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And as much as many of you irritate me with the status-quo doom and gloom, basically mimicking Mouse from the Poorly Drawn Lines comic strip: It's one of my favorite places to talk current events because we're all so used to each other and not questioning motives. Hope y'all are doing well in life.

I held my dog’s paws with tears in my eyes when the vet gave him the medicine that would end his suffering. It was the most gut wrenching moment of my life (well, until my dad died months later), and this was over a dog I initially didn’t even WANT in the first place. FUCK. I hope bad things happen to Kristi Noem and only Kristi Noem.

hell yeah I’m woke

wsj.com WWW.WSJ.COM It's about time. They hold 80%+ of the ticketing market and clearly scalp their own tickets.

Lolololololol

I am the author of this game. Thank you very much for posting about it on the forum! I have played both Eye of the beholder, Dungeon Master and Chaos Strikes Back in the 80's. My dream have allways been to create one of these games on my own. Thanks to Unity3D I have fulfilled mn dream. The game is a bit simpler than DM but great fun to play. Unfortunately it's not party based, just one character but it has a lot of puzzles and challenges just like Dungeon Master. The game consists of 11 levels with approximately 6-7 hours of playtime. Thanx again!

The proliferation of "easy" ways to gamble (ESPECIALLY when it comes to sports betting) continues to do incalculable societal damage.

Tesla Lays Off Entire Team Behind Brakes WWW.THEONION.COM AUSTIN, TX—In the latest round of layoffs for the company’s struggling automotive division, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla fired the entire team behind brakes, sources confirmed...

One more try to get a free game. I'm not going to do another one any time soon but with Stellar Blade coming out I'd figure some of you guys who weren't willing to buy it may give it a try if it was for free. I really appreciate everyone on here that discusses games with me and helps me out. Pick a number from 1-100 and this time it has nothing to do with Michael Jordan.

Oh my fuck Fact Sheet on FTC’s Proposed Final Noncompete Rule WWW.FTC.GOV The following outline provides a high-level overview of the FTC’s proposed final rule:

Alright, let's get everyone vaccinated globally against a certain type of virus, and then a few years later just fucking bombard the atmosphere with 20,000 strains of that virus to kill off the morons.

Cancer has denied any involvement, but they are releasing a book this Fall called, "If I Did It".

A 99.9% killing machine

I started a new job in February, and I’m getting paid $4/hr more to do less work.

House Democrats introduce bill to rename Miami federal prison after Trump - ABC News ABCNEWS.GO.COM A group of House Democrats are proposing a bill to rename a federal prison in Miami after former President Donald Trump. Lolololol

Scientists have discovered the cause of the earthquake:

hell yeah Trump 2024

The most important part for me (not that I'd ever use the damned thing at all) is allowing research as to finally attempt to obtain empirical evidence as to the degree of harm/benefit its use entails.

Before the pandemic, I had finally moved out from my parents into my own apartment, met up with friends I originally knew from IGN, was in decent shape, and adopted my own kitten. Since then, nothing has gone right for me. I've grown ugly, fat, and balding, every friend I've known has distanced themselves from me, I have no money, developed a crippling alcohol addiction, my cat refuses to use the litterbox and pee on the rug, and not a day has gone by where I haven't thought about death or suicide.

Net neutrality restored as FCC votes to regulate internet providers APNEWS.COM The FCC on Thursday restored rules to prevent broadband internet providers such as Comcast and AT&T from favoring some sites and apps over others — for instance, by slowing or blocking certain content or by offering higher speeds to customers willing to pay extra.

I'm feeling generous again and thankful for getting to discuss games with you guys on here. I can't believe this place has been running as long as it has been. Anyway, pick a number between 1-100 again. Good luck!

Holy shit

The scammer needs to be charged as an accessory to murder.

Momentum builds to oust Johnson from House speakership https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/16/mike-johnson-house-speaker-ukraine-israel-greene-massie/

There is certainly a fair emotional response to a situation that is unfair in a vacuum, that one group gets something while another group doesn’t. But in this particular instance it misses a larger issue that the system of higher education finance is itself unfair on a fundamental level. Spending more time with kids who are trying their hardest to improve their lives through education as I walk with my own children through their college career, I have an even better sense of just how little the average person understands how to pay for college, or what the expected value of a particular degree will be. How do you make rational economic decisions when so much is obfuscated, even more so when you are largely talking about 18-22 year olds who barely understand the basics of personal finance? Getting a college education does not have to be prohibitively expensive, but it has been for many people through a combination of ignorance and predatory behavior. The federal government played a large part in making this system, they ought to do more to fix what they broke. Debt forgiveness shouldn’t be the end of the process, but it is one proper step to take.

I think a more effective reform would be to reform the entire Federal Court system. District Judges are randomly assigned to districts and reassigned to a district randomly every 5 years (1/5th of each district court moving each year). Appeals Court Judges are also reassigned to a different Circuit Court every 5 years same as District Judges. The Supreme Court will only have a permanent Chief Justice. 13 Associate Justices will be randomly selected from among Appeals Judges from each Circuit serving a 13 year term (one new and retiring Associate Justice every year). Chief Justice gets a double vote in the event of a tie. I don't think you need a Constitutional Amendment for any of this.

