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22 votes
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Steam banned in Vietnam
User reports: https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/0/4362376335340911703/?ctp=2 Likely because Steam has not complied with local laws (in fact, they have no local presence at all on...
User reports: https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/0/4362376335340911703/?ctp=2
Likely because Steam has not complied with local laws (in fact, they have no local presence at all on Vietnam).
I do wonder if Steam is going to do anything. Complying with Vietnam's regulation is probably too burdensome to be worth the revenue, but on the other hand, Steam's promise with their DRM has always been that they would "unlock" the games if they had to shut down, and now they're shut down in a specific country.
Vietnamese Steam users have been sold products which they cannot play at all anymore, at least while following the laws of their Communist (so, totalitarian) regime. It's not a great situation for them.
Well, to be honest, they're probably going to do nothing. But I do wonder to what extent Valve, who knew they were not in compliance, should have not sold games at all in Vietnam? Similar to the Helldivers situation, surely they knew this shoe was dropping.
35 votes -
Fitness Weekly Discussion
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started...
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
5 votes -
The emotional support animal racket
26 votes -
Fear the Mad Catz - The worst video game controllers ever
13 votes -
Yung Lean & Bladee – Things Happen (2024)
7 votes -
Slop is the new name for unwanted AI-generated content
52 votes -
What programming/technical projects have you been working on?
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's...
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?
10 votes -
Spring gardening thread
For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, this is an open thread to discuss 2024 plans and ambitions now that cold temperatures are waning. I'll start off: I'm taking a risk, but got my...
For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, this is an open thread to discuss 2024 plans and ambitions now that cold temperatures are waning.
I'll start off:
I'm taking a risk, but got my seedlings planted out yesterday. Officially, last frost date is May 16, but the rate of warming at 45° N has been so accelerated that we've got about 6 more frost-free weeks than in 2000.
My indoor seed starting wasn't as successful as usual for hot peppers, so I'll probably be buying plants. The tomatoes did fine, so much so that they were overgrowing their pots and the grow tent.
Unfortunately, goutweed invaded a couple of beds and I'm just going to have to tarp them until next year. That miserable weed will grow upwards through a foot-deep bed and there's no way to dig it out. Future beds (hoping to build another two or three this year) will be started on landscape fabric, lesson learned.
Spouse finished digging out the last of an invasive autumn olive hedge at the neighbor's fence line. We're deciding on Amelanchier (serviceberry) or aronia for replacement. Each has edible berries, it's just a choice between prettier flowers or bright fall foliage. There's a local native nursery with good prices on both.
We're also looking at replacing a badly placed non-native mulberry with a flowering crabapple. There are varieties that have both attractive flowers and good-tasting or cider-friendly fruit.
Please share your garden plans, including how you're factoring in climate variations.
19 votes -
Meta AI is obsessed with turbans when generating images of Indian men
15 votes -
Development notes from xkcd's "Machine"
34 votes -
The Wednesday Pull - May 8, 2024
This is a weekly (?) thread about checking in with any comics of the issue, trade, web, or other varieties. As is tradition, it takes place on a Wednesday.
2 votes -
Steve Albini, storied producer and icon of the rock underground, dies at 61
34 votes -
Expanding upon other peoples' thoughts in discussions
Lately, I've noticed that during small group discussions in professional settings, especially in virtual meetings, I have a tendency to contribute additional thoughts after someone else shares...
Lately, I've noticed that during small group discussions in professional settings, especially in virtual meetings, I have a tendency to contribute additional thoughts after someone else shares something. My colleagues are often quiet which leads to awkward silences between topics, and I feel that for the discussion to flow smoothly, there needs to be some form of response or reciprocity to what was said. So, I often take on the role of expanding upon others' points, even if what I say doesn't add much. I should note that, I myself am an introvert through and through, but these awkward silences still make me uncomfortable and it's kind of annoying to see a mute icon pop up when it's supposed to be an active conversation. I suppose this is a habit that carried over from my days of hosting Bible studies many years ago, where active participation was hard to come by. People don't often share, but when they do, it helps to have someone acknowledge it - in my opinion, at least. I similarly engage like this in D&D where, in roleplaying scenarios, I'd use my character to fill in the empty spaces of conversation between other players and the DM, even if it's just a simple response that wasn't explicitly necessary.
