Oh my, I live in MI and I always thought the DC fans were sort of wholesome. People taking pride in their city and building traditions. I’m not going to find out what you saw there but it bums me out.

This is a real rogues gallery of internet. And… a soccer team from Detroit. What the fuck did those guys do?

Bingo. Putin is using every geopolitical lever he has to destabilize the world. 10/6 was an op. This Venezuela crap is an op. Sucks how effective it is at exploiting democracy.

Everyone made fun of mitt Romney when he claimed Putin was americas greatest enemy on the debate stage in ‘12. Dudes got a lot of problems but he was right about that shit.

No true Scotsman amiright!!

Read the dudes Wikipedia page, investigate the party and Hugo Chavez. They are autocrats like most other socialists/communists who hold any power. But they seem to be legit leftists

Maduro is a socialist. He is an ally of Putin and a strong supporter of Palestinian freedom.

The world isn’t so simple as you pretend it is. Conquest is not solely a right wing hobby.

Avg snowfall in London is 5cm or thereabouts. It’s a pretty mild climate despite the high latitude. There is a pretty big risk that cold melt water from the thawing Greenland ice pack will disrupt the gulf stream currents that warm Northern Europe and leave them with a much colder climate.

Heavy snow in the UK in NOV is slightly alarming. Though it could just as easily be an isolated weather event.

Stardew Valley will probably be the game that looms largest in my kid’s nostalgia. They have both played the life out of that thing. Other things that come to mind: Minecraft, phasmaphobia, fnaf, Skyrim, duck game, BOTW, and Nidhogg 2.

There is no guiding aesthetic driven by the technology, just whatever is available and cool.

Re: loot boxes, there is no denying that fortnight is(was?) a huge deal in this gen of kids. I’m sure at least some kids are going to have fond memories of getting v bucks for their birthday.

Ok, what is the joke? I think the creator thinks that it’s funny to have an extreme reaction (murder) to a minor infraction (liking the wrong kind of food).

If you (like the creator) believe that the idea of “liking the wrong foods” will resonate with an audience as a social infraction. Well, ffs let people live their lives.

The premise for the joke is obnoxious.

I would never defend Israel’s shitty colonialist behavior over the last 7 decades. A horrible colonialist idea followed by generations of stupid mistakes and vile actions.

The question was “when is the world going to put a stop to this”. The answer seems to be that “the world” is going to let Israel attempt to dislodge Hamas. Eliminating Hamas is going to be a disgusting bloodbath and probably will just sew the seeds of the next conflict. The alternative is telling the Israeli people that they deserve to having Viking raiders pillaging the borders because the antisemitic leaders of “the greatest generation” picked a pretty horrible solution to what they called “the Jewish question”.

No good answers, no good guys.

Engaging groups like Hamas, isis, or other groups that are highly integrated into the civilian population is ugly business. Hamas is not a conventional state actor with military assets on bases or mobilized for action. It’s uncles and sons and brothers in the homes of family.

The carnage in Gaza is horrifying, but Hamas isn’t likely to form lines and face the IDF in honorable field combat.

Removing the threat posed by Hamas will have an absolutely horrific cost in civilian lives. After oct 7, “the world” seems to agree that Israel has some right to remove that threat. Hamas leadership crossed a line, and like all war the cost will primarily be paid by the ordinary people who were unlucky enough to be born in the war zone.

Why do you care? Seriously, think about it. Shitty products in every possible category come out everyday and it doesn’t bother you. You do need these products. if they don’t meet your standards, don’t buy them and move on with your life.

Like, you don’t need to get on line and act as thought you have been personal insulted when there is a moldy apple at the grocery store. Just leave it and keep shopping.

How many games game out this year? Thousands. There is absolutely zero possibility that MS or anyone else is anywhere near holding monopoly status on the production of entertainment software. Even if they bought EVERYTHING new creators would enter the space the very next day.

Trust = one or more independent organizations making secret agreements to mutual benefit.

Mergers: not a trust.

Monopoly = a single organization that controls an overwhelming amount of the market.

Microsoft buying a publisher that put out 2 games in 2023: not a monopoly.

The competition! lol! Activision is going to put out 2 games this year. Whatever will we play now that these 2 games are owned by a platform holder?

You are correct though that there are a million cool ass games you can play right now and put your money in the pockets of people who make THINGS instead of people who make value for shareholders.

I’m not sure I should’ve asked for this.

It’s an incredibly common sentiment, I am not sure it should be. It leads to more harm than good I think. You are not on a team with people who have the same skin color as you through all time. Being born in a place does not soil you with the past follies of the people that also lived there.

Should a German kid whose grandparents came to Germany from Tunisia in the 60s feel culturally responsible for the holocaust? If you say yes, you have to ask WHY. If you say no, you are probably implying a judgment about who is a REAL German and who isn’t.

The whole concept sucks.

Do you think it’s weird to use the word “we” in that sentence? I was not involved, you didn’t make any of those decisions. People you don’t know did horrible shit to other people you don’t know.

There is not a we, I am responsible for my own decisions and actions. I feel completely free to look at the actions of others as despicable without any ownership of their actions. Why do people just accept that they are somehow tainted by the sins of people who came before?

Stainless steel pans are fine, cast iron is easier to use, but you can do what you need to do wit SS. Learning to cook without Teflon is important. PFAS is poison that cannot be broken down and persists in the environment forever.

Tips:

Heat the pan and your cooking fat up before putting food in. It should be hotter than cooking temp, but not burning your cooking fat (no smoke)

Butter tastes better but oil is easier to work with. Use oil if you are not used to cooking in this pan. Use butter on your plate for taste.

Let the pan temp recover for 30s or so before putting additional pieces into the pan.

Don’t try to move things right away. Don’t touch it until it is ready to flip. Lots of foods will “release” when they have browned a little

Don’t be afraid to add some more cooking fat between batches.

What is that top image from? Why is he wearing a Michigan State shirt?

So. If I understand this correctly it’s possible I do not)

Your mastodon account is on a server that is federated with threads

A threads user, your mom for instance, decides to follow your mastodon account.

When you mother sees your cool post, she will probably have an ad in line with it.

Is meta monetizing your content, or your mother’s attention? Is there a difference?

Is the optimal outcome 1: your mom cannot see your cool post, or 2: your mom joins a mastodon server?

Is 2 likely? Seems to me the real concern here is that non corporate fediverse systems are finally getting some traction and the users (us) are afraid that meta will steal all the users away. I’m not sure if defederating them from a server will make a damn bit of difference.

Meta is going to win the fight for user numbers. Full stop.