lounge

[pearl elk]

yes

because the more w's the more sympathy

and the more m's the more approval

[pearl elk]

https://tenor.com/view/so-old-gif-27277116

[soft night]

https://giphy.com/gifs/automotive-ford-raptor-V8qIP5XoPPmZa

[fathom wadi]

https://tenor.com/view/spider-man-we-one-gif-18212100

This is Youtube's algorithm when I get sick of the same videos being promoted so click the "New for you" bit and it shows me videos I've already watched.

[soft night]

the starship new edition

[pearl elk]

YT is getting steadily worse

hey we think you'd like to try Premium, which is the same shitness of free just with alittle bit more polish on the turd

[fathom wadi]

I do like premium for 2 reasons. No adverts (if you use site anyway, doesn't count for embeds) and the music. It beats paying for spotify by a country mile.

[white oxide]

all my music predates youtube... usually by 50 years so

just ripped a lot of my CD's

[fathom wadi]

well there's loads of music from the old days too. I listen to Django Reinhardt and plenty of jazz from the 40/50's and so on

[white oxide]

cash and sinatra for me

[mild gust]

Anythings better than spotify

They have a patent that can read your emotions to suggest music to you.

The system detects cues such as intonation, stress, and rhythm, while also listening to background noise to determine if a user is alone, in a small group, or at a party.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA6BdXLIwgs

[pearl elk]

doesnt work very well then

I know google def listens in on Android

[mild gust]

I stopped using spotify because it would play random music in between my playlists.

Youtube sometimes does the same thing also

If you listen to metal or something to an extended period

[pearl elk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClY-3UopEeU

[mild gust]

It will play pop music or something after a while

[pearl elk]

what is this madness

[mild gust]

What

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3355100/A_Planet_Full_of_Cats/

Steam

A Planet Full of Cats

Deep in the vastness of space, a mysterious signal echoes from a planet in the Federated Feline System. Judy, a fearless space bounty hunter, is sent to investigate!

Explore richly illustrated environments filled with hidden paths, abandoned temples, frozen labs, and fungal forests await!…

Price

$7.19

Recommendations

141

Lol, https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/justin-trudeau-and-katy-perry-check-out-bieber-set-at-coachella/

[pearl elk]

yeah cuz real people fly in and out of coachella via private jet 😛

[mild gust]

Pretty real

Almost too real

[pearl elk]

and they even rub it in the poor peoples faces with the name

cuz plebs fly coach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtTuJ55IIrw

I wonder if Snape Dogg will be at coachella

[summer cedar]

Good morning! 🌞 ☕

[pearl elk]

Sup

[summer cedar]

Oooo, 9 more hours to block the blockade strategy.

Mein Farter will have the Hormuz Strait blocked for everyone. Great idea.

[mild gust]

Winning!

[summer cedar]

Enough of ships.

Time to bring out the oil mules.

Donkeys ftw. Carry that oil 1000s of miles! 🛢️

[mild gust]

Oil subs

[summer cedar]

Too risky. Missing mines, remember?

Who knows if one has ended up below a McDonald's?

[mild gust]

Tis but a scratch

[summer cedar]

I love the running joke now about Iranian cards.

Trump: "Iran doesn't have any cards."
Everyone else: "Iran literally holds a strait."

[mild gust]

For now

[summer cedar]

Forever. The Fremen will always win.

🤣 SNL is awesome.

"Kamala Harris is getting ready to run for another election. Now, all she has to do is grow a p***s." 🤣

So, the WH ballroom is going to be built with Luxembourg steel.

Yay for slogans. 😄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uku_oVpAqX8

Fan project.

https://www.polygon.com/epic-games-disney-extraction-shooter-fortnite/

This was talked about before, but a few more details here.

[summer cedar]

That game you posted about yesterday - City Masterplan something - requires a 3090 minimum to run. 😄

I guess they are going SM6 only, too. Good on them!

https://www.creativebloq.com/3d/this-isnt-a-photo-from-artemis-ii-its-an-unreal-engine-5-scene-made-with-real-nasa-data

Moon in UE 5.

https://tbreak.com/starfield-ps5-bugs-refunds-uae/

Oh, noes.

I don't know what that UAE bit is about, but apparently, there's save game corruption on the PS5 with Starfield.

[mild gust]

Probably because that media network in based there.

https://tbreak.com/

[summer cedar]

Someone should tell them that tacking their country of establishment next to every article's title, isn't a good thing.

"Windows Update crashed in UAE"

"Malware takes over hospital in Utah in UAE"

🤣

[mild gust]

"IShowSpeed anime takes off in UAE!"

[summer cedar]

"NVidia releases DLSS 5 across the world in UAE."

[mild gust]

"Comedians flock to UAE in biggest comedic influx in decades!"

[summer cedar]

--- Microsoft is removing the Copilot button from multiple Windows 11 apps. The change affects built-in apps such as Notepad, Snipping Tool, Photos and Widgets. This change comes as the company adjusts how it integrates its artificial intelligence (AI) features into the Windows operating system.---

Yay, finally a bit of common sense.

The enabling/disabling options will be made available in the applications' settings instead.

[woven wing]

Every Nvidia person I've talked to has been like cosmic horror level scary smart. That DLSS5 reveal is unimaginable terror levels of confusion

I literally can't comprehend why or how

[summer cedar]

The fat Hungarian lost?

👀

Who's the new dictator of Hungary? 😄

[woven wing]

Viktor Orbánned

[summer cedar]

Peter Magyar, apparently good with social media.

[woven wing]

At one point I thought Microsoft was a guarentee winner for the AI wars, but like somehow Anthropic can connect to a printer and copilot can't

[summer cedar]

I hope he does good stuff for the people.

[summer cedar]

Well, MS didn't build CoPilot for enterprise work at first, IIRC. They were after the ChatGPT hype market and chased entertainment and families.

By then, the market was flooded by other AIs, like Claude whom you mentioned, and MS simply didn't prove to be flexible enough to adapt.

[mild gust]

JD Vances speech didn't do shit eh

[summer cedar]

Probably lost him the election.

The Curse of Vance is strong.

[mild gust]

I mean 16 years 🤷

Was bound to happen eventually

[summer cedar]

Well, it's America's fault for not sending Vance 15 years ago.

[mild gust]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/07/viktor-orban-told-putin-i-am-at-your-service-in-october-phonecall

Probably didn't help either.

Russian Rat

[woven wing]

It's so useless. Like I am trying to volunteer to test if AI can do things that I might find useful later and Windows Copilot does basically nothing

It won't even make a text document

[summer cedar]

It depends. I have used the paid model and it was fine for proofreading, editing, tax/finance consultations, etc.

It did give me the code for making an excel file (the formulae, I mean) and that was very helpful.

[woven wing]

I mean, basic LLM functions, I'm sure it does at a GPT4+ level. But if the AI is going to be like OS integrated, I want it to be able to like do things with my PC

[summer cedar]

Also, CoPilot's image generator, while having zero stability to keep the chat active, was very, very good.

In fact, I think it was better than ChatGPT and Gemini in terms of image editing via prompt.

BUT, MS wasn't interested in productivity anyway. They were all about entertainment and well, that didn't go well.

[summer cedar]

This Magyar dude is apparently pro-EU. So, let's see if he forsakes the Shirtless One. That being said, candidates have a way of abandoning their manifestos once they take office.

[summer cedar]

You're right, but that wasn't MS's aim to begin with. They kind of missed the boat and couldn't catch up after that, for some reason.

[mild gust]

Time will tell

[woven wing]

I don't want my OS AI to edit images really tho. I would go to the latest SOTA model for that. I want it to like log into my HBO account from a picture of my TV asking for laptop/smartphone login creds

[mild gust]

Life will become like Soma

[summer cedar]

The dow is UP -269.

