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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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?

I totally understand! After some people mentioned Sensodyne on this thread, I looked it up and indeed some Sensodyne “flavors” (but not all?) are SLS-free. From what I recall, there really is an ingredient in Sensodyne that reduces sensitivity. I don’t know about gum/cavity issues though. Maybe your dentist can confirm. Take care!

After JASON discontinued the toothpaste I had been using for quite a while, I found Burt’s Bees and liked it. However, I recently found out by scanning it with the Yuka app that the Burt’s Bees paste had some other bad ingredient. So now I’ve switched to Hello toothpaste which seems to be pretty clean. If you ever get interested in trying another paste I would suggest Hello.

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.

Do you have some concrete examples of some things that corporations could do to significantly reduce (not just greenwash) their contribution to climate change that would not immediately result in all their customers picking up torches and pitchforks, or just move on to their competitors?

Sorry to hear. By the way, you don’t even need to set up a server. Anyone can host within the game itself, so it can be a spur of the moment thing. Of the ones who own it, have any of them tried playing it, especially multiplayer? What the game lacks in terms of advanced graphics it more than makes up with gameplay, atmosphere, and depth. Good luck!

Amazing game, especially in multiplayer. It’s one of my most played games in online game sessions with family and friends.

Ah, ok. It’s still very concerning that anyone bases identity-verification on very publicly available data.