My question is: do people, including yourself, appreciate it when someone responds or adds to their point in this manner? I struggle to discern whether I'm actually facilitating the conversation or hogging it in an annoying way. I'm open to feedback or hearing from your experiences.
17 votes -
Sony backed down from the PSN requirement to play Helldivers 2. How will this change how the community reacts to game changes?
59 votes -
Faulty valve scuttles Starliner’s first crew launch
20 votes -
Is TV advertising still relevant? Does anybody under 60 even watch traditional TV anymore?
I saw a video about the failure of a product, and they mentioned TV advertising, which got me to wondering… do people still even watch traditional TV anymore? It seems to me that everybody that I...
I saw a video about the failure of a product, and they mentioned TV advertising, which got me to wondering… do people still even watch traditional TV anymore? It seems to me that everybody that I can think of that isn’t 70 or older just streams everything. How is the old business plan still operating?
36 votes -
The not-so-straight story of the US-Canadian border
7 votes -
Omnibus app now available on Android
5 votes -
Nathan Berman has helped rescue Manhattan’s financial district from a “doom loop” by carving attractive living spaces from hulking buildings that once housed fields of cubicles
16 votes -
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have successfully implanted seven million lab-grown brain cells into a patient to treat Parkinson's disease
23 votes -
The FAA investigates after Boeing says workers in South Carolina falsified 787 inspection records
50 votes -
What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
10 votes -
Hey GM: If you want to beat Apple, give people the buttons CarPlay can’t
35 votes -
Exploring the mysterious alphabet of sperm whales
10 votes -
The US Supreme Court just quietly handed a huge win to veterans seeking an education
12 votes -
Does anyone else have succulents?
Spent yesterday afternoon re-potting my little collection of succulents, and it got me wondering whether other people on here might have some. Curious if people want to share their favorites or...
Spent yesterday afternoon re-potting my little collection of succulents, and it got me wondering whether other people on here might have some. Curious if people want to share their favorites or tips/tricks, etc.
37 votes -
New data shows deadly cost of US officials' failures with COVID in prisons
14 votes -
RIP 'Red vs. Blue.' Machinima is gone—but its legacy is everywhere.
23 votes -
Kendrick Lamar - Meet the Grahams (2024)
45 votes -
Hallucination-free RAG: Making LLMs safe for healthcare
12 votes -
Starfield: May update
17 votes -
Stack Overflow and OpenAI partner to strengthen the world’s most popular large language models
21 votes -
What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga)
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was...
What have you been watching and reading this week? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
7 votes -
AI, automation, and inequality — how do we reach utopia?
Ok, not utopia per se but a post-scarcity-ish economy where people have their basic needs—food, shelter, healthcare—met virtually automatically. A world where, sure, maybe you have to earn money...
Ok, not utopia per se but a post-scarcity-ish economy where people have their basic needs—food, shelter, healthcare—met virtually automatically. A world where, sure, maybe you have to earn money for certain very scarce luxuries like a tropical island trip, jewelry, nightly wagyu steak dinners, or a penthouse overlooking Central Park, but you get enough basic income to eat healthily and decently every day, have a modest but comfortable home, and not stress out about going to the hospital — and then you can choose if you want to work to earn money to buy additional luxuries or just spend your time to do sports, make art or music, pursue an academic interest, counsel or mentor others in your community, or devote yourself to nature conservation.
I want to get this conversation rolling regularly because it's evident that we're on a cusp of a new economic era — one where AI and automation could free us from a lot of menial physical and intellectual labor and the pretense that everyone has to work to earn their continued existence. It's evident that not everyone has to work. If anything, our economy could be more efficient if incompetent or unmotivated folks just stayed at home and got out of other people's way. I think we all know someone who stays in a job because they need it but are actually a net negative on the organization.
