.

Of course, you can always just start with a kilt to honor your ‘Scottish heritage’. If you look at a family tree long enough, there’s bound to be someone Scottish… ish somewhere :D And the Scots certainly don’t mind - anyone’s allowed to wear a kilt if they want to.

The whole pocket fiasco is wild to me as a guy.

I work with a lot of women and I also have a sister. All of them will complain about pockets being too small, but all of them also wear form fitting clothes that were clearly built to appeal to a fashion sense, rather than a practical one. Even the more practical oriented women amongst them opt for something that looks nice, but isn’t the most practical it could be

But here’s the thing. I’m not telling them what to wear. In fact, every woman is free to shop in the men’s section or to choose pants with actual pocket from the women’s section. You can buy CARGO PANTS. You are legally allowed to do so as a woman. The patriarchy is not stopping you.

Whenever the pockets thing comes up, I love to show them what I’m carrying. XL size phone, large wallet, Airpods, knife, keys… I can literally stick a Nintendo Switch in my pants pocket. And those are just casual jeans. If I had cargo pants, I could carry a backpack’s worth of gear.

So why don’t women do that? They literally have a term for ‘boyfriend jeans’ but refuse to wear something actually practical because it’s not as feminine. I imagine they don’t want comments from other women, because I as a guy am utterly delighted to see a woman wear something practical.

I’m not on any side, merely stating the arguments used.

In general, I agree with you. If that region chooses to separate, they should be allowed to do so. Much like the Brexit.

But like Brexit has shown, separation also brings some complex issues. And we are talking about something that impacts at least the 8 million people living there, a lot of whom don’t WANT to separate.

There really should be an independent, internationally monitored referendum to settle this matter and let the people decide what they want, without interference from outside the region.

Catalonia is a Spanish region, but there’s a movement that really wants the region to be independent. To basically become its own country.

There have been numerous referendums, protests and all manner of political intrigue.

Now, some people will of course be very much against this region separating from Spain for any number of reasons. It would create economic uncertainty, and adds new barriers. Even within the region not everyone is a fan of independence.

So yeah, that poster might feel particularly strongly about wanting to keep that region, or just a particular dislike for them.