[woven wing]

Like my phone has vague "AI image editing" but why would I use that when I can run up a $0.16 bill on nano banana 2 or slam it into ChatGPT for $20 a month to convert from this Ikea image to this AI imagination

[summer cedar]

I don't have to pay even 16 cents, since I have Gemini Pro for FREE. 😄 for 18 months.

[woven wing]

It even weirdly converted those side cabinets from "30in" to "36in" vaguely right. I got 35.5in based on pixel measurements

[mild gust]

That's how they get ya

Once your hooked on gemini you will re-sub

[summer cedar]

There's nothing better though at the moment. Nano Banana is just amazing.

Mid Journey might be the only other competitor.

[mild gust]

There's manual labour

[summer cedar]

https://www.plasticity.xyz/product - Check this out.

3D modelling software with a one-time license. No subs.

[mild gust]

and a blender bridge

Ah support for 12 months

[woven wing]

Blender the only program that gives you a donut when you come back every year

[mild gust]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hji5RU2rLIo

Black Vet spitting

[summer cedar]

He seems to have filled in a lot of potholes, though, according to the news AND that's been a pending thing for a long time in NYC.

[mild gust]

and jacking rents 😂

[summer cedar]

World's not for poor people, sorry. 😛

[mild gust]

Be rich or sit

[summer cedar]

Or become a holy warrior and..... censored

[mild gust]

I love how they are just selling rotting food

This is hilarious

Danger level shopping

So much for actual businesses

[summer cedar]

Can the people shopping at kiosks actually afford proper shops?

Question worth asking, because if all your can afford is rat burgers.....

[mild gust]

Rat dogs

Can throw insects in there to

[summer cedar]

Dude, this Plasticity's UI is CLEAN.

[mild gust]

For shits n giggles

[summer cedar]

I am watching this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikR1VQOCdl0 - around 7:25.

[woven wing]

How'd he jack up rent? I haven't been following so don't know the lore

[mild gust]

Well last I saw freezing rents was the idea floated. But that isn't possible. Raising the corporate tax rate will only lead to prices going up regardless in the long run 🤷

Plus how will you pay for all the "free" programs without raising prices of other things lol

Maybe fraud? 😂

Can learn from Ilhan Omar

[woven wing]

Mostly we can pay for "free" programs by cutting out middle men profiting billions

[mild gust]

Lol gl

[woven wing]

The US health insurance industry generates ~1 trillion+ dollars in revenue. That's a relatively cheap capture

[mild gust]

Imagine having free health care

[summer cedar]

Okay, I like this software.

I made that rubber holder in like 2 minutes.

[mild gust]

What

[summer cedar]

Plus, it's got texturing PBR support.

It's 'artisty'.

[mild gust]

You might like this comedian, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-t_2bo9x00

Very Jimmy Carr energy

[woven wing]

My 3 "I probably should go to the hospital, but I won't because l can't afford it" encounters agree

[summer cedar]

Huh, they've got CTRL-bound undo state preview too.

[mild gust]

To be fair here the health care system is stressed

Not enough nurses and doctors

Free healthcare has it's pros and cons

Got those people that stub their toe and go to the hospital

Dayum

I fell on a flat top while it was hot once while drunk

That was fun

Woke up the next morning with my left hand singed

I've had to many burns tbh 😂

Mostly oil or just hot surfaces rarely ever fire

Just lay around hydrating on and off or what

But it's the best healthcare in the world!

[woven wing]

It's a nightmare for everyone involved

[proud jay]

that's not true, it's great for the insurance companies and lobbyists

[mild gust]

Think of the drug companies!

They matter to

Have you seen Jacob's ladder

Oh your arm got blown off, here's some ketamine

Did they at least give you T3s

[lavish tendon]

there's already free healthcare for the poor right?

[proud jay]

there are no poor people in the US

they don't consider them people

[mild gust]

Too real

[proud jay]

raise wealth by deporting the poors

[lavish tendon]

this increases the payment for the people who do pay

[mild gust]

Send them to Iran

[proud jay]

smart

[spare dock]

y0u shou1d jUst us3 the sc4ndiVian m0d3l

skill issue

[mild gust]

Just give up an organ for health care

[proud jay]

donate them to the glorious leader

organs for orange

[mild gust]

That's what America needs

Medical assistance in dying

[summer cedar]

Huh. This is cool.
Apparently, Plasticity has some kind of built-in crash-save mode. Even if you never saved your modelling work, it keeps the entire scene in some temporary file.

When you open the application even without saving, the last opened scene is restored, no problem.

[mild gust]

Is it Bowser?

[proud jay]

must be Shy Guy

dry bones?

[woven wing]

Red Mario!!! (I'm colour blind)

[mild gust]

More apps need this

[proud jay]

super mangione bros

[summer cedar]

I wonder if it'd work with really complex scenes. Still, nifty.

The free version is good for 30 days. I am going to try out various tutorials and see if it fits me. So far though, so good.

The in-app render mode is quite nice, too. Good options. The PBR system has its own settings to meddle with. I like what I see.

[mild gust]

Wot

[summer cedar]

Well, everyone has a burning desire to get banned one day.

[woven wing]

I get a bit silly sometimes

[mild gust]

Don't we all

[lavish tendon]

having "profiteers" never increases cost, people pay what they think the service is worth

[mild gust]

Your life is worth a lot it seems

[summer cedar]

How dare you assume my silliness?!

[mild gust]

I dare thee

Prithe be careful!

[proud jay]

that's not true lol

that's true in a free market with enough availability and choice

[lavish tendon]

would you pay 3 quadrillion for water

[proud jay]

it's not like people choose to pay or not pay for fixing a burst oarta or some shit

[mild gust]

If it was the only way to get it

[woven wing]

What would you pay to be seen for a broken leg, torn knee ligaments, your pancreas exploding, a finger chopped off, gunshot wound to the leg, concussion from a no fault crash, broken hip from a fall, slip on ice and brain bleed, mugger stabbing, all in one

[lavish tendon]

even without no choice people refuse to pay for abusive prices, there's this concept in economics called "marginality"

[lavish tendon]

i don't know your case man, I'm saying that's how economics works

[summer cedar]

No. People refuse to pay for what they don't need and is exorbitantly priced. But, if they can get water, medical care, etc. by going in debt to pay that amount, they will and that's how they ruin themselves.

Which is why personal debt is horribly rising the worldover.

[mild gust]

Even the rich are in debt

Nothing new

[summer cedar]

The rich get rich by being in debt. 😄

[lavish tendon]

debt is no bad if you are leveraging it

[summer cedar]

It's a requirement.

[woven wing]

We pay more than every other country.

[summer cedar]

Debt being leveraged is for well-to-do people. That doesn't apply to people who need debt instruments to pay for necessities.

[summer cedar]

Btw, Lucifer, did you hear about the thousands of US vets who are now homeless?

Mein Farter cancelled one of their housing programmes and their mortages can't be paid anymore. So, out they go!

[mild gust]

Nation wide?

[proud jay]

as they should, lazy people taking advantage of the system, they should go back to their own country!

[summer cedar]

To the United Shaesh.

[proud jay]

should've stayed in the country they fought smh

[mild gust]

Maybe they can move to Tel Aviv

[summer cedar]

🤔 Now that you mention it, could be a way to herd people into Trump Gaza.

[woven wing]

Somehow countries both richer and poorer than us per capita pay less in healthcare costs per year per capita

I wonder what they're doing wrong

[lavish tendon]

in spain we pay doctors 7 euro an hour

[mild gust]

They aren't run by a lobby of medical professionals?

[woven wing]

In the US we charge patients $300 per hour

If they're lucky

[summer cedar]

They make many mistakes, like:
Capping prices of essential medicines.
Providing free/low-cost government run clinics that do their bit to prevent price gouging.
Encouraging alternative medical treatment systems (I am not gung ho about this one, but it works for whoever it works for).
Cracking down on monopolistic overpricing.

I know. It's terrible that they do that.

[lavish tendon]

cracking down on stuff precisely makes stuff go up

[summer cedar]

Nope.

