InvalidName2

@InvalidName2@lemmy.zip

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I don't have money to pay premium to not see ads. What in the world makes you think that I have money to buy what you are advertising me?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  They aren’t worried in the literal you, in one sense.

  Advertising is a temporal numbers game. Any one random single individual (or household) at any given time is insignificant. You are a speck of dust in the wind.

  On the flip side, advertising is (or can be) a long game. At the moment you may be too young, too poor, too healthy, too whatever for their ads to be relevant. However, if they advertise enough and you see enough of these ads, it can make an impression (even if subliminal). And down the line when you’re old enough to need dick pills and making just enough to afford them, you’re now aware that dick pills exist and suddenly now that you’re in the market for dick pills your reptilian brain will remember that jingle “Like a rock” and how Dicken’s dick pills are the key to feeling 18 again. Suddenly you’re sucking down Dicken’s pills like they’re candy.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Oracle Layoffs: Tech giant to slash 30,000 jobs as banks pull out from financing AI data centres | Company Business News⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Sucks to be in tech right now. I’m sure there are still pockets of good employers with happy, confident worker bees, but those are few and far between as best I can tell.

  Pretty much everybody I know and speak with regularly who is working in the tech industry or a tech role in general is feeling the strain.

  Layoffs. Remaining employees have to pick up the additional workload of people who were laid off. Threats of future layoffs. Hiring freezes. Bonuses slashed or cut entirely. Little or no raises, not even cost of living increases. Demotions, in some cases. Expected to use LLMs to do things that LLMs have no business doing because management is clueless on the topic and expects everybody who is “good with computer” to be an AI expert. And the list goes on.

  And then as already mentioned elsewhere, there are almost no true entry-level positions opening up, so new grads are really struggling to get established in the industry. It’s particularly sad because this is so short-sighted and the negative impacts have the potential to be quite severe.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨This community in one meme⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Some men are born into greatness.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨This community in one meme⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Have we as a collective eaten every species of snake in the world to know that absolutely none of them are poisonous? Can we rule out genetically modified snakes that would make them so? Or maybe they are fed a diet of human flesh and a steadily increasing amount of some supplemental toxic substance such that they have become immune to the toxin as it slowly builds up in the snakes’ flesh causing them to also become poisonous? Is it possible most snakes are actually poisonous but only if consumed in sufficient quantity on Thursday November 18th, 2084 at 6:30 p.m.?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Papa Johns is closing 300 locations⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  If anybody DOES explain whether it’s going to be common, take that person’s words with an appropriately large amount of skepticism. At the end of the day, “common” is a pretty ambiguous and subjective qualifier, and no matter how smart someone is, they aren’t psychic.

  From a near(ish) term perspective: The USA is said to be experiencing a K-shaped economic recovery, and to some degree, the economy is bifurcating.

  One simplistic way of viewing this is: Businesses that resonate with upper middle class and higher income consumers are, by and large, doing quite well. Businesses that can operate on low margins (often b/c of operating on enormous scale, ability to race to the bottom or already there, limited/no ethical principles, etc) are doing okay.

  For everything else, it’s volatile. In my opinion, a lot of this is due to unprecedented, senseless, and chaotic federal polices that are unpredictable and occurring at a pace too frenzied for all but the nimblest or luckiest (well-positioned) businesses to successfully adapt without a lot of pain.

  A lot of these middle ground establishments won’t survive if they don’t change, navigating that change is hard. They’ll have to join the race to the bottom, be lucky, get bought out, partake in massive layoffs/closures, and things like that.

  So, from that perspective, I would expect to see this happen more often than before to former big and recognizable names.