It's an open-ended topic, and there's a lot to talk about in this series—like, how would we distribute the fruits of automation? How would we politically achieve those mechanisms of distribution? What does partially automated healthcare look like?—but I think it'd be good to first talk about current economic inefficiencies that should and could be automated away.
25 votes -
You can bet on every aspect of the NFL Draft. But do sportsbooks actually know anything?
3 votes -
Cold brew coffee in three minutes using acoustic cavitation
20 votes -
Microsoft readies new AI model to compete with Google, OpenAI
8 votes -
Microsoft closes Redfall developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts at Bethesda
37 votes -
In a first, Belgium approves labour law for sex workers
41 votes -
Humble Choice - May 2024
May 2024's Humble Choice is now available with the following eight Steam games. Steam Page Opencritic Steam Recent/All Operating Systems Steam Deck ProtonDB Yakuza: Like a Dragon 86 94/94 Win ✅...
May 2024's Humble Choice is now available with the following eight Steam games.
Steam Page Opencritic Steam Recent/All Operating Systems Steam Deck ProtonDB Yakuza: Like a Dragon 86 94/94 Win ✅ Verified 🟨 Gold Hi-Fi RUSH 89 93/97 Win ✅ Verified 🎖️ Platinum Steelrising 71 66/73 Win, Mac 🟨 Playable ⬜ Silver Loddlenaut 75 97/97 Win ✅ Verified 🕙 Awaiting Reports King of the Castle N/A 94/91 Win 🟨 Playable ⬜ Silver Bravery and Greed 78 78 Win 🟨 Playable 🟨 Gold Amanda the Adventurer 73 91/95 Win 🟨 Playable 🎖️ Platinum Mediterranea Inferno 79 97 Win, Mac ✅ Verified 🕙 Awaiting Reports Does anyone have experience with any of the games and, if so, would you recommend them? Is there anything in here that you're particularly excited to play?
11 votes -
How are you dealing with inflation regarding everyday enjoyment?
I was wondering how people are currently dealing with inflation in everyday life. Since quite a while now, I found that I have fallen into a habit of excessively looking for discount deals for...
I was wondering how people are currently dealing with inflation in everyday life. Since quite a while now, I found that I have fallen into a habit of excessively looking for discount deals for pretty much everything I buy. I feel pressured every day because prices have ballooned so much.
At first, I only refrained from buying "unnecessary" goods like unhealthy snacks, and instead just go for basic staples and vitamin-rich vegetables. Then I started to cut down on meat consumption due to the high prices, and forced myself to only buy meat that is put on discount at the end of the day as it's about to spoil. And now, I even do the same thing for regular staples like rice or potatoes. It feels imprisoning, distracting and depressing.
So I'm wondering, how are you dealing with inflation? Are you affected in a different way? Or not at all? Any advice on how I could realistically get out of this seemingly endlessly depressing spiral?
In case anyone's interested why I decided to post today: I saw McDonald's popping up in the news these days, as apparently customers don't go there anyone due to their price increases far beyond inflation since 2019. Then, I passed a McDonald's billboard today thst advertised 2 Big Mac Menus + a happy meal for a whopping 30 EUR. The regular prices used to be a fraction of that... Now it's apparently a good deal...
38 votes -
GlobalUsefulNativeTrees, a database documenting 14,014 tree species, supports synergies between biodiversity recovery and local livelihoods in landscape restoration
31 votes -
California junk fee ban could upend restaurant industry
39 votes -
Revealed: Tyson Foods dumps millions of pounds of toxic pollutants into US rivers and lakes
43 votes -
America’s prison system is turning into a de facto nursing home
20 votes -
Heat death of the internet
88 votes -
Classical composer reaction/analysis to Final Fantasy 7: One Winged Angel
8 votes -
How bridge engineers design against ship collisions
4 votes -
AI to drive natural gas boom as utilities face surging data center demand
13 votes