[lavish tendon]

in the black market of course

[summer cedar]

It prevents other businesses from charging those prices.

[lavish tendon]

yeah and scarcity starts

or bad quality

[summer cedar]

Nope. Those businesses still sell their products actually.

At least when it comes to medical stuff.

Because the demand didn't disappear.

And they knew they were price gouging, so they are fine with a healthy profit instead of jail time.

[lavish tendon]

read this book if you can find it translated, never works never will

[summer cedar]

It's worked just fine here for 80 years now.

Which is why foreigners are coming here for medical care nowadays.

There's a difference between cutting profit altogether, and preventing monopolistic price gouging.

[lavish tendon]

yeah man im sure your country is the exception to 4000 years of history

[woven wing]

That's pretty much the US system. We have middlemen that save your hospital 10 million a year, and charge the "customers" 30 million a year

[summer cedar]

Given your people are coming here for medical care, it probably is.

[lavish tendon]

the us lets itself change laws by bribing

[summer cedar]

You are mixing up profit and price gouging; that's the problem.

[lavish tendon]

people from the us come to spain for healthcare and spanish people go to turkey

[summer cedar]

You prevent businesses from making 200% profits, but you let them make 50%-75%; they are fine with that.

Why? Because medical demand doesn't go down.

In other industries, were demand fluctuates, it's a problem. Not in medicine.

[lavish tendon]

why do you care about how much they make anyway

[woven wing]

Capitalism. Why do work when your capital can do it for you

[summer cedar]

Because it affects the cost of treatment down the line.

Duh.

That's why we still have affordable medical care here.

[lavish tendon]

capitalism is when i pay THE GOVERMENT to do the bidding for me

[woven wing]

Capitalism is when your capital makes money for you

[lavish tendon]

capitalism is when i do whatever i want with my money

[summer cedar]

Actually, no. That's just freedom.

[lavish tendon]

no country is capitalist

[summer cedar]

Capitalism is what Foster said.

Money making money making money.

[woven wing]

No, capitalism is when your money does the work for you

That's the capital part

Of capitalism

[lavish tendon]

money is a tool not an agent

[woven wing]

It's the whole thing besides -ism

[mild gust]

Autism?

[woven wing]

The tool, the goal. I would describe what a loop is but come on

[summer cedar]

Stupidism.

[spare dock]

So... you are all arguing about what system is preferrable. The spaniard living in a socialist hellhole is arguing for living in the capitalist hellhole. The americans living in the capitalist shithole argues for living in the socialist shithole.

It's almost as if... Human nature makes every system bad and it is almost impossible to regulate that regardless of which system you use.

[proud jay]

so you're saying we should do trickle down economics 🤔

[mild gust]

We should all live in a caste system

[summer cedar]

For medicine, yes. I am not talking about other industries.

[lavish tendon]

i would rather live in the us honestly. You americanos don't know how good you have it

[summer cedar]

Americans don't know much at the moment.

[woven wing]

Have you paid $2400 a month for insurance

[spare dock]

https://klipy.com/gifs/here-we-go-joker-2

[summer cedar]

And no, I'd rather NOT live there at all.

[lavish tendon]

and again, no country is truly capitalistic, it's crony state corporatism, mostly everywhere

[summer cedar]

That's coming from a guy who's always wanted to live there for the better part of 15 years.

[fathom wadi]

i want to live in Iceland

[mild gust]

Why

They have mosquitos now

[lavish tendon]

they steal from us every month

[fathom wadi]

scenery

[summer cedar]

Iceland is a nice place.

Also, you have bug spray for bugs.

So....

[proud jay]

I'm pretty fine with where I live

[lavish tendon]

everyone is a cousin there

[mild gust]

So like middle earth?

[fathom wadi]

so is the royal families and the elite

[summer cedar]

Yeah, I was damn lucky to almost force my family to move to where I live now.

[pearl elk]

https://tenor.com/view/singing-disa-lord-of-the-rings-ring-of-power-performing-worshipping-gif-25017557

[summer cedar]

Heaven compared to other places. 😄

Of course, that Amazon delivers makes everything better. 🙂

[spare dock]

Nahh, but our private insurance is somewhere around 25% of our salaries for social costs alone. Paid before salary payout. It amounts to the same purchasing power as your insurance

[woven wing]

"I pay "$300 in taxes, they're stealing from us because I don't pay $300 a month for insurance while my employer pays $2100. I lose any for of healthcare if I lose my job"

[spare dock]

then we have 25% VAT or somewhere around that in Europe

[summer cedar]

Unless you are that one guy who went to an island and now has a massive cottage instead of a massive palace.

[lavish tendon]

40% of any salary goes to taxes, to a system that hates you

[soft night]

https://giphy.com/gifs/warriors-barack-bosa-X1aI800CRXLzi

[proud jay]

idk if it hates you tbh

[lavish tendon]

300 intax because the average salary here is 1200

1200 BRO

[proud jay]

you could say some of the systems have gotten out of hand and very inneficient

[mild gust]

https://tenor.com/view/odablock-osrs-necksnap-oda-runescape-gif-23163670

[woven wing]

No it doesn't. You literally don't pay as much as Americans for health insurance because we dominate this field

[proud jay]

but I still think most people would be worse of without socialised systems funded by taxes

[spare dock]

Oh sorry I forgot to say. Through our government taxes. My bad

[soft night]

finland vat is 25½%

[proud jay]

and I'm saying that as someone who's paying over 40% of all my income as tax

[woven wing]

0 countries on Earth pay more for healthcare than the US

Exactly 0

[lavish tendon]

and we only talk about money but what about effectiveness? you have way more chance to survive anything in the us

[soft night]

some countries ditched socialism and doing fine

[proud jay]

is that so?

[summer cedar]

Absolutely. My dad was able to pay for a state-of-the-art pacemaker (not the usual kind given to heart patients) FOUR times from his own savings. No chance he'd have been able to do that in the USA.

[mild gust]

Norway getting close 😛

[spare dock]

Correct. Because you have a way higher purchasing power.

[woven wing]

What is your country?

[lavish tendon]

ESPAÑA

[soft night]

you can check Poland

[spare dock]

ARRIBA

[mild gust]

Is Poland still based

[proud jay]

norway is not a fair comparison to anything

they sit on the mountain of oil money

[spare dock]

No. But next election

[spare dock]

TRUE

[mild gust]

What's wrong with Karol Nawrocki

[summer cedar]

Reminds me of life in Saudi Arabia.

I don't remember my dad ever being charged for treatment in Almana hospital.

[proud jay]

I don't think poland is doing too bad atm

[summer cedar]

Then again, his company might have covered it entirely.

[mild gust]

They keep their country pretty safe

Doing something right

[proud jay]

it's funnny that the guy he's healing kinda looks like epstein

[proud jay]

their economic growth is also pretty significant

[mild gust]

See based

[summer cedar]

He's already been impeached twice.
Might as well become the first modern leader to be excommunicated from a church he doesn't give a shit about.

[proud jay]

a lot of it funded by the EU of course so doing some catch up, but not too shabby at all

[mild gust]

He should join scientology

They will take him all day

[summer cedar]

I don't think Scientologists are THAT crazy.

[woven wing]

You, assuming you're male, will live 7 years longer than an American born in the same year, WHO statistics

[mild gust]

Scientologists believe that humans are immortal spiritual beings called "thetans" who have forgotten their true nature through countless reincarnations.

Reincarnation: Thetans have lived many past lives, and their current identity is shaped by experiences from these previous incarnations, including events involving intergalactic figures like Xenu.

[spare dock]

That's because you don't eat Peak mediterrenean and you guys eat slop

[mild gust]

Need more cheeseburgers

[spare dock]

A good healthcare can't outperform crippling food consumption

[summer cedar]

Actually, going by Gemini, South Korea and Japan are leading for cancer-death prevention.

For other conditions, it's Norway, Switzerland, Australia, and Singapore.

[mild gust]

and bannock

[summer cedar]

The United States is also highly ranked, but that's more for paid services (expensive ones).