  If by some chance there is a massive shift in federal policy sometime soon, that could obviously alleviate some of this. Hard to say though, the damage may already be done or worse things may be on the horizon (remember how COVID went down?).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Papa Johns is closing 300 locations⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  The article says 3,500 locations, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say roughly 3,200-ish left. Give or take.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Can a reasonable person genuinely believe in ghosts?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  From my perspective, ghosts are basically the result of…

  1. Delirium / psychosis or similar mental illness.
  2. Attention seeking.
  3. People attempting to explain something they saw/heard/experienced but don’t understand and aren’t open minded or curious enough to explore real answers to.
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨DVDs are the new vinyl records: Why Gen Z is embracing physical media⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I haven’t read the article yet, so apologies if this is addressed.

  Bluray has always been a niche product in many/most parts of the world, DVD is ubiquitous.

  It pains me to say this, but people generally just do not care about the difference in picture quality between the two formats. At least not enough to pay the Bluray premium.

  The equipment itself is more expensive, as are the discs. Your subjective “not even much more expensive” is very dismissive of the economic situation for huge numbers of people around the world. It’s often $3 - $4 more per disc in a retail setting, sometimes higher. And DVDs go on deep discount far more often in my experience, furthering the cost divide. And the bluray players aren’t just more expensive, they’re way more troublesome, slower, clunkier, and many/most/all require a stable internet connection (at least periodically) or you’ll be locked out of watching your discs.

  The money aspect isn’t a concern for wealthier households. But, wealthier households tend to have higher adoption rates for stable, reliable, unlimited, high speed internet. They’ve largely switched to streaming only, and have little to no need for discs and players. They’ve also got many other entertainment options. They went from DVD to streaming, skipped Bluray.

  Poorer households are far more likely to have no/less reliable internet, let alone unlimited data. If you don’t have internet, you will be locked out of watching at least some of your blurays. You certainly won’t be streaming, at least not regularly and reliably. That $3 - $4 difference in the price of each disc is money for gas or a loaf of bread. The $50 difference in the player is potentially a big financial blow. If you want to watch something cheap, you can find a huge selection of DVDs at the thrift store or even rent for free from the library, or you can pay a little more for the one bluray they have for sale (it’s an Adam Sandler comedy from 20 years ago where he dresses up as a woman) and does funny voices.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How come in American classrooms they make another language an elective. Why not teach our kids as many languages possible that way if we go somewhere we will kind of have uper hand?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  When I was a kid in public school, everybody had to take a foreign language, the elective part was that we had a choice as to which language we took. Some chose French. Some chose Spanish. If you came from money, you also had the option to take foreign language courses at participating colleges, which opened up a lot of other options like German, Japanese, and Latin, amongst others.

  Has that changed? Or perhaps it’s different in different jurisdictions?

  For me personally, I wish Latin had been an option for me, as it’s used extensively in biology and it would have been incredibly helpful. In terms of foreign language courses I’ve taken, I’ve had Spanish, French, and German. I don’t use any of them, except on rare occasion I’ll hear/see something in Spanish that I can vaguely understand the highlights of given enough time. French is pretty much 100% useless in my day to day life. German has been helpful once or twice when watching a movie or listening to music, but otherwise, useless as well.

  Keep in mind, however smart you are, most people are not that smart. They’ll never be curious enough or smart enough to learn another language. They don’t have enough exposure to another language to really remember it. It’s basically of waste of their time and educational money. I’m all for teaching these things in schools as electives, but forcing kids to learn multiple different languages? I think we should have universal/single payer healthcare, better medicare/medicaid, free school lunches (and breakfasts), true livable minimum wages, and a myriad other things first.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Moats are back!⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Moats, and with climate change being what it is? American alligators are about to be as common as chickens before too long.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨For Americans, what do you really think of Latin Americans?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Latin Americans are Americans, last I checked.

  I know more low-information, backwoods, ignorant, redneck losers than I can possibly count, and I literally do not know anybody thinks Mexico is the only country that exists. It’s just that they don’t care to differentiate or acknowledge the difference when they refer to anybody and everybody with a “latino” appearance as “Mexicans”.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I say kill 'em all.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Gotta geek out a tiny bit.

