SaysWho?

One of the things that's bothered me about QAnon and its theories about an international cabal of cannibalistic pedophiles is: how the fuck do you believe this?

And then when I hear that someone used to be a believer but sees the light and apologizes to Anderson Cooper:

As horrific and idiotic as the conspiracy theory is, I'm glad when someone is able to dig themselves out of it and realize how intensely terrible the entire thing is. My next thought, probably even more perplexing, is: if you believed this conspiracy about 5G being this government conspiracy about... something, a cabal of cannibal pedos, and JFK Jr revealing he's never really died (and perhaps even is Q), what in the flying fuck caused you NOT to believe it? Is it just because the predictions never happen and a new one kicking the can down the road pops up all the time? Something else?

First, why deplatforming works:

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QAnon theories often start out on fringe internet forums like 8kun and 4chan, according to Alethea Group's Kaplan. But once a claim gains popularity there it can quickly catapult onto mainstream social media networks. "It becomes especially dangerous once these conspiracies go on to platforms like Twitter and Facebook, because it increases the breadth of the reach that these false conspiracies have," she said.

Now, as for the guy in the tweet, this guy's background is as such: he's Australian, but comparing that politics to the US is like comparing CSPAN shows to OAN/Fox.

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Jadeja, the former QAnon believer, is Australian. But he said he's always been interested in American politics. He spent time studying in the US, living in Queens, New York. His nationality is a testament to the fact that QAnon has spread well beyond the United States.

"If you'd look in Australian politics, it's boring by comparison," Jadeja said. "American politics, it's like, it's like a car crash you can't look away from."

During the 2016 US presidential election, Jadeja said, he was drawn to then-candidate Bernie Sanders. He liked what Sanders had to say about inequality and his "anti-establishment sentiment."

But then Trump won. "That kind of really kicked it all off for me," Jadeja said.

It felt to him like the world was shocked by Trump's win. How had seemingly no one seen it coming? And most importantly, who had? "I kind of switched off from all mainstream media," Jadeja said.

That's when he began listening to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and reading Infowars, which exposed him to QAnon theories for the first time. By December 2017, he identified as a Q follower.

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Then he'd move on to read the interpretations of those posts from other believers. These interpretations are popular among the QAnon community because posts from "Q" are often so vague that they can be read in any number of ways.

Now, what caused him to disassociate? Started with Assange:

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After two years in the world of QAnon, Jadeja said, cracks began to form in his conviction. He believed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange had been instrumental in "exposing" Hillary Clinton and had helped win Trump the election. If Trump was trying to bring down the cabal, Jadeja wondered, how could he let Assange face extradition to the US for charges related to publishing secret military and diplomatic documents? 

But what really put it out was something so seemingly small:

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But there was one particular piece of "proof" he was still holding on to.

It went like this: A QAnon follower had supposedly asked Q to tell President Trump to use the phrase "tip top" in a speech. Then Trump did.

To Jadeja, that had been proof that Q existed and had the ear of the president.

But then, as his doubts mounted, he decided to research it further and came across a YouTube video that showed other times Trump had previously said the phrase or something similar. Suddenly "tip top" was no longer irrefutable proof, it was probably just coincidence.

For others, that might have easily been glossed over, a blip easily dismissed in their belief. But for Jadeja, who was nearing a break with QAnon, it was a turning point.

"It was the worst feeling I had in my life," Jadeja said.

He wrote this Reddit post:

He thought the group would ridicule him for believing in the conspiracy theory. "I expected to be torn apart," he said. Instead, the opposite happened. According to Jadeja, he got over a hundred responses to his post — and nearly all of them were supportive. "These guys put me back together again."

6 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

The version of this game for Playstation VR is just as good if not better.

Rescue Mission is a delightful game!

5 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

 

Also I think I’m probably more inclined than most to think that kids these days are fine, which I’m hope your board supermemory will verify, so even if I WAS doing anything other than telling on myself, the odds that I’d conclude that the kids are the ones out of touch on anything are... not gweat.

I can confirm this happened November 2017.

Just now, Kal-El814 said:

 

I straight up said it was confirmation bias for me, and I had the emoji and everything indicating I wasn’t being all that serious.

Suuurrreeeeee. 

Just now, Kal-El814 said:

 

That’s not what I said at all, but protect that brand my guy!

It's exactly what you said. 

