brews_hairy_cats's recent activity

  1. Comment on Fan-translation projects - thirty-three years of history in ~games

    brews_hairy_cats
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    I don't think I've personally stumbled on any of these games before, but I thought there would be people here who would appreciate the list, it reminded me of the CGA topic on Tildes

    I don't think I've personally stumbled on any of these games before, but I thought there would be people here who would appreciate the list, it reminded me of the CGA topic on Tildes

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Britain mandates heat pumps and solar panels in new homes from 2028 in ~enviro

    brews_hairy_cats
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    The Future Homes Standard — a set of new-build regulations for England from 2028 — will establish requirements to ensure homes are built with on-site renewable electricity generation, the majority of which is expected to be provided by solar power.

    The rules will also see homes built with low-carbon heating, such as heat pumps and heat networks.

    Analysts expect the fallout from the Iran war to expedite the shift away from fossil fuels, with countries increasingly recognizing renewables as a way to improve resilience, reduce pollution and mitigate geopolitical risks.

    17 votes

  6. Comment on Gold eyes worst month against oil since 1973; mining stocks slump most since 2008 in ~finance

    brews_hairy_cats
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    Gold-Oil Ratio Crashes 43% — Worst Monthly Drop Since 1973

    Gold, tracked by the SPDR Gold Shares, is down 13% month-to-date, falling to $4,580 per ounce as of Thursday morning — its worst absolute monthly drop since October 2008, when Lehman Brothers had just collapsed and global markets were in freefall.

    But the absolute decline in gold is almost a distraction from what is happening in relative terms compared to oil prices.

    The gold-to-Brent ratio — the number of barrels of crude an ounce of gold can buy — has crashed 43% month-to-date to roughly 40.

    Gold is not a simple safe-haven asset that rises in any conflict. Gold is an interest-rate-sensitive asset, and right now, interest rates are the problem.

    Rising oil prices, driven by the Strait of Hormuz disruption and the broader energy shock, are reigniting inflationary fears that markets had spent months assuming were behind them.

    Before the conflict, traders had priced in two Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in 2026.

    That expectation has now evaporated.

    The VanEck Gold Miners ETF — as tracked by the VanEck Gold Miners ETF — has shed 29% of its value in 19 days, from a monthly high of $117 to $82 as of Thursday.

    The gold mining sector is now on track for the worst monthly collapse since the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in October 2008.

    It would have seemed unthinkable just weeks ago, as miners were Wall Street’s hottest sector.

    5 votes

  8. Comment on Japan cherry blossom festival cancelled because of unruly tourist ‘crisis’ in ~society

    brews_hairy_cats
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    Related, Japan is holding a general election on Sunday, with the current prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, using overtourism as a campaign point. From what I saw, she is something like an interim...

    A Japanese cherry blossom festival near Mount Fuji has been cancelled after officials cited a rise in disruptive tourist behaviour.

    On Tuesday, officials in the central Japanese city of Fujiyoshida announced they would no longer host the Arakurayama Sengen park cherry blossom festival this year. The weeks-long event has been held for the past decade and attracts about 200,000 tourists annually.

    Authorities cited repeated incidents of disruptive behaviour from tourists in the city, which lies to the west of Tokyo. In addition to “opening private home doors without permission to use the restroom,” officials reported “trespassing, littering,” and tourists “defecating in private yards and raising a fuss when residents pointed this out,” the city said.

    Parents have also raised concerns about children being pushed aside on school routes as tourists crowd sidewalks, city officials said, according to Kyodo News.

    Related, Japan is holding a general election on Sunday, with the current prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, using overtourism as a campaign point. From what I saw, she is something like an interim prime minister, who got the position without being elected by the general population, and that's part of why they're holding a general election so soon after she became PM. Apparently, she is polling very well, and the general election gives her party a chance to win additional seats in the legislature

    19 votes

  10. Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate’ TV series continuing game’s story in works at HBO from ‘The Last Of Us’ co-creator Craig Mazin and Hasbro Entertainment in ~tv

    brews_hairy_cats
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    Gale! I know barely anything about him, and yet I remember my ten minutes with that character vividly Ten minutes with Gale It wasn't until I already had a full party that I went back and found...