  Assuming my uncited research from a decade+ ago is correct …

  Citronella was actually extracted from the “Lemon Eucalyptus / Lemon-scented Gum” tree, formerly known as Eucalyptus citriodora but more accurately known as Corymbia citriodora.

  The “Citronella Scented Geraniums” never worked much at all to repel mosquitoes. It was essentially the placebo effect. I’ve done really lame and totally non-scientific experiments myself. The geraniums simply do not work to any significant benefit. People will literally argue with you day and night about this, but it’s just not true.

  That being said, grow scented geraniums to your heart’s content. Burn citronella candles as if your life depended on it. They smell really good and olfactory cues like this will burn memories into your brain that you’ll treasure when you’re older and fading.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Send newts⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Newts are underrated. Fight me, but I know you won’t because I know you know I’m right.

  They’re the geckos of the amphibian world. Infinitely more adorable than they have any right to be.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Depends what you're on.⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m not sure I get the sentiment, but I’m here for the cashew memes so I upvote and interact regardless.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse - Announcement Trailer⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s exactly what I was thinking, glad I saw your comment before making pretty much the same one. Granted, I also didn’t like the 3-D but 2-D style of Bloodstained, but this is orders of magnitude worse based on that youtube vid.

  Granted, the graphics aren’t the main draw to this type of Metroidvania, so long as the gameplay is good, I’ll be happy enough. But, I have serious reservations about the thought process that went into the approval of this design. I’m not usually so opinionated, so it has to the pretty awful for me to call it as much.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why didn't the mother just use her private doctor on her yacht?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Child support isn’t treated the same way as consumer debt in pretty much any jurisdiction in the USA that I’m aware of. Things like that and possibly stuff like alimony or similar legal agreements pretty much always have higher limits and more tools available to collect.

  So, it would be a bit of a mistake, in my opinion, to equate child support and its laws with medical / consumer debt.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why didn't the mother just use her private doctor on her yacht?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I personally don’t accept the 35% as a 100% true and pure fact, without some citations. However, the percentage obviously isn’t the point here, so I wouldn’t get too hung up on the exact number. Even if it was 3.5%, this general situation is still inexcusable.

  For the record, most places limit wage garnishment for debts at something like 10% - 25%. Certain types of debt, like student loan debt and medical debt, are often lower or on the lower end. And lower income, with higher costs like having children, can also reduce the max %.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that radishes are fucking amazing. They improve heart health and are full of Sulforaphene, a powerful anti-cancer substance. They contain almost no calories⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Also, depending on your local climate, you might be surprised how quick and easy it is to grow your own turnips. If you’re in a temperate northern hemisphere climate, good chance you can have fresh home grown turnips for 8+ months of the year, if not the whole year. They don’t take a lot of time to reach maturity, you can basically plant a small batch of seeds every few weeks to keep things going.

  Yes, they are delicious on their own, fresh cut in salads, and so on. You can roast/bake/cook them, and they take on a taste and texture similar to potatoes. You can soak them in a pickling brine (1:4 vinegar to water with a bit of salt) for a few hours minimum and that will also eliminate most of the “bite” if you don’t like that part of their flavor profile.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨2 North American 4 you has been created⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Mmm, acorn bread and beaver cheese.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What is the best way to drop 50lbs in two months without spending alot and no fad diets?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Napkin math: There are roughly 3,500 calories in 1 lb of fat. To lose 50lbs of fat, that’s 175000 calories.

  Let’s get an upper bound of 31 days per month, for 2 months, that’s 62 days. 175000 / 62 approximately 2822.5 calorie deficit per day required. The actual number would be higher.

  The other aspect of this is that, generally speaking, the majority of “quick” weight loss is pretty much always in the form of water loss. Water weighs around 8lbs a gallon. So, you’d need to drop about 6 gallons of water to achieve that kind of weight loss.

