I imagine CFPB is at the very top of the hit-list to get fully doge’d. Because fuck consumers, why would they ever need protection from anti-union, discriminatory billionaire oligarchs like Musk?

For real. Academics are some of the most prolific pirates I’ve ever met. Usually out of necessity because we don’t pay them reasonably or value their work.

The only legitimate use I can think of for AI in podcasting might be for realtime translations so people who don’t speak the language of the podcaster can still listen. Even that makes me feel weird, but I think it could be done ethically-ish. Same deal for voice-cloning, I think that would be super-useful for realtime translations, so listeners still kinda hear the host’s voice, even translated. But every other use I can think of is ripe for abuse and won’t result in quality content.

That’s my cat’s “um, kindly get this the fuck off of me, who do you think you are?” face.

For me it’s because Newsweek has been terrible for quite some time, and AI crap is exhausting, so Newsweek + meaningless AI drivel = downvote.

Terry Pratchett was one of a kind.

Saganaki is just a Greek appetizer made of frying cheeses, sometimes including halloumi, but not necessarily. The way you describe it is one typical way it’s prepared.

It’s cheese from Cyprus that fries without melting and has a neat squeaky feeling when you chew it. It’s perfect sliced and sauteed in a skillet with some butter. Finish it with some lemon juice for the traditional Cypriot style. The dense texture makes it ideal for tossing into salads. Fucking love halloumi.

Looks awesome! I’ve done similar salads and found that a pomegranate reduction is the perfect dressing for this type of combo. Think it’s time for another lunch…

Huh, entirely possible, could also just be personal preference, maybe it’s not as objective as I thought. I’ve got a brand new seemingly high quality samsung gas range that came with my current apartment, and I completely prefer using my plug-in double induction cooktop. I even set up a wooden cover over the gas burners so I can use the induction plates on the range.

Yeah, that is a pain. There are conversion disks you can buy to make your non-magnetic cookware compatible with induction, but you’re right, people are very attached to their cookware so this could be an impediment for some folks.

This is a good analogy, and is one big reason I won’t trust any AI until the ‘answers’ are guaranteed and verifiable. I’ve worked with people who needed to have every single thing they worked on double-checked for accuracy/quality, and my takeaway is that it’s usually faster to just do it myself. Doing a properly thorough review of someone else’s work, knowing that they historically produce crap, takes just about as long as doing the work myself from scratch. This has been true in every field I’ve worked in, from academia to tech.

I will not be using any of Apple’s impending AI features, they all seem like a dangerous joke to me.

Along with the health benefits, induction cooktops as an alternative are objectively better at cooking stuff than gas: they’re faster, more easily and precisely controlled, heat is limited to the bottom of cookware so it’s safer and easier to handle your pots and pans while cooking, they’re easier to clean and keep clean (no nooks and crannies for shit to get stuck in, just a smooth glass surface to wipe down), oh and you don’t ever have an open flame in your kitchen, which takes one massive safety hazard completely off the table. I can’t really think of any downsides other than the short adjustment period of using anything that’s new. I’ve rented places that had electric coils, electric plates, gas, and induction cooktops—so I’ve tried all common types of ranges/hobs—and induction wins every time for me.

This kind of direct home visit has been happening for years in Muslim regions of China, for different reasons. At least these pregnancy visits (ugh feels gross to even talk about) don’t involve home stays, but any time the state shows up at your door to surveil your family, your human rights have been violated. It’s incredibly invasive and dystopian.

“Muslim families across Xinjiang are now literally eating and sleeping under the watchful eye of the state in their own homes,” said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch.

In early 2018, Xinjiang authorities extended this “home stay” program. Cadres spend at least five days every two months in the families’ homes. There is no evidence to suggest that families can refuse such visits.

Source

I loved this game! I got like 6 solid months of fun out of it. It took a really long time for the card combat loop to get old for me. I had never played an x-com style game before this (though I loved their meta callouts to x-com), so the mechanics were brand new to me, but it all just made intuitive sense. The card design and animations are top notch, and some of the fights can be super-challenging, but there’s always a way, and there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of finally finishing a fight after 5 different tries.

Agree on the story and voice acting, it’s all excellent. There are a couple very recognizable voices in there too.

Edit: Magik, Doctor Strange, and Captain Marvel are pretty much an unstoppable combo…

Sure, even the worst justices make the right call every once in a while. I was with you until that last sentence:

it makes no sense to claim that she is maneuvering purely for political reasons when justices serve for life.

I’m not sure how anyone in 2024 could believe that when we have the likes of Alito and Thomas on the court. Having a lifetime appointment doesn’t make them magically immune from political maneuvering. They are transparently political, they don’t even really try to hide it anymore (e.g. Alito’s insurrection flag). Every conservative currently on SCOTUS is there partly because they perjured themselves during their confirmation hearings. Every single one of them said Roe was settled law and that they would respect precedents. That’s leaving aside the blatantly partisan corruption exposed by ProPublica and other outlets which provided proof that they’ve been getting millions of dollars worth of gifts from dark money groups and proudly partisan organizations like the Heritage Foundation.

While you’re right that she dissented to parts of the majority opinion, that’s essentially a distinction without a difference. Dissents are important, but she still joined the majority opinion, and that’s the only opinion that carries the weight of the law. She feigns principles by expressing some dissent while still joining an unprincipled opinion. It’s exactly the kind of disingenuous gaslighting I was talking about in my earlier comment. She’s reasonable when there are no consequences, and an extremist when it matters most to her partisan causes.

She joined the Dobbs decision, which is one of the most judicially reprehensible decisions of our lifetimes (abortion case that overturned Roe). Another one is Trump v United States, which is the case that gave former presidents broad immunity. In that example, she actually asked some great questions at oral arguments, but still joined the majority opinion that puts presidents above the law.

Your anger is entirely justified, and I share it. This whole licensing issue is a massive problem and shows how little publishers care about their customers. That said, this has always been the case, they’ve just covered their legal bases by updating their TOS.

But to answer your question, there’s no reason to keep using steam, other than it’s one of the easiest ways to legally game. It’s totally your preference if you want to keep supporting their business. There are lots of ways to illegally game, or pay way more for some DRM-free games that you can actually own, but then you’ll be extremely limited in your selection. I’ve invested so much time and money in my steam library, that I’m basically locked in (they count on this, of course). Sure I own a bunch of games on GOG, but they represent a tiny fraction of my overall library.

This is a totally unsatisfying answer, but your only actual recourse, if you want to keep using steam, is to reach out to them and express your displeasure at their updated TOS and its implications. But it’s an industry-wide problem, so I think we’re out of luck until Congress gets involved and changes how digital ownership works.

Exactly. I wish more people had this view of interns. Unpaid ones, at the very least. I worked with a few, and my colleagues would often throw spreadsheets at them and have them do meaningless cleanup work that no one would ever look at. Whenever it was my turn to ‘find work’ for the interns, I would just have them fully shadow me, and do the work I was doing, as I was doing it. Essentially duplicating the work, but with my products being the ones held to final submissions standards. They had some great ideas, which I incorporated into the final versions, and they could see what the role was actually like by doing the work without worrying about messing anything up or bearing any actual responsibility. Interns are supposed to benefit from having the internship. The employer, by accepting the responsibility of having interns, shouldn’t expect to get anything out of it other than the satisfaction of helping someone gain experience. Maybe a future employee, if you treat them well.