CerebralHawks

So in other words, you’re a pretty girl with a rough home life so you end up getting trafficked.

Not to sound like a dick, but most endings to that story wind up far, far worse than winding up on a Caribbean (or wherever TF it is) island with a bunch of rich dudes. I think most wind up strung out, OD’d, battered, on their own with a couple kids and no real means to support themselves and no skills to speak of, aside from turning tricks nobody wants because they’re so messed up. Except for more messed up dudes.

Not to minimise anyone’s suffering, but I’d say the far more likely outcome of winding up in a crack house is far worse. Most of those women and girls would probably kill to wind up on a billionaire’s island. A slave in luxury lives a bit better than a slave in poverty.

Make it the Middle East and it gets far worse. Some time in second or third grade, a bunch of older women grab you, drag you into an abandoned building, strip you, and maim you so you can’t ever really experience pleasure, because pleasure is reserved for males. You get an infection and die without ever having really lived, or you don’t and you’re a sex slave but you don’t get anything out of it. Or you get something out of it but it’s so hard to reach climax that you do more and more depraved stuff (and with more partners) to get there and some of these people like it rough, so you go through hell chasing that dragon. And most of these guys know it so they’re actively working to keep you from getting there.

…

Generally speaking, if you’re reading this, if you’re online, with an electronic device from this decade, and you own it, you’re in the 1%, at least worldwide. You’re one of the lucky ones. Whatever human you get reincarnated as is likely to be much worse regardless of whether you’re a girl, or a Muslim, or in the Middle East, or trafficked by billionaires. You could be starving and malnourished — in Africa, or in Detroit.

Since no one can remember their past lives, I would say that it wouldn’t much matter what we are next, or what we were before. All those things, what if you were those before? You could have been someone horrifically tortured to death in the Middle Ages/Dark Ages, but you wouldn’t remember it now. So, it wouldn’t much matter what you are in the next life.

Since there’s no tracking from life to life, there’s no purpose to it. Nothing is gained. Like if you were mean to a specific kind of person in one life, and you became one of those people (say, a Muslim, or an overweight person) in your next life. I mean so what? It’s not like you learn your lesson, having gone from a bigot of privilege to the victim of said biogtry. Everyone has it rough somewhere. And no one gets out alive.

I used to know a guy in middle school who at one point, believed that there was a kind of active memory reincarnation. You don’t remember while alive, but between lives you remember it all, so you choose or you are assigned a future life depending on what you need to learn to reach enlightenment. In that future life, your memory is wiped, but when you’re done living that life, you have all the previous life memories and you keep doing that until you figure out what you need to in order to reach enlightenment. I don’t think it was Buddhism or Taoism or any of those Eastern religions. It sounded made up. I don’t recall the name. And he never really got involved with it, he was just telling me about it and I never quite forgot.

I get where you’re coming from, but how about forcing authors to finish books before abandoning them (e.g. Game of Thrones) or dying before they finish them (Wheel of Time). See where I’m going with this? ;)

The problem is, some shows have planned outcomes. Babylon 5 was a sci-fi show in the 1990s (Star Trek Deep Space Nine was actually loosely based on it, though that may be anachronistic to members of the current generation — not saying you are) that had a planned four seasons. They wanted another one, so they had to shoehorn some stuff in to make it work.

Supernatural is a much better and more recent example. It was planned for five seasons, but it was pushed out to, what, seventeen seasons? Something ridiculous like that. The show was printing money and the cast and crew were willing to work on it, so they kept churning them out.

Game of Thrones, like Fullmetal Alchemist and Tokyo Ghoul in Japan, had their shows catch up to their source material, so the show was forced to write their own ending. With Game of Thrones, the author walked away from the series (but he is writing spinoffs). With Fullmetal Alchemist, the author finished the series, and a second anime series was commissioned that started with an anime original episode, summed up what the first series got right in 9 episodes (covering something like 25 episodes!), and then finishing out what the author wrote. Tokyo Ghoul’s second season was completely made up, and did things the books (which weren’t written at the time) didn’t do, like kill off a major character. So while they did wait for the series to finish before continuing, they didn’t explain when that character came back in season 3. Oops. Conversely, and I think much worse, The Promised Neverland ended before its second season came out, but instead of doing five or six seasons like they could have, they just crammed all that extra content into one season. There are episodes where crew members have demanded their name not be attached to it — some have no writing or directorial credit!

To be clear, the Macintosh in 1984 had the menu bar. Amiga had it, too. Now, the dock — that came later. I remember System 7 or Mac OS 8 had a zip-tie pull-out thingy on the left (and Microsoft 2000 copied it). I think the actual Dock as we know it now came in OS X. And there were clones (e.g. AquaDock) until Apple started handing out C&Ds and lawsuits. I tried a couple (on Windows), none of them were great.