  Neither of these are safe, reasonable, or practical in that time frame, for the average person without medical supervision and/or other professionals supporting you.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨They are German, of course.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Used to be a program on the tv set called Lizard Lick Towing. Never watched it, myself, but now I’m kind of glad I missed it. So, thank you for that CERN. Money well spent.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨94.3° F⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I said what, what kitty butt. I said what, what kitty butt.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Devastated PC builder orders DDR5 RAM from Amazon, receives DDR2 and some weights — counterfeit 32GB kit a worrying sign of rising return and sales fraud⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  On the one hand, I loathe feeling that way sometimes. On the other hand, for the better part of the past decade+ any criticism I had about Amazon was met with victim blaming white knight replies and basically no support. At best I’m probably more on the ambivalent side of things than the no sympathy side, not that there’s effectively much difference.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam winter sale is live. What patient games are you picking up?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Hades is definitely right down my alley, even though I’d never played anything quite like it before. It’s one of the games that reignited my enjoyment for gaming, a hobby that I mostly set aside for about 20 years. It’s one of the very few games I can fire up when I have a bit of spare time and even though I’ve played through the levels a hundred times, it’s still so much fun.

  I’ve tried to get into Hades 2 and so far it hasn’t captured that same level of enjoyment. I think I prefer the relative simplicity of the original and the fact that it takes much less time to start feeling powerful in the original. Much more rewarding. Of course, my opinion on that might change.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam winter sale is live. What patient games are you picking up?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was fun. It did evoke feelings of nostalgia for me, since Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was one of my favorite games back in the late 90s (tied with Resident Evil) and still one of my favorites of all time. I’m personally not a huge fan of the art style and it does lack a bit of polish here and there, but overall good especially at 75% off. Hope you enjoy it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam winter sale is live. What patient games are you picking up?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Doom 2016 was my game for last year and into early this year. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed it quite a bit once I got into it. I tried to start it a few times and that didn’t work out, but then suddenly last winter, it all just clicked.

  I had also tried Doom Eternal, and that’s not my thing. Doom 2016 lets you play at your own pace, your own style, and make your own choices on how to play … mostly. Doom Eternal you basically have to play it the way THEY want you to play and use the weapons THEY want you to use and if you don’t then you’re in for an unfun struggle. Doom 2016 isn’t really like that, in my opinion and experience.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Late stage capitalism⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s the same tier of people who drove down to the No Kings protests on a Saturday morning to ride around and shout things at us like “Get a job”. Not a trace of common sense in their heads. Just unhinged, irrational emotion and simple, silly catch phrases. My buddy’s parrot does the same, but at least she’s pretty and sometimes manages to use her words in the proper context.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam Replay is live and notes only 14% "of playtime spent by all Steam users" was for 2025 releases⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t doubt the numbers on this scale, but my personal numbers are absolutely not correct, so it does make me wonder how accurate things are.

  There’s some long term bug with Steam in the way they compute playtime. About 4 years ago, I purchased a game, played it once for probably less than an hour and never picked it up again. Steam shows I have played that game for almost 3,000 hours.

  This year, similar thing happened, but not to the same extreme. There was a game demo I downloaded, played through the first level (which IIRC was all that was available at the time in that demo), and now it’s showing I played that game for over 100 hours. I probably spent 30 minutes with it at most.

  Curious what’s going on there or if anybody else has experienced that? Maybe it’s not a widespread thing, but certainly curious that it’s happened to me twice.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I wonder what humans do when they’re not taking showers. And where does all this water come from? And how did I become sentient?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s all pee, all the way down. Pee. Pee. Pee. We pee when we’re not showering. The water comes from pee. And your dad peed in your mom and then she shat you out. Pee. Pee. Pee.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Everybody talks about wanting to change things and help and fix, but ultimately all you can do is fix yourself. And that's a lot. Because if you can fix yourself, it has a ripple effect.”⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ll be sure to let my father know he doesn’t need his doctors’ help for his cancer, he can just fix himself!