As true now as ever.

For me it’s the damn scale under the bag, and how long the kiosk takes to register the weight of the last scanned item. Then the system “unlocks” and lets me scan another item. This system slows me down to the speed of the worst clerk in the store.

Maybe? I think that’s open to interpretation. IMO, only the devs at Bethesda can make that call.

Me? I’m not going to hold onto the opinion that it’s game-breaking so strongly. After all, if you’re having fun, what’s the problem?

Well, it’s a shitpost so: Hacks and exploits. But since it’s Skyrim, probably just exploits.

Honestly, I’m just occasionally concerned with normal spiders “wearing” my pants right before I try to put them on.

To all the arachnophobes that read this: I’m very sorry.

True, but it’s clearly no Powerthirst.

Oh, is that what this is? Here I was thinking they “shipped Amazon Prime” to people and thought “well that’s bad grammar but… what did they actually ship using Prime?”

And yeah, fuck that guy.

Why am I suddenly staring at the sun?

Username checks out.

Not just porn, but classic art by a famous artist. Check out Hokusai’s “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife.”

I recently spotted one that had this two-tone paint: copper and purple. I couldn’t decide if it was an improvement or not.

You are living up to, and by my estimation exceeding, your username. Sorry to hear you had a rough childhood. Glad to hear that things are better - you sound like an awesome host.

I’m inclined to agree. I think the best path through would be to focus on laws that benefit multiple minor players that have a seat at the table.

Antitrust laws in general are a good example. These function at the direct expense of big monopolies, but are exactly what companies need if they want in on what was monopolized. And in the case of breaking a monopoly down, the resulting “baby” companies given more power, growth opportunity, hiring opportunities (job growth) and money making potential than the parent. This can also spur economic growth for all the fat cats out there by creating many new investment and hiring potentials. Overall, if you can get past the monopoly itself (read: take the ball away from your billionaire of choice), everyone else involved stands to benefit.

There may be other strategies, but I can’t think of any right now. I think the key is to tip the scale in favor of more favorable outcomes, then repeat that a few more times, achieving incremental progress along the way. Doctorow outlines the ideal end state for all this, but it’s up to everyone else to figure out how to get there.

While I don’t like the idea of embracing capital to improve things, the whole system is currently run this way. Standing with other monied interests that are aligned with the same goal might be the only way to go.

Just yesterday, Mrs. Warp Core was trying to enroll with an online service. The self-service email confirmation link refused to function correctly in Firefox on a desktop operating system (Windows in this case). It worked flawlessly on Firefox+iOS. Said link also shuttled the user straight off to the phone app.

I’ll add that nearly ever other aspect of their public facing web, including the online chat support, worked flawlessly everywhere I tried it. This all just reeked of hostile design.

When asked about why this is, I simply said:

The browser provides good security and choice for the user. Apps provide good security and control for the vendor.

That’s a “lawful evil” move if I’ve ever seen one. I like it.

I think this meme template is a bit like The Aristocrats; many tellings but it’s all the same joke. In this case, I think almost any back-and-forth text would work and would have it’s own “ew” factor, some worse than others.

A: I want to grow up to topple the proletariat!

B: Bro, we’re in a coconut.

I can’t prove it, but I suspect that a lot of people are suffering from having backlit phone, console, and cluster LCD panels in their face while driving. The dim incandescent glow of the speedometer as the only thing illuminating the cabin is a thing of the past. This makes me think that folks actually need more lumens on the road in front of you because your pupils are not at all dilated for the dark.

Meanwhile the color temperature and spectra of LEDs vs halogen lights could not be more different. I honestly think our eyeballs respond to to these things differently and it just so happened that halogen is/was easier on our eyes in a lot of cases.

BTW, I’m not excusing anyone for blinding other drivers where it can be helped, especially manufacturers. That shit drives me up the wall.

Oh, it’s petty cash to be sure. If you have $100-ish bucks to throw around, you probably aren’t going to miss much by not doing this. Unless, of course, letting someone else take even one dollar from you in this way is against your religion or something (i.e. the principle of the thing). Conversely, if you need the handful of dollars this makes, you probably don’t have that kind of walking-around money in the first place.

Which season is this? Winter, Still Winter, or Road Construction?

Jesus. This makes it reasonable to just buy $100 worth of your own game every month, just to make sure. Assuming that the number of real sales cover Valve’s percentage and then some. Yeah, that’s a non-zero opportunity cost for you, and additional float for Valve, however petty it may be. But for a small developer, maybe that makes sense.