    Gale! I know barely anything about him, and yet I remember my ten minutes with that character vividly

    Ten minutes with Gale

    It wasn't until I already had a full party that I went back and found Gale and Astarion. I pulled Gale out of the teleport circle, where I'd walked past it last time, because the game had warned me the portal looked very dangerous. He did not make a good first impression, lol, I immediately disliked that character.

    I could have used another magic user though, so I add him to my party, and as soon as I do, he pops up an exclamation mark, and I talk to him. We literally just met, but he's reminiscing about how much adventuring we've gone on so far, and how we've gotten to know each other, lol. He jumps right into talking about how he has a condition that's like an addiction, and right away he starts talking about how he wants to eat the all powerful artifact I'm carrying. Bruh, what???

    Before this, and for the hundreds of hours of game after, I held myself back from using the illithid psychic powers, but I thought it was important to read his mind, to see what he's thinking. So I read his mind. It was nothing but a pure black void, an insatiable hunger. Okay, wow. Right after, I happened to roll a bad dice roll, and so Gale caught me peering into his mind, and rightfully got angry. I tried once or twice to convince him to stay, half heartedly lol, and another bad dice roll made him permanently leave. I felt mildly bad, but my gut told me I was right to let him go

    It was such a bizarre interaction, going from meeting, to have him permanently leave, in a span of ten minutes

    OH, EXCEPT that now nine out of ten items I pick up, say something about Gale can eat this item... but Gale is gone, that's all I have left of him, the inventory messages that never go away, lol!

    I never went back to look up info about Gale, either, I never felt like I was missing anything big. The TV show could turn out to be my way of catching up, lol

    2 votes

  11. Comment on ‘Baldur’s Gate’ TV series continuing game’s story in works at HBO from ‘The Last Of Us’ co-creator Craig Mazin and Hasbro Entertainment in ~tv

    brews_hairy_cats
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    Baldur's Gate 3 is a truly incredible game, it lives up to the hype, aside from the first few hours when I was questioning why people loved it that much. Then it clicked, and I was enraptured by...

    HBO is developing Baldur’s Gate, a drama series based on Wizards of the Coast’s video game franchise, with Mazin attached to create, write, executive produce and showrun the TV adaptation. Also exec producing are Jacqueline Lesko, Cecil O’Connor and Hasbro Entertainment’s Gabriel Marano. Chris Perkins, the former longtime Head of Story at Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast, which is behind the D&D game universe, will serve as consultant.

    Unlike HBO’s The Last Of Us, which retold the story from the PlayStation games, the Baldur’s Gate TV series will be a continuation to the games, telling a story that takes place immediately after the events of Baldur’s Gate 3, as the characters — old and new — are dealing with the ramifications of the events in the third game.

    Baldur's Gate 3 is a truly incredible game, it lives up to the hype, aside from the first few hours when I was questioning why people loved it that much. Then it clicked, and I was enraptured by it. I definitely wasn't expecting a TV adaptation that continues the story instead of a retelling, this is huge!

    9 votes

  13. Comment on ‘Country of the blind’: How will Bangladesh remember Muhammad Yunus? in ~society

    brews_hairy_cats
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    Someone with principles, capability, and clear goals to add checks and balances in their government, blocked by bureaucratic walls and, what I read as self interested parties unwilling to give up...

    Someone with principles, capability, and clear goals to add checks and balances in their government, blocked by bureaucratic walls and, what I read as self interested parties unwilling to give up power. How disappointing, how typical

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Seven million cancers a year are preventable, says report in ~health

    brews_hairy_cats
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    A report by World Health Organization (WHO) scientists estimates 37% of cancers are caused by infections, lifestyle choices and environmental pollutants that could be avoided.

    This includes cervical cancers caused by human papilloma virus (HPV) infections which vaccination can help prevent, as well as a host of tumours caused by tobacco smoke from cigarettes.

    The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the WHO, analysed 30 preventable factors known to increase the risk of cancer.

    These include smoking and ultraviolet (UV) radiation which can directly damage our DNA; obesity and too little physical activity which alter inflammation and hormones in the body to raise cancer risk; and air pollution which can wake up dormant cancer cells.