[woven wing]

You will live longer, spend less on healthcare in your lifetime, compared to an American, according to WHO @lavish tendon

[lavish tendon]

you know what let's drop this and move to south korea

[proud jay]

You know how you can reduce cancer numbers by a lot? Child mortality. They don't want you to know this one simple trick

[summer cedar]

And how do you achieve that? By stopping vaccines.

[proud jay]

smart

trump curing cancer

[summer cedar]

Yep.

[lavish tendon]

also the americanos have guns and shoot each other for no reason

that influcences things

[woven wing]

South Korea has universal healthcare

[summer cedar]

Lol. Even AI talks about US healthcare with so many qualifiers.

[woven wing]

I know, I ended up in a south Korea ER

[mild gust]

Gun violence occurs in places with gun bans too 🤔

[summer cedar]

It's about frequency, not incidence.

[proud jay]

I don't think you can pick and choose parts of a society that you think are better than yours. A lot of things influence one another so you can't just pick one part without all the preconditions and consequences

[mild gust]

A Japanese PM was assassinated with a 3d printed weapon

[woven wing]

I lived in South Korea for half a decade

[mild gust]

They will always find a way

[spare dock]

Spaniards earn on average 28k USD a year. Americans average are 66k ish USD. These costs are usually just relative to take home pay

[summer cedar]

Were two Japanese PMs killed over two days? No? The US basically has at least one reported gun shooting a day. I am putting that roughly, but yeah.

[mild gust]

https://tenor.com/view/donald-trump-fake-news-gif-11382583

[summer cedar]

109 shootings and only 103 days in the year finished (not counting February properly).

[mild gust]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States_(2000–present)

[summer cedar]

Setting standards!

[proud jay]

idk about spain, but for the northern countries, you can make a lot more money in the US, like 2 or 3x, but by the end of the year you actually keep a little more in these north eu countries

[pearl elk]

True, we had a mass shooting last year

[summer cedar]

@proud jay Are we also counting all the schools, hospitals, and gyms (for some reason) blown up in Tehran though? 😄

[woven wing]

SK healthcare is literally the reason I'm radicalized against US Healthcare

[mild gust]

260 incidents in a 10 year span

[spare dock]

North EU? Meaning Germany or Sweden?

[proud jay]

for example

[mild gust]

2020s has been 317 so far

[spare dock]

Are you german?

[proud jay]

no

[spare dock]

Do you live in any of these countries?

[summer cedar]

He's Wafflian.

[proud jay]

yes

[woven wing]

I used to live there. My healthcare in Korea was literally second to none

[pearl elk]

Rain forests always deliver

[spare dock]

So let me guess. You live in Sweden? Are a foreigner who moved here to work in gamedev industry?

[mild gust]

Nein

[proud jay]

lol no

[summer cedar]

I just told you.

He's Wafflian.

[proud jay]

though I have lived in finland for a year, so good guess I guess

[spare dock]

Ok well. I am from Sweden. So I can assure you that the take home pay is generally way lower

[proud jay]

I'm not talking solely about take home pay

I'm talking about what you have left at the end, after taxes, necessary spendings and having a normal life style

not purely what you get on your bank account

[summer cedar]

That dude on the right makes me laugh, ngl.

[mild gust]

That's when you work under the table

[woven wing]

Fast is an understatement for my treatments in Korea. I paid like $45 for x-rays, to see a doctor in a few hours, a cast, like everything.

[mild gust]

Taxes aren't real then

[spare dock]

Alright that is fair. I think one thing you might have to calculate on this though is. You pay 25% general VAT on everything you almost buy (excluding some of the hospitality, books and similiar stuff). This is a super high surcharge on top of the high taxes we already pay

[summer cedar]

We USED to have high VAT.
Now, we have LOW GST, except on sin goods.

[woven wing]

S. Korea is the country that broke me for socialized healthcare, and it's also apparently the best country for healthcare if you have stomach cancer?

[summer cedar]

Yes.

[mild gust]

They want their aging population to live as long as possible

So makes sense.

[soft night]

well think this that finland is even lower than this https://x.com/pmddomingos/status/2043060501182308470/photo/1

Pedro Domingos (@pmddomingos)

France is now closer to communism than the Soviet Union ever was.

X · Apr 11, 2026, 8:15 PM

2% more tha France on public spending

[summer cedar]

South Koreans are participative in their politics. They really fight for their rights and whatever's on their agenda.

It means their politicians are always on the hook.

[proud jay]

idk if public spending can be counted as communism lol

[fleet tangle]

I wonder where the UK is on that list.

[woven wing]

Communism is when the government does something (not war)

[summer cedar]

https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/government-spending-to-gdp - According to this, UK spends 44%. (2024)

[fleet tangle]

https://tenor.com/view/wolf-of-wall-street-rookie-numbers-gif-20904132

[proud jay]

no, communism is about a classless society with common ownership of the means of production

[woven wing]

Have you considered the government, doing anything (not war) as communism?

[proud jay]

if you take communist theory to the actual limit, there is not even a government involved

[proud jay]

no

[spare dock]

@proud jay What's your take on the 10.5 to 10.9% unemployment in Finland

Any personal experience from it in your surroundings?

[woven wing]

You gotta get on the new feeling based definitions

[proud jay]

no I haven't lived in finland in 8 years now

[spare dock]

Ohh yeah alright. haha. It seems pretty bad over there. But I guess stats can always a bit missleading, thats why I was wondering.

[mild gust]

https://tenor.com/view/lets-up-those-numbers-excited-party-upthosenumbers-lets-get-it-higher-gif-11528706896862961815

[pearl elk]

I feel left out... horses in Australia are like yeah nah wanka 😂

[woven wing]

@proud jay I'll help you out. When the government, citizens (it's Communism), but when the government, business (it's free market)

[proud jay]

makes sense

[mild gust]

Down with unions!

[summer cedar]

I reject your feelings! ⚔️

I shall make the pre-eminent mistake of continuing to read.

[proud jay]

no more unions, only menions

[mild gust]

Femions

[pearl elk]

https://tenor.com/view/mr-horse-calling-talking-gif-14186393

[summer cedar]

Time to eat one veggie puff and then drink my second cup of coffee. 🍞 ☕

[pearl elk]

Smoke a veggie puff

[woven wing]

Yeah, it's free market if your sole-propietor LLC is in Whyoming, Delaware, Nevada, New Mexico. Big difference

[mild gust]

https://tenor.com/view/scary-no-shorty-blunt-gif-24346094

[summer cedar]

🤔 India has apparently dumped Chinese routers, hubs, networking equipment, and now, we're also dumping their satellites for broadcasting.

[woven wing]

No they haven't

They're not dumb

[pearl elk]

Taiwan is still China 😅

[mild gust]

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/fcc-banning-imports-new-chinese-made-routers-citing-security-concerns-2026-03-23/

Happening in US also

[summer cedar]

The order's already been passed.

[mild gust]

Free Tibet

[summer cedar]

New shipments from TP-Link are being denied.

[mild gust]

Free Uyghurs

[summer cedar]

Nothing so noble as that.

[mild gust]

Free the many oppressed

[summer cedar]

It's got to do with some spying circuitry in their products.

We also dumped all their security cameras, too.

[mild gust]

Yup

Fk TP-link

[woven wing]

Do routers and switches even exist without Chinese origin

[mild gust]

Yes?

[summer cedar]

I haven't investigated.

But, we have been manufacturing our own.

Not saying there aren't sourced raw materials.

[woven wing]

Who does this?

[mild gust]

Netgear

Synology

[summer cedar]

Here, Cisco, HFCL, Edgecore, Digisol, etc.

[spare dock]

ASUS is taiwanese

[mild gust]

They sometimes use Chinese materials

So not 100% reliable

[summer cedar]

raw materials are fine though.

Unless there are spies in the silica.

[mild gust]

But boards?