"confirms my bias that showing strong men who have genuine emotional bonds with other characters is all a game needs to get a glowing reception for its characters"

Nobody thought through their praise of the story and charters. They just need that and they'll robotically fawn over it, while you have the advanced criticism.

2 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

Its reception confirms my bias that showing strong men who have genuine emotional bonds with other characters is all a game needs to get a glowing reception for its characters which says an awful lot about our standards for games, media, and men...  

Yeah, that was it. It's not that your criticism might be wrong; it's that everyone else has lower standards and easily falls for strong men getting emotional.

2 hours ago, stepee said:

Man, I feel totally the opposite about GOW. I thought the world design was masterful with secrets everywhere and every inch of it seemed to have value to it. It is such a tight design that I rank it super high in just general excellent game design of the greats.

It's where I stand. It's easily the best GOW game, and exploring it was such a treat. They took a world that was much smaller than worlds like Witcher or Horizon, but they really layered it where you always feel like you're discovering something, from a place on your map that looks like you could visit it, to small things like destructible items hanging around or a side path that ends up having a fantastic Runic attack in it.

This.... made me so happy @Keyser_Soze

If this were all PS5, then this would have a HUGE attach rate to the PS5. And my guess is the attach rate is still big, but this includes PS4 sales as well.

4.1 MILLION?!

22 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Game sux

 

But your parents haven’t bought you a PS5 yet!

8 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I live pretty close to one. I'll pick up something for you if you'd like.

Can you buy me a fuck shit?

Looking at the operating profits for Playstation, PS4 and now PS5 have been extraordinary. And this chart also puts even more perspective on the troubles they had during the PS3 generation.

Someone at Reset did a thorough rundown; major props to him/her for it.

Major records broken / milestones reached this quarter or year by PlayStation:

• PlayStation reached an all-time high of $8.45B Revenue in a single quarter, a new record for the industry
  • Previous biggest quarterly revenue was Sony Q3 FY18 with ¥790.6bn (= $7.00B)
  • A jump by +11.7% from previous biggest quarterly revenue
  • First time, any platform holder ever reached $8 Billion in a single quarter 
• PlayStation reached an all-time high of 22.74B Revenue in 2020 and set a new record for the industry
  • Previous record was Sony 2018 with $20.43B Revenue
  • The second time PlayStation broke the $20B barrier
  • Only PlayStation ever generated more than $18.5B Revenue in a single calendar year, let alone $20B 
• PlayStation generated $3.33B Profits in 2020, a new record for them (despite the launch of a new hardware)
  • First time, they broke the $3B barrier
  • Previous most profitable year was 2018 with $2.41B Profits 
  • 
• PlayStation 5 sold-in 4.5m units, matching PS4's record launch
• PlayStation Network reached an all-time high of $5.06B Revenue in Q3 FY20 (Oct-Dec) ; +35.4% YoY
  • Previous record was $4.53B Revenue in Q1 FY20 (April-June 2020)
• PlayStation Network reached an all-time high of $16.44B Revenue in 2020 (+28.9% YoY)
  • Previous record was $12.52B Revenue in 2018
• PlayStation Software & Services reached an all-time high of $5.54B Revenue in Q3 FY20 (Oct-Dec) ; +34.0% YoY
  • Previous record was $4.89B Revenue in Q1 FY20 (April-June 2020)
• PlayStation Software & Services reached an all-time high of $18.49B Revenue in 2020 (+30.1% YoY)
  • Previous record was $14.61B Revenue in 2018

• Hardware:
  • PS5 : 4.5m units sold-in
    • Biggest console launch in video game history, matching PS4's 4.5m units
  • PS4 : 1.4m units sold-in (LTD: 114.9m)
• Software:
  • PS4/PS5 : 103.7m games sold-in
    • including 18.4m Sony-published games
  • PS4/PS5 Software digital ratio : 53%
• PlayStation Store had its biggest Revenue ever during Q3 with more than $4.14B (+41.9% YoY)
  • including Digital Software & Add-on content
• PlayStation Software & Services saw their biggest Revenue ever during Q3 with more than $5.54B (+34.0% YoY)
  • including Physical / Digital Software & Add-on content / Services
• 114m MAU (monthly active users)
  • 114m active users each spent about $113.89 on average on PS Store in 2020
    • It includes Digital Software + Add-on but no Services revenue
    • That average spending grew +26.3% YoY
    • Biggest yearly average spending per active user ever recorded on PS Store
• FY2020 Updated Forecast :
  • $25.53B Revenue & $3.30B Profit... it would be:
    • Biggest Revenue for PlayStation (and for any platform holder) in video game history
    • Best Operating Profit ever for PlayStation

5 hours ago, Jason said:

Trader Joe's 'Thank You' Pay Gives Extra $4 Per Hour For Crew Members

LOSANGELES.CBSLOCAL.COM

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Trader Joe’s says it will again hike its workers’ pay another two dollars, for a total of an extra $4 an hour of “thank you” wages. The wage hike went into effect Monday for all hourly...