At least on a Mac we can choose bottom or left! Wild that Microsoft won’t give Windows users the option.

Of course you could say Mac is dorky with its always on menu bar at the top, but I quite like it. Even on my laptop with a notch it’s not terrible. And I like the status bar (right side of the menu bar).

And of course on Linux you can just have it any which way you want it.

I still generally prefer windowing on Windows 11 to macOS Tahoe. Since Sequoia (the last version) we’ve had basic windowing (and before that, free apps like Rectangle to shoehorn it in), but what Microsoft started with Aero Snap in Windows 7 has never been “the Mac way.” I think the old Mac users prefer a controlled chaos on their desktop. I like a more elegant setup. I like how I have Windows set up at work. It doesn’t quite work as well on Mac, to try to do the same thing, but I wouldn’t trade my Mac for something like my work PC, even if it could play more games.

To be fair, this guy was kinda trying to game the system (I read the article).

You can buy an iPhone straight from Apple (he bought the iPhone 16e) and it’s not locked.

This guy went to Verizon, bought a phone from them, and intended to skip out after a month and go to a cheaper MVNO. I don’t disagree with the ruling — he was acting within the rules, and Verizon changed said rules after he signed the paperwork — but this guy doesn’t seem like a saint. I mean, fuck Verizon and all that, no sympathy for Big Red, but this guy was totally taking advantage. Of course, if Verizon makes a deal and he follows the letter of the law, I’m with him, but also, people like this make phone deals worse for the rest of us.

Remember when you could get a flagship smartphone for $200 straight up and you just had to keep service for 2 more years? If you were happy with your carrier it was fine, it wasn’t even new customers only. It was like, once that 2 years is up you’re eligible. Verizon even bumped up my eligibility by 2 months when my phone was boot looping. I told them I needed a new phone, either they had to help me or I would be forced to take my business to another carrier, because I couldn’t just not have a phone for 2 months. They said “you know what, you pay your bill on time, we want your business, what phone do you want?” (Then they tried to talk me out of getting an iPhone, 6s, because my last two phones were Android. I said IDGAF about platform wars, the iPhone 6s is the best phone out right now (this was before the Pixel 1 was even announced! But the same year it came out) and it’s the one I want. Rocked that phone for four years.)

The market is kind of a trap. They sell the expensive, high end stuff for the suckers who are willing to buy them, and for those who demand the absolute best — for whatever reason.

They all sell cheaper phones. This year, it was incredibly obvious that, dollar for dollar, the iPhone 17 is the best iPhone deal, but Apple got shit earlier this year when they released the 16e at the price used 15 Pros were going for (when the 16 Pro/Max was the latest model). The 16e has a couple advantages over the 15 Pro, like the custom Apple modem and… I think there was one other thing? Very minor though. Apple used to sell a cheaper phone, the SE, and the SE 2 and 3 are modeled after the iPhone 8, but they have the guts of an 11, the difference being, the 3 supports 5G. I had the SE 2 and got it for $250. It was $200 but I paid $50 to go from 64GB (base model) to 128GB.

These days, you can’t get an iPhone that low. You have to pay more, or pay with your privacy and go Android. I’ve heard lots of great things about the latest Galaxy A phone. It’s $200, it’s 128GB storage, 4GB RAM (a bit low for modern Android… even a bit low for iOS), “decent-ish” cameras, 6.7", 1080p, and it refreshes up to 90Hz. Apparently, it’s a pretty decent phone for the money.

But honestly, privacy or otherwise, I’m kinda done pretending Apple has the high ground or that one brand is inherently better than the other. I still like Apple for the Mac. I don’t like the direction Windows has gone (though I quite enjoy the Windows 11 machine I use at work, and I’ve set it up differently to how everyone else has theirs… I would not choose Windows for my home computer, if it could even run it). As I said, as others have said, phone makers have good phones at lower prices, and the high end is kind of a scam. All you’re missing out on with cheaper phones is AI (which I don’t need or really care about missing) and high end gaming… which I also don’t care about. Apple has some “AAA” Ubisoft and Capcom games like Assassin’s Creed and Resident Evil games on the iPhone, and apparently they look great for running on a <7" screen, but I’m not interested. I’ll take a run in Subway Surfers every now and then, but for actual “gaming,” I have an Xbox for that. I just want my phone to be a handheld personal computing device, and that’s not a good look for gaming.

I have actually met, spoken to, and joked with convicted murderers. And people who committed far more heinous crimes.

I have a very interesting work history.

The fact of the matter is, someone who has murdered another — beyond a shadow of a doubt, I don’t mean to include