With possible firmware already on it

[woven wing]

I guess it depends on "origins in China"

[spare dock]

I assume you are right about this

boards are probably made in china

[mild gust]

I say possible

[pearl elk]

Free TP-Link

[mild gust]

as unsure

[summer cedar]

So, as far as the broadcasters are concerned, they are shifting to ISRO (Indian) satellites and Intelsat (USA).

[mild gust]

It is China they have no reason to disclose such info.

[summer cedar]

They don't need to disclose. I think our agencies discovered their spyware in some of the cameras.

[pearl elk]

Taiwan aka Republic of China

[summer cedar]

That's why the order was passed in the first place.

[mild gust]

Taiwan really is #1

[proud jay]

are you paid by winnie the pooh?

[spare dock]

Republic is the Correct name I believe?

[mild gust]

CPC

[woven wing]

If you solder a capacitor and put it in a box in Indiana, who is the country of origin

[spare dock]

You are thinking about The Democratic Peoples Republic of China

[woven wing]

Because that's a thing with solar

[spare dock]

meaning the mainland chinese party

If I don't missremember

[summer cedar]

whatever lie you put on the label.

Basically....

[mild gust]

Just scrub it off

and re-write it like history

[woven wing]

Truest answer tbh

[mild gust]

What the FDA don't know won't hurt em

[woven wing]

FDA actually hell

[mild gust]

Them regulate 😂

[woven wing]

Don't fuck with the FDA

[mild gust]

Don't worry RFK Jr. is fixing them up

[proud jay]

yes, but I think plenty of taiwanese people prefer to not refer to it as such

[mild gust]

He will make America healthy again.

[soft night]

https://slush.org/newsroom/slush-finnish-founder-survey-results

[mild gust]

Oh no they are finished 😮

[woven wing]

Hear me out, what if all proteins come from steak and chicken breasts. This will help the American peoples

No more "illegal refried beans" or "foreign legumes"

[spare dock]

What I meant is. The guy writing to you said that. Taiwans official name actually is Republic of China, like he wrote. You are thinking that Republic of China is the same as The Democratic Peoples Republic of China which is the CCP China.

We just don't use Republic of China (China) for Taiwan, because scary diplomatic reasons

[mild gust]

But they made it the CPC now 😮

[proud jay]

I'm not thinking that, I just think referring to it by the official name gives more credibility to the one china concept as a whole

I'm not saying it's factually wrong

[mild gust]

Easier for english publications

[proud jay]

there's plenty of countries people don't really refer to by their official name

[summer cedar]

Not us. We are heading for renaming India to Bharat.

[woven wing]

I have no correspondence with China or Taiwan, but do both countries not want to like pretend the other doesn't exist without implicating the other?

[mild gust]

Good

[spare dock]

It's often considered the other way around. The exile government in Taiwan wants to be called that name because it legitimzes the fact that they are the "legitimte government" of china. Not actuall the CCP. But yeah its all really just weird semantics and copium from both parties ultimately

[spare dock]

Essentially, that's my understanding.

Mainland china does so more than Taiwan though

I think the Taiwanese are kind of well aware that there is about 0% chance they ever get back into the mainland

[summer cedar]

That's the Curse of JD in action.

It's not Vance himself that is the cause.

He's cursed.

[proud jay]

he also killed the pope though

[mild gust]

First the pope

[summer cedar]

Oh yes.

[mild gust]

Then this

Very bigly

[summer cedar]

Started a bunch of wars by speaking to leaders just before fighting started.

Blew up the peace talks in just one day.

[mild gust]

He's a good bear poker

[summer cedar]

The CURSE of JD!

[mild gust]

Trump groomed em well

[fleet tangle]

I'd vote for him!

[spare dock]

Are India's fuel prices getting hard to deal with?

or is it kind of just like meh

[summer cedar]

I haven't kept up with it, since I just hire private vehicles if I need to go somewhere.

Let me check.

[mild gust]

Jeff Bezos over here

[proud jay]

he only travels by yacht

[woven wing]

Taiwan feels useless in an invasion scenario. Like the cost to invade and capture has to be orders of magnitudes lower than advancing to Taiwan levels, even with decades of negative state. And that's ignoring the US Flattening that would become of any Taiwan facility making anything more advanced than fixie bycicles

[summer cedar]

Ok. Check done.
Prices are lower than in 2023, much lower than in 2022, but 5-7% higher than in 2024.

[proud jay]

the only reason china holds of on taiwan is because of the international importance atm

[woven wing]

I can't see a scenario where the costs benefit invading Taiwan

[spare dock]

ok interesting. So its not as bad as it is made out to be. Atleast for now

[mild gust]

So they can do what Japan did

[summer cedar]

Our ships have come through the Strait though, so we don't have as much of an effect as other countries.

[mild gust]

and oppress Taiwan

[summer cedar]

Except for social media panic.

COMMERCIAL gas is up 5% though.

[mild gust]

or die trying

[spare dock]

mhm. Is india paying the toll to pass?

[mild gust]

Pay the jizya

[summer cedar]

Probably. Mostly in medical supplies I am assuming, since we have sent Iran a lot of relief.

[spare dock]

I saw Trump said he would today start to block ships that paid the Iranian toll

[proud jay]

yeah

US marine repositioning as pirates

very cool

[spare dock]

Alhamdulillah

[summer cedar]

Soldiers to terrorists to pirates.

Evolution at work times 100x.

[soft night]

https://giphy.com/gifs/jukeboxsaints-pirates-sea-dog-pirate-OFcc3GGPbsUc7fRhip

[proud jay]

orange man just wants his cut of the toll

[summer cedar]

Ok. So, petrol prices in India are still the same as in 2024 and slightly lower than in 2025.

Also, we cut the GST tax on petrol, so that helped.

[proud jay]

I really wonder what the whole plan was in his mind for invading iran

[summer cedar]

Sir, you are being too much of a waffle.

You think he had A PLAN?

Btw, this whole Block the Blockade plan is not even his.

[soft night]

https://fxtwitter.com/SlushHQ/status/2042142665416790383

Slush (@SlushHQ)

There’s a lot of momentum building across Europe right now, and Finland is one good example of both the upside and the pressure that come with it.
︀︀
︀︀We ran a Finnish Founder Survey to get a pulse on how founders feel about building locally.
︀︀
︀︀56% of respondents say our culture needs to change. 50%+ have considered relocating, although the majority still want to stay in Europe.
︀︀
︀︀At the same time, Finland runs as a trust-based society, with a high quality of life, a stable political and legal environment, and developed infrastructure.
︀︀
︀︀These numbers signal a turning point for the whole startup ecosystem.
︀︀
︀︀The ambition is here, and so is the track record. Over the past 20 years, Finland has built 20 companies with €100M+ in annual revenue, ten unicorns, and three decacorns.
︀︀
︀︀Startups are already one of our fastest-growing industries. Now’s the time to build an environment that matches that pace.…

FxTwitter · Apr 9, 2026, 7:28 AM

[summer cedar]

He basically took it from an article a Republican had written for a think tank.

I say think tank loosely; it's some Republican group up to no good.

[mild gust]

Kegsbreathe

[proud jay]

I think the biggest issue is the legal hurdles of operating in the EU as a whole

[summer cedar]

No. He's too drunk to make plans.

[mild gust]

You mean Belgium isn't based?

[proud jay]

it's not belgium specific

you need to register things in every country to be able to operate there and shit

while e.g. if you're a US company, you get the whole market as one

[mild gust]

We could be more like France

[proud jay]

make nukes?

use linux?

have nuclear energy?

[mild gust]

All of the above

[spare dock]

I don't know if this can even make sense anymore?

Highest Societal trust? Eroding like in most of Europe.

High living standards: 11% unemployment is catastrophic and it probably won't get better.

This post seems like copium more than anything. When Finlands prime minister rather go around talking about the potential of foreign countries rather than his own country I think that is a pretty good signal on general appeal for Finns about their own country.