 

Makes me feel even better shopping there. I don’t go all the time since it’s a little bit of a drive, but we’ve started to go more often because they have some really fantastic stuff there.

My guess has been that Horizon Forbidden West or God of War Ragnarok (or whatever it'll be called) will get delayed, and I'm planning to replay the preceding game based on that. But who knows, maybe I'll get an itch to go through GOW even earlier.

On 1/28/2021 at 9:33 AM, BloodyHell said:

OVRWATCH88 for anyone who wants to add me to play this next week.

On 1/28/2021 at 9:08 AM, Bloodporne said:

Cool, wonder if we could do 1 vs. 1 or if it's a team only thing. Will look into it once it's available.

Dunno about Saturday, but I'd be down to try this weekend sometime. 

9 hours ago, Jason said:

Is late deciding voters people who hadn't decided who to vote for, or people who hadn't decided whether to vote? 

former

Pete Buttigieg becomes the first openly gay person on a cabinet.

Trump pollster's campaign autopsy paints damning picture of defeat - POLITICO

WWW.POLITICO.COM

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The 27-page report pins Trump's loss on voter perception that he was untrustworthy and disapproval of his pandemic performance.

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The post-mortem, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO, says the former president suffered from voter perception that he wasn’t honest or trustworthy and that he was crushed by disapproval of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. And while Trump spread baseless accusations of ballot-stuffing in heavily Black cities, the report notes that he was done in by hemorrhaging support from white voters.

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The report zeroes in on an array of demographics where Trump suffered decisive reversals in 2020, including among white seniors, the same group that helped to propel him to the White House. The autopsy says that Trump saw the “greatest erosion with white voters, particularly white men,” and that he “lost ground with almost every age group.” In the five states that flipped to Biden, Trump’s biggest drop-off was among voters aged 18-29 and 65 and older.

 

Suburbanites — who bolted from Trump after 2016 — also played a major role. The report says that the former president suffered a “double-digit erosion” with “White College educated voters across the board.”

Here's the whole thing. Some snippets I've read which I organized alphabetically:

AGE: POTUS lost ground with almost every age group in both state groupings, but he lost the most with voters 18-29 and 65+ in “Flipped” states.

CORONAVIRUS: Coronavirus (CV) was the top issue in both state groups – more so in “Flipped” states – and Biden carried those voters nearly 3 to 1.

FAUCI: Conversely, Fauci garnered nearly a 3 to 1 positive job approval on handling of CV overall with Fauci detractors voting overwhelmingly for POTUS while Fauci supporters voted for Biden by wide margins, especially in “Flipped” states.

FIRST TIME VOTERS: Voters who did not vote in ’16 but voted in ’20 accounted for roughly 1-in-6 voters and they broke markedly for Biden, especially in the “Flipped” states. 

LATE DECIDING VOTERS: 1-in-10 voters say they decided their vote in the final month of the campaign, and contrary to conventional wisdom, they broke in Biden’s favor in both state groups.

MASKS: Three-quarters of voters in both state groups favored public mask mandates. Not surprisingly those who opposed them voted overwhelmingly for POTUS with those who favored them supporting Biden, particularly those in the “Flipped” states.

SCOTUS: 9-in-10 voters in both groups said that SCOTUS was a factor in deciding their vote. Ironically, those who said it was a factor voted for Biden in both state groups while those who said it wasn’t a factor voted for POTUS by large margins.

VOTERS OF COLOR: However, he made double digit gains with Hispanics in bothgroups, while his performance among Blacks was virtually the same as 2016.

WHITE VOTERS: POTUS suffered his greatest erosion with White voters, particularly White Men in both state groups. Worse was the double-digit erosion he suffered with White College educated voters across the board.

3 hours ago, Iculus said:

The other team is already doing it. The call is coming from inside the house.

That's what he's saying. They're crying that the other team is playing by the precedent that Republicans set.