This is one of the harder aspects of addiction - unless you are/were an addict, your ability to understand an addict's thought processes is going to be extremely limited, at best. Which isn't meant to be disparaging at all; I've experienced it on a number of occasions when trying to explain what I was thinking/feeling while in action, and I'd be lying if I said that a part of me wasn't grateful that my family and friends are incapable of understanding the full scope of what addiction is, and what it can lead us to do. The best articulation I've heard has been from Dr. Kevin McCauley who has lectured extensively on the Disease Model of Addiction; it can offer some solid insights on the neuro-physiological mechanisms associated with addiction. From a more practical perspective, the regression of someone into a compulsive gambler can take numerous forms and paths - from teens/20-somethings getting roped in after a winning Sunday on DraftKings (easiest money ever!) in a social group setting where everyone is doing it, to people struggling with other issues whose coping mechanisms lead them to isolation and escape (and for whom the allure of a casino provides easy and consistent dopamine stimuli while the presence of others fosters an illusory perception of not being alone), to wealthier individuals whose gambling might start with stock market/crypto speculation but gradually extends to other forms of action...the road to rock bottom starts from many different places, following different routes. To your question about the wealthy - it can often be as simple as finding a novel thrill in a life in which there aren't any existential uncertainties that need to be considered. But to answer one question as well as I can - the high comes from that moment of uncertainty when you've put your cards/bet/race form/dice/roulette chips into play, and are waiting to see if you win or lose. The actual result is (or can be) inconsequentual and anti-climactic - it's the juice that comes with taking that risk and putting things into play. And the progressive nature invariably compels us to increasing the stakes - when a single $5 parlay doesn't do it anymore, multiple $20 bets are needed, which turns into $50 bets on every game at a particular time, which turns into....it's a horrific spiral of craving during which rational thought becomes impossible, where the "need" is engaged by the portion of the brain linked to survival instincts. The lying, cheating, and stealing that addicts often turn to thus is less a breakdown of morals, than a short-circuiting of the pathways responsible for moral consideration, driven by a survival-based need to do whatever it takes to get that next fix. It isn't the least bit rational, and studies/literature on compulsive gambling have yielded some results that are absolutely confounding to those with no experience with addiction - in one study, researchers observed periodic feelings of irritation when someone WON while playing slots, because the win disrupted the flow of (losing) action they had been going through. Absolutely bonkers. But I can get it. Addiction can be hard to understand in the context of gambling, where we aren't talking about a particular susbstance being drunk/snorted/injected, but rather a behavior and series of "choices". But despite that, many of the byproducts are virtually identical to those whose addiction is linked to alcohol, opioids, narcotics, etc. All forms of addiction cause diregulation in the body's dopamine/serotonin/oxytocin secretion, leading to (at times) mania, depression, anhedonia, etc.

Saw this last night and it is everything it says on the tin. It's a cheeky, funny, meta, action packed romp. It knows its cues and nails them. The comedy hits, the romantic chemistry is excellent, the stunts are impressive. It never transcends its genre, but it's a very enjoyable celebration of stunts and movie making in a highly entertaining package. Overall just a fun time in the theater. They also get a couple good jabs in at the Academy for not awarding stunt guys, which I appreciated.

At least the thread title has come full circle now.

Let Trump talk enough and he’ll confess to everything.

Got my first tattoo. It went well and I’m really happy with it. imgur.com IMGUR.COM Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral...

I'm gonna come out and say it: I think we are in the midst of an AI hype-wave that will probably implode in 1990s tech-bubble fashion, albeit likely at a smaller, less horrible scale. I'm seeing tons of companies popping up that are offering nothing more than thin wrappers written around Chat GPT, and billing them as game-changing innovations; and I'm seeing investors tossing money their way with reckless abandon. Not sustainable IMO. Fortunately, I think once the hype wave implodes, what survives it will be the truly innovative, game-changing stuff. [*clears throat and prepares to shout into the wilderness*] Either way, we need to start revising IP law like yesterday to make the coming AI-driven economy sustainable!

This thread is actually a good place for me to post why I’ve come back (briefly). I wanted to tell you all I’m really sorry for how awful I’ve been to so many of you over the years. I was a depressed toxic traumatized drunk who liked to be a psycho asshole on the internet for attention because I was broken inside. I’ve done a lot of healing and therapy over the years now that I’m sober and I’m learning how to just be a healthier person overall and I have a lot of remorse for my behavior. There’s no excuse for how I treated some of you and how I acted. It will never happen again. I think it’s still best that I stay away but I wanted to apologize to anyone I ever antagonized or made uncomfortable, angry, or upset. To everyone whose boundaries I just steamrolled right over. And especially to anyone I kicked while they were already down. It wasn’t you, it was me. Okay love you bye. -kk

Elon Musk loses at Supreme Court in case over “funding secured” tweets ARSTECHNICA.COM Musk can't kill SEC settlement that requires pre-approval of tweets about Tesla.

We could learn a thing or two from the Vietnamese.

They just hooked up the feed to an API—an actual person in India