Atleast among the youth

[mild gust]

But they have that cool introvert airport

[proud jay]

I don't think societal trusst is on the rise anywhere

I think it's more a sign of the times than about a specific country

everything is moving more towards isolation and anger

[summer cedar]

Yeah. I think it's more about desiring more opportunities, better access to necessities, and probably most important, mental well-being.

In Hevedy and Blue Man's case, a girlfriend each.

[mild gust]

Too much time spent inside the hand machine ghost.

[summer cedar]

But yes, people will vote for Plutoshittycraticapitasocialism, if they think it'll get them a better quality of life.

[spare dock]

In many of European countries its mostly due to the ridiculous migration laws that have been had. No doubt in Finland aswell

[summer cedar]

Yes, that was a bit overdone and unregulated.

[mild gust]

Unvetted immigration is bad no way?

[spare dock]

There is a reason for why young Europeans are increasingly voting right wing. The bastion of social democracy are the 60+ year old boomers in Europe. Kind of inverted from America in that sense.

Europe won't survive the future where young people are expected to pay exorbitant taxes for the survival of a pensioner class + endless migration. They will just move.

[fathom wadi]

If you think immigration is bad now, wait until they let anyone go to Mars. The Martians are racist as hell I hear :p

[summer cedar]

Ah, 4 hours to Piracy Time.

[summer cedar]

But Martians live underground. The reincarnated Martian Russian kid told us so. Apparently, they nuked their surface and their biology changed to live underground, so....

[fathom wadi]

Yep. They all live underground with Doug Quaid even though he brought blue skies to mars

[summer cedar]

Look here, you Beefeater. I am just relaying what a totally trustworthy, now nowhere-to-be-found, reincarnated Martian Russian kid told us, m'kay?!!!

[spare dock]

Beefeater, based insult

[fathom wadi]

https://tenor.com/view/you-blew-my-cover-blew-my-cover-arnold-gif-1149619575856516533

[summer cedar]

Also, he said UFO craft are constructed with layers of rubber.

[mild gust]

Candace Owens?

[summer cedar]

And that there are two main types. Galaxy jumpers and intra-galaxy traveller ships.

The Galaxy jumpers apparently carry the intra-travellers between galaxies.

[fathom wadi]

well that's a lie. They are obviously made from Tension Chainmail that retracts to give it strength.

[mild gust]

Needs more mithril

[summer cedar]

It's definitely rubber. It makes sense that rubber trees exist.

Nature always wanted us to make spaceships.

[proud jay]

while I think partially yes, I think it's also an easy scapegoat, there are for sure issues with migration, but I would not call it the leading problem or even one of the most important ones as many populist politicians proclaim

[fathom wadi]

You know what always confuses me. I get on a rollercoaster, or get on a motorbike that goes 100mph and I'm pulling G's. But you can travel in space at 20,000 mph and nothing. I know why it is, but it's still confusing to me. One of those little physics quirks with gravity that bends my mind.

[mild gust]

Needs more liquid nitrogen

[summer cedar]

If a Kerbal can EVA at 800 mph on a space rocket, hanging on to the cockpit's EVA ladder rungs, it's all fine.

[mild gust]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cNuoHoXBCA

[fathom wadi]

Maybe Chaos Physics had too much liquid nitrogen in beta

[spare dock]

Ofcourse it's not the only issue. It's more that. If your appeal for a high tax society is "high standard of living and security" and you flip that with unbalanced demographic pyramid and then add an increased insecurity... why stay?

Added on top of that you have general shit climate and cold/dark winters. I think most people rather just move southwards

same system everywhere, just different environmental context

There is also a huge disparity in the belief of a millenial and a gen-z person

Millenials have built their careers in a social liberal world where there was less competition and more growth. Millenials love the multi-culti world.

Gen-z generation of all nations in the world walks into the social liberal world where they are competing with the entire world. It's not super appealing

[summer cedar]

There's another aspect of it, too. Social media, or rather the internet has allowed lots of 'poor' people to see what the rich life is like.

You couldn't 'really' do that before the internet. But now, with videos and stuff, you can.

That increases dissatisfaction BIGLY, BIGGEST. Why should THOSE people have a good life, while I just live in my little cottage?

[spare dock]

haha bigly biggest

[summer cedar]

Mein Orange bestest Engrish.

[spare dock]

but yeah you are right. General pessimism from daily reality checks.

[summer cedar]

Got to increase my AC's power limiter to 80% from 60%. It's 40C outside.

[mild gust]

Limit everything

[spare dock]

Limit the migration of electrons

[summer cedar]

😄

[spare dock]

or sorry

you are increasing it

[summer cedar]

I think my AC has paid for itself twice over by now.

Usually, I run it at 40% power.

But when it's 40C outside...... it's 80% or sweat. 😄

Best investment I ever made. It's cut my power bills my 60-65%. 😄

[spare dock]

that is crazy. Good for you though man

40 degrees is deadly to me

[summer cedar]

You'll survive it. Problem is, by the time you adapt to it, your minimum temperature tolerance also rises.

So, even 24C is cold to you.

[spare dock]

yeah that makes sense. I've noticed that. How could do you get where you live in India during "winter"

I suppose you get more of a monsoon like period? (but maybe I am wrong)

[summer cedar]

Winter is from Nov to Feb. We used to get 15C winters, but after 2023, it's 1C winters.

New pattern, especially after we refilled the local river.

[soft night]

https://giphy.com/gifs/xbox-space-xbox-series-x-deliver-us-mars-Vmj2UXrNS1NlKSI4x9

[summer cedar]

If you want real winter though, you can go to Shimla. -23C. 😄

[spare dock]

Oh I see. well alright thats pretty typical to southern europe kind of

[summer cedar]

If you love rain throughout the year, every single day, then Cherrapunji.

[spare dock]

Where in India are you from if you don't mind me asking?

[soft night]

https://giphy.com/gifs/AppleTV-apple-tv-plus-HaAQmfe2aESjVG4PtF

[spare dock]

Cherrapunji is on the south coast I assume?

ohh lol

completely wrong

I just googled

[summer cedar]

Cherrapunji is east.
I am from southeast, Puttaparthi.

It's a valley basin, semi-arid area.

100KM west is Bengaluru, where 'normal' civilised people live. 😄

Regular weather there, more in-line with the rest of the country.

[spare dock]

lool

[spare dock]

looking at pictures it looks pretty nice

[summer cedar]

Oh yes. You can walk to all the important places. Lots of foreigners come here, from around 80 countries. Everyone's mostly 'educated' and friendly, especially when it comes to taking money from tourists.

The two hospitals, schools, and museums here are basically palaces.

Assuming you have a remote working job, it's a great place to live in. I've been here since 2011.

--- The pope hit back, telling NBC News that he had no fear and vowing to keep up his appeals for peace that he said were rooted in the gospel. ---

I will not fear the Mein Farter, says the Pope.

[spare dock]

I didn't even know India has this types of semi-arid regions, let alon in the kind of the middle of the southern part

its cool

[summer cedar]

I blame the now-dead volcanoes.

[spare dock]

Ohh interesting. How does that play part in it?

[summer cedar]

The middle of India, known as the Deccan Plateau used to be the 'old Himalayas', in the sense that the mountains were in the middle of the country.

There was a LOT of volcanic activity. Lots of lava, like guns at Walmart.

Nowadays, you can see lots of lava holes if you look in cliffsides and hillsides.

Then, those mountains flattened to create the aforementioned Plateau, along with other features, like valley basins.

Thereafter, the Himalayas rose by divine mandate to block the Chinese. 😛

[spare dock]

As it was foretold

thats cool. Didn't know anything about this

these flattened mountains are almost like tabletop in South Africa

atleast in how flat they are

lol

I guess geologically it could be completely different processes

[summer cedar]

God was experimenting with a hammer.

Need stuff to flatten and well....

[spare dock]

He started with the landscape flatten brush to dictate the heights in the blockout. He just kind of forgot to run over some spots with the smooth brush after

[summer cedar]

Typical n00bness, setting the brush strength too high.

