Yeah, but that's basically the point. Posts like this are nice to have because they inspire a different way of thinking of what could be. I would love for democratically-elected leaders that are well-educated and actually serve those they represent and vote/make policies that are backed by facts and research. The system we have now realistically works well to an extent, though there are large problems. And as much as most people don't want to admit, it's going to take large, slow efforts at the bottom in order for the changes at the top to happen.

Also, back to the point about elected officials not representing the people, I actually think they do for the most part. The bad part is that the people that vote those politicians in are people that reject facts and research themselves and/or blame others for their problems. But again, the large, slow effort is needed at the bottom to talk to neighbors and family members that they are wrong and try and help them see things not from a hateful world view.

All that to basically say that I understand reality, but I can still wish for a better system and better people haha

I think just using "science" as a catch-all term makes it harder to comprehend what a society would look like. Instead, I try and think of it by using research-backed policies.

• This research shows that providing free childcare results in better educated students, happier families, and less crime later in life.

• This research shows that having walkable cities reduces pollution, better supports small businesses, and makes our population healthier.

• This research shows that getting yearly vaccinations, washing hands, and wearing masks when sick greatly reduces the spread of germs.

• Banning abortion makes women more at-risk for dying during childbirth and ends up having families make risky decisions since a fetus isn't actually a person yet.

Then after all the research and actual peer-reviews (not just for-profit journals having a say), policies would be made to support what makes for a better society.

Half a million... Yeah, it's California, but that's still crazy.

I did get a chuckle out of "Has view: Yes" 🤣

My wife and I saw this ad in the theatres before the movie and just looked at each other like, "what the fuck?".

Even making it from the daughter's perspective would have made it so much better. AI is helpful for writing to get some ideas, but why is it so hard for companies to understand people want human interaction in their projects... Who was that ad even for?

As a final note, the "just like you" felt so weird and made me uncomfortable; it took the daughter's voice away basically.

I would love Andy Beshear to be the VP. He handled the Covid pandemic awesomely in KY and has been doing a lot of things for greener energy / extreme weather responses. Also, he values education and universal preschool. The only thing I fear is that if he does become VP, KY is going to choose a conservative governor that undoes all he has done.

While I understand that I'm giving up "owning" the game, Steam has a good track record of trying to make users happy. It being a private company means that it's beholden to users rather than shareholders. In this instance, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, at least for me. I don't have enough space in my home for the 100s of games I have on top of not having to worry about disks getting scratched or corrupted. Then I also don't have to worry about downloading game patches from a 20 year old site that may or may not still be up (AoE 2) to keep playing on a modern OS. Also, there's a centralized space for users to communicate, upload mods, host servers, etc. without having to jump through different hoops for different games (Hamachi, GameSpy, etc.).

That being said, I appreciate that there are alternatives for people that feel differently. And I appreciate there are alternatives and competition (even people like you) keeping corporate greed in check and making Valve have to work to stay good for users.

When Gabe Newell dies or leaves the company though, I'll be watching closely to see who the new CEO will be and figure it out from there.

I'm glad their chatbot is at least smarter than themselves.

The US desperately needs to rework its citizen ID system. I'm tired of having to spend hours freezing and unfreezing multiple credit accounts after so many of these breaches. It's not too hard to have a secure system since companies don't care to protect confidential information.

Also, it was disclosed to AT&T in 2021 and they're just now admitting to it? Then only offering 1 year of identity theft protection?? If a SSN breach occurs, they should be made to pay for lifetime identity theft protection. Then if they don't want to pay that, they can use the good ol' lobbying system to advocate for a more secure citizen ID.

Just taking random assets from the Unreal store and jamming them together to make a quick buck or releasing a game with different-colored models is "ripping".

After playing Palworld for about 15 hours, I can confidently say that it has gameplay elements from a lot of different games, but they are integrated together seamlessly (at least for an Early Access title) and expanded upon. Pals aren't just something you capture and sit in a PC forever. They have different stats that actually help you while exploring (running/mining faster) or help keep your base running (water your garden better). You are also incentivized to keep catching more to level up your character and level up your party.

It also has elements from Zelda with the climbing, exploring, and gliding. It has elements from ARK with leveling to get new crafting recipes and upgrading stats. It has elements from Elden Ring, like you can roll to dodge. Wait, that's a simple mechanic...

Just like every game I've mentioned so far, they have elements from other games or simple mechanics that other genres have. They've used them cohesively and expanded upon to build a better game. Palworld is no different. Is it game of the year? Probably not. But it's a fun game that isn't as derivative as people are trying to make it seem.

I don't think they were talking about how older generations need to donate more. My take on the article and their comment was that younger generations are being asked to "step up" and help the country/people, but in return get shafted on life.

House and food prices doubled over the past 2 years while pay stagnated. Medical bills soar without any signs of universal healthcare being implemented in my lifetime. Student loan debt was temporarily deferred, but now might even need to be reversed with interest. The most the Red Cross can do is say, "We'll give you a shirt if you donate! And maybe a chance to win Super Bowl tickets!" But in return hospitals can charge $219 for the blood.

Overall it's demoralizing. While people should donate because it's needed, it's just a symptom of a larger problem of young people (adults participating in society though) being expected to keep giving without having their voice heard.

I really liked the atmosphere and world of Vesper, but the story was contrived and bland I felt.

I've seen District 9 mentioned as kind of biopunk, so maybe if that counts, I'd say that's my favorite.

I feel like the lack of karma system will 100% help in this aspect. No reason to comment/post dumb things since you don't really get anything with your post/comment is at the top.