    The big three contributors to more than 18 million cancer cases around the world were found to be:

    • smoking tobacco which caused 3.3 million cancers
    • infections causing 2.3 million cancers
    • alcohol use leading to 700,000 cancers
    6 votes

  16. Comment on High estrogen levels in brain may increase women's risk of stress-related memory issues in ~health

    brews_hairy_cats
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    Experiencing multiple acute stresses at the same time, as in natural disasters or mass shootings, can leave lasting memory scars. New research from the University of California, Irvine suggests that levels of estrogen in the brain may play a surprising role in this vulnerability, especially for women. The study, published today in Neuron, provides insight into why women are more likely than men to develop post-traumatic stress disorder and face higher dementia risk later in life.

    “High estrogen is essential for learning, memory and overall brain health,” said Baram, who’s also a Donald Bren Professor and Danette Shepard Chair in Neurological Studies. “But when severe stress hits, the same mechanisms that normally help the brain adapt can backfire, locking in long-lasting memory problems.”

    Memory issues are driven by different estrogen receptors in men and women – alpha in men and beta in women. Blocking the relevant receptor prevented stress-related memory problems even when estrogen levels remained elevated, highlighting potential targets for sex-specific therapies.

    1 vote

  18. Comment on Walmart hits $1 trillion market cap, fueled by growth of e-commerce, new businesses in ~finance

    brews_hairy_cats
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    In hitting the benchmark, the largest U.S. retailer and grocer joins an exclusive club made up almost entirely of technology companies. Shares closed nearly 3% higher at $127.71, leaving the company with a $1.02 trillion market cap at the end of Tuesday.

    Walmart's stock has climbed more than 28% in the past year, and over 14% so far in 2026. That has outpaced the roughly 15% and 1% gains in those time frames, respectively, for the S&P 500.

    The retailer's inclusion in a group heavy on tech companies illustrates much about its ambitions. Walmart has tried to grow profits faster than sales in recent years by leaning into its third-party marketplace and advertising businesses — both of which bring higher margins than its traditional brick-and-mortar operations.

    5 votes

  20. Comment on BBC joins Colombian commandos fighting 'never-ending battle' against drug gangs in ~society

    brews_hairy_cats
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    We took off, flying over the district of Putumayo - close to the border with Ecuador - part of Colombia's cocaine heartland. The country provides about 70% of the world's supply.

    President Donald Trump says Colombia's left-wing President Gustavo Petro is not doing enough to prevent cocaine from his country winding up on America's streets. Last month he called him "a sick man who likes selling cocaine to the United States" and said "he could be next" for US military intervention. But that threat appears to have receded.

    President Petro counters that his government has seized the largest amount of drugs in history. But on his watch cocaine production has also soared to record highs, according to the United Nations 'World Drug Report 2025. Petro disputes the UN's method of counting.

    The fight against drug production and trafficking from Colombia will be high on the agenda when the two presidents meet in the White House on Tuesday.

    Two women and a man emerge from the trees, probably workers at the lab – willing or unwilling. One of the women is in torn clothing and all wear wellington boots. The commandos question them briefly but make no arrests. Colombia's anti -narcotics strategy targets those at the top of the cocaine trade, not the dirt-poor farmers at the bottom.

    Minutes later we are rushed away as the commandos prepare to set the lab alight – destroying the crop, and the chemicals.

    "There are 50 or 60 more labs in this area," says one officer, who does not want to be named.

    His enemy is evolving. Colombia's drug gangs use drones and bitcoin and bring chemists into the jungle to create ingredients on site. Major Cedano Díaz, 37, admits the cocaine war may not be over his lifetime.

    Under attack from Donald Trump for not doing enough, Colombia's Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez has defended his country's record, politely.

    "The president has been misinformed," he told us. "We destroy cocaine factories every forty minutes. And over the past three and half years we have seized 2,800 tonnes of cocaine. That amounts to 47 billion doses of cocaine that never reached foreign markets."

    He argues that the demand for cocaine is also a problem, not just the supply. "With cocaine use rising in Europe, it's very difficult to eradicate the supply here," he says.

    Cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug in Europe – after cannabis – according to the European Union Drugs Agency. It says the availability and use of the of the drug continue to increase, "resulting in greater costs to society".

    2 votes