If your country had a geometrically shaped island like this...

...what would you do with it?

[spare dock]

I have no clue. Some sort of facility for secret stuff. The shape would add to that mysteriousness

[summer cedar]

Yep. I would have turned it into a tourist resort.

BUT.... https://japantoday.com/category/politics/tokyo-mayor-signals-willingness-for-nuclear-waste-site-survey-on-minamitori

Nuke waste dump is clearly the way to go.

[spare dock]

Hmm

I wonder if nuclear waste depots can would be at risk if the water levels flood the island

I always thought you kind of just dug them into the mountain side more than anything

[summer cedar]

If it's all buried under water, then we can blame other countries for our mess.

[spare dock]

Blame Gojjira

Isn't he supposed to be nuclear or something and come from underwater

[summer cedar]

Supposedly, yes.
Megalizard born of nuclear detonation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI3F9Pz_mrI

Medal of Honour remade in UE 4.

Fan project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbWRiCEn5XY&t=7s

and TUFU, remake of NFS Underground 2 in UE 5.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/04/gemini-chatbot-google-jonathan-gavalas

Okay, wtf?.....

If this is true, wow, just wow....

nuts.

[soft night]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtSYeftGUGE

[proud jay]

that's fair tbh, I often tell gemini to go kill itself too

[summer cedar]

I have arrived on Pinkonia.

[proud jay]

@median wraith this is getting ridiculous https://www.reddit.com/r/docker/s/2UAqaoDKlJ

[median wraith]

oh yeah they blocked all

but don't worry

@proud jay we will be closer ma lov

[summer cedar]

It's time for the Pope to speak against the Spanish blockade.

The internet must be free for all, just as Jesus wanted.

[lavish tendon]

thats why was failing

you gotta watch the ball man

what can you be doing of importance if not watching the ball

oh and pirated sites work anyway

absolute buffoons

[sleek trench]

I would recommend make your own game and get rich

[summer cedar]

I am looking forward to Mr. Naked: Bubble Survivor

[proud jay]

Going to france on holding?

[median wraith]

I have to inspect the land

[mild gust]

More genius Mamdummy ideas, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5fVe2jgSiU

[fleet tangle]

Lol

[mild gust]

Wall Street moving to Texas 😂

Bye bye New York

Also Halo Studios having more fun, https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/former-halo-studios-art-director-other-employees-accuse-studio-of-harassment-and-retaliation

Bully one of your oldest devs to quit.

[proud jay]

You gonna buy france?

[mild gust]

Lol https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/donald-trump-calls-tucker-carlson-megyn-kelly-candace-owens-alex-jones-stupid-people-low-1791160

The cracks are showing

[summer cedar]

--- Trump again described the pope as “weak on crime”, repeating criticism he made in a social media post in which he also called him “terrible for foreign policy”. ---

🤣

[mild gust]

He's not wrong

[summer cedar]

--- Indian tankers that have transited through the ​Strait of Hormuz did not pay ‌tolls to Iran, Tehran’s ambassador to New Delhi said on Monday, after U.S. President Donald ​Trump vowed to block passage for ​vessels making payments to Iran. ---

Woo hoo, proper diplomacy ftw.

Maybe Mein Farter should listen to the Pope.

Then again, neither did Pharaoh listen to Moses.

[mild gust]

Why listen when you can be bigly and based.

[summer cedar]

On the plus side, Trump has certainly promoted equality across the world.

Oil prices are now equally high across all sellers.

[mild gust]

That's the best part

[summer cedar]

100/100/114

Russians have an advantage, but still, others are catching up fast.

[mild gust]

An advantage of having your oil refineries blown up?

😂

How many have happened in the last few months

[summer cedar]

Advantage of higher oil sales. Don't be daft.

[mild gust]

Sir

They are losing the war

Nothing matters if they can't win

[summer cedar]

I am talking about oil sales.

[mild gust]

Yeah

But those sales won't matter

If they don't beat Ukraine

[summer cedar]

Money always matters.

It's everything.

[mild gust]

Not really

[summer cedar]

You need it after the war, win or lose.

Otherwise, you can't pay for shit.

[mild gust]

Always trade of other forms

or they can go into more debt

😂

What's another 440 billion

[summer cedar]

Apparently, debt's a thing for rich countries.

The US is now what, 15 trillion in debt?

I forget.

[mild gust]

Bonds are a fun thing

[summer cedar]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_government_debt

[mild gust]

https://usdebtclock.org/

[summer cedar]

Oh wow.....

[mild gust]

US is a fun one

[summer cedar]

Sudan and JAPAN are on the top.

[mild gust]

Because they even have a clock 😂

[summer cedar]

That's a nice 1st and 2nd.

US for all its media attention is only 8th.

As usual, all hype.

Shit healthcare and even in debt, they suck. 🤣

[mild gust]

They keep winning though

[summer cedar]

I am surprised about Singapore being 3 though. Haven't read about it much.

If winning means losing, yes.

[mild gust]

US is 182 lol

[summer cedar]

This is till 2025. They haven't counted Trump's shit in it.

Mein Farter is in a class all by himself.

[mild gust]

But they have?

You forget he was in power before

[summer cedar]

He didn't do much then.

[mild gust]

He did much the same stuff as before

[summer cedar]

It was just Republican bloat as usual.

They raised the debt ceiling and spent some fairly normal Republican waste.

[mild gust]

Oh please...

He just wasn't as public

Only difference.

[summer cedar]

Er, no.

His administration stopped him from a lot of stuff.

Those sane people were properly rewarded, too.

Left by the wayside. 🤣

Canada is close behind. 112 to US's 122.

Probably still round about there even in 2026.

[mild gust]

Yeah thank the liberals

Keeping printing money find out

[summer cedar]

Japan will collapse long before the US from debt.

Damn, I didn't realise it was THAT bad. I knew it wasn't good.

[mild gust]

What's debt but an agreement between asshole friends

[summer cedar]

The homeless vets might want to have a word with you about their 'friends'.

[mild gust]

Should have worked for Amazon

[summer cedar]

OH? Austria is the highest in debt on pension plans.

Belgium second, but by a wide margin.

[mild gust]

Wot

[summer cedar]

Oh, wait. Sorry.

Spain is no.1. Austria no.2.

---

🤔 This is weird. A Russian coal carrier was boarded by the Swedes, because it was dumping coal in to the Baltic Sea.

That's a strange way to troll Greta Thunberg.

And Hungary's new dictator says no fast-track membership for Ukraine into the EU.

I am glad everything's same-same. 😄

[mild gust]

Maybe in the discord communities themselves?

Discord Town Hall

Or Discord Developers

[tight dust]

do you have inv link?

[mild gust]

https://discord.gg/discord-townhall

https://discord.gg/discord-developers

[tight dust]

thanks 🙏

[mild gust]

Gl

[summer cedar]

I am disappointed in the Pope.

[mild gust]

Why

[summer cedar]

Banning people on Discord instead of blasphemers in the Orange House.

[mild gust]

Lol what

[summer cedar]

He should direct his divine powers at orange targets.

[mild gust]

There's not enough of them

[summer cedar]

Me.

[mild gust]

Yo can hardly wait to game tonight lol

[summer cedar]

This is what passes for power armor in Starfield.

I used a silver skin on it. The vanilla red is kinda.... dark.

[mild gust]

Noice

[summer cedar]

If you're staying away from the main story, remember to mix a few side-missions in between your random explorations.

You get decent exp boosts from missions.

[mild gust]

Expee

[summer cedar]

I think the crew of the Artemis might not have had plumbing problems, if they had had power armor like this.

You can also unclog any toilet with that shotgun.

[mild gust]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDsMZ4riaoA

[summer cedar]

I don't need archaeology to prove that.

Where else did we invent fantasy, magic, and rituals from?

Ate a plant, saw weird shit, made it tradition.

[mild gust]

Need more magic mushrooms

[pine hill]

https://tenor.com/view/magic-mushroom-vintage-gif-4900317745907941354

[mild gust]

https://tenor.com/view/dj-cat-pizza-gif-12366558

and not glazing Putin

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/world/europe/russia-hungary-putin-orban.html

[summer cedar]

I upgraded my reactor. Now, I can use 8 guns in space instead of 4. 😈

Well, after the Free Lanes update, Starfield certainly predicts the future of a post-human interstellar space environment. So many planets under level 30 have space debris outside their atmospheres.

Okay, I just walked into jurassic park on a planet here. The dinos are attacking the spacer pirates.

[mild gust]

Just don't be poor, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw-vKxhxGIY

[tight dust]

future result there is no change 🙁

[fathom wadi]

I remember seeing a clip of some woman being asked how much she wants her man to earn. She said $1million/y. So the guy pointed out some statistics about how improbably it was she would meet them and she replied "one million is nothing these days". I had to chuckle at the lack of reality going on. I also thought "if it's so easy, why don't you make the million and don't worry about what the man makes?". But I was too busy counting my billions to put it in the video comments :p

[fathom wadi]

All my life, I was taught that "if you work hard, eventually you it will pay off".
After 26 years of pure grind, burnouts, minor successes, major fails, life getting in the way and a series of bad decisions, I can honestly say that's all bollocks. You need luck, or nepotism, or to be able to stream a boring life to boring people for entertainment. None of which I have 😉

[mild gust]

Drugs all day! Party all night!

[fathom wadi]

I learned to play the guitar. I remember the day we were doing a gig and had to travel from north of England to the south. But we didn't have enough money to cover all the costs, so I pawned my very first guitar to get us the fuel money. I planned on getting it back but the singer screwed us on the pay, so I lost my first guitar that way. Never forgave him for that. But I gave music 5 years before I moved into network engineering, IT support and Learning Support tutoring. The rest is history. Maybe I should have stuck with music, but then I'm glad I didn't as my martial arts injury put a stop to me being able to play guitar anyway 😄

g

[mild gust]

We can't all be Kurt Cobain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ccGjar4Es

[fathom wadi]

nothing wrong with bass. I eventually moved to bass after being asked to play it for a band and found it to be where I fit perfectly. I was never going to be Steve Vai or Joe Satriani. So bass fit just nice. It's got it's own technicalities that make it just as interesting as lead.

[lavish tendon]

imma headbutt ya

https://giphy.com/gifs/video-games-tf2-TeBh7ryx3SYb6

[pearl elk]

https://tenor.com/view/angus-young-gif-26307585

[fathom wadi]

I've had KEXP on my notify immediately list for a couple of years. They always put out good music and their recording studio for live performances is absolutely one of the best sound stages I've heard. So when AdP played I was all over it. I didn't think it would go as viral as it did because usually music like that bypasses mainstream sources. Glad it inspired some people to do something different.
Highly recommend subbing to KEXP btw. It's a great source of new and interesting music

https://youtu.be/JOFAXgvuLVs?si=b7WxsqfoS-aSY9vJ here is another band whose set on KEXP is fire.

yeah microtonal music is often such a shock to the ears it can either give you a love or a hate feeling. I'm more on the jazz side of music for personal interest as I love music that throws you on the curve.

It makes me want to pick up a bass again but I gave mine away to this band. https://youtu.be/5bC0vtvn7P4?si=mtho_pWbhUwYtfBX

[pearl elk]

https://tenor.com/view/mushroomhead-metal-music-pig-bass-gif-18882867

[pale scarab]

omg
all these bashing on UE5 in youtube is making me really uncomfortable...
now whenever if i want people to test out my game, its already got a bad reputation due to all those videos about UE5
this sucks

[unborn lotus]

but it only matters if it runs poorly

[fathom wadi]

People who complain without the information to back up their complaint are rarely worth worrying about. They will still buy games using Unreal Engine. They will still run badly configured setups and blame the engine. They will still expect to run 120fps with Epic settings on the latest card without understanding why that's an old paradigm (the one where you expect your top end GPU to run everything at max settings with room to spare).
I'd just ignore it. Sometimes I comment to re-educate people, but it's almost a waste of time because as soon as you throw expertise into the discussion they all disappear in case I make them look as dumb as they are.

[mild gust]

Just tell them you use a custom engine

Problem solved.

Lol I just got shown this the other day at work.

[summer cedar]

Good afternoon! 🌞 ☕

[toxic vault]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TgTXYFHlfk

[pale scarab]

ahh i see. thank you for making me calm down about this 😅

i just came off from this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6D_NyPLGpI

so its like..... sigh

[fathom wadi]

yeah I started to watch that.

emphasis on started

[pale scarab]

oh LOL

[mild gust]

Is he crying about City Sample?

[fathom wadi]

no not really

I didn't get the whole picture because I made the mistake of scrolling to the comments.

[mild gust]

I see what you mean,

[fathom wadi]

I'm absolutely worn out with YT comments right now so I just went and watched Scanners instead (the Cronenberg movie). Ironically, YT makes my head want to explode

[mild gust]

Yeah I try to avoid comments especially on game videos lol

Even some of my videos had people posting calling it UE slop lol

I just responded with "You okay"

[fathom wadi]

Oh I also went to watch Procedural Mind's stream. He's been doing really well making a procedural dungeon ARPG with PCG but he gets so little viewers I like to try help boost his stream. Not many people livestreaming Unreal on a regular basis so he deserves some pennies for it

https://www.youtube.com/@Procedural_Minds here is his channel if you want to like/sub/etc and support a hard working solo dev

[mild gust]

Youtube unsubbed me

Ofc they did

Wonder if there is a sub limit

And they just be unsubbing on new subs

Oldest subs get unsubbed

Damn rip, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odi2fp_cNvE

[fathom wadi]

yeah I saw that one. I watch EWU a lot. Sick of the fake reality of streamers. Not that I'm a fan of the horrors on that channel, but at least it's interesting seeing murderers get caught from time to time.

[mild gust]

At least it's transparent and unbiased.

More than can be said for a lot of media.

I recently subbed to their other channels also so watching some of the back log.

Then this comes out today, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R7CioiJELk

[mild gust]

If you game "depicts real people" it can get denied and pulled from steam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cc6g6onSy8

[summer cedar]

You know what sparked this.

Mein Farter speaks.

[mild gust]

No

This was already a thing

He is fighting it

Down with collective shout

Down with sweet baby inc

Censorship isn't the way.

Just need more games w/ nfts and crypto built in.

Then they can mald over that instead.

But if he has his way cyberpunk and things like baldurs gate 3 will be banned so

Oh well

[summer cedar]

What's the pronoun referring to?

[mild gust]

The person who wrote project 2025

Iirc

[summer cedar]

No, the 'it'.

What's it?

[mild gust]

Any game with sexual content

Cyberpunk, baldurs gate

Actually any sexual content

Basically

[summer cedar]

Ah. So, this is about that p0rn thing we discussed several days ago, maybe a week ago.

[summer cedar]

Well, yeah, I said it back then, it's not big enough of an industry to stand against other revenue models.

[mild gust]

Are you sure?

[summer cedar]

Yes.

[mild gust]

Maybe to you

But it's quite popular world wide.

[summer cedar]

No, just in terms of money.

[mild gust]

Plenty of ad revenue

[summer cedar]

Irrelevant.

We had this discussion before.

Money talks.

That's it.

Whichever side has more, eventually wins.

[mild gust]

and the next biggest gaming platform is a porn gaming platform next to steam?

So?

Okay

[summer cedar]

And?

[mild gust]

Clearly it has a market

[summer cedar]

And?

[mild gust]

and makes $

[summer cedar]

The other side makes more.

[mild gust]

For now

Wait for AAA porn games

[summer cedar]

Come back to it when video games make more than the opposition to them.

[mild gust]

Industry is scared

If they had their way anything with lgbtq representation would be banned.

Collective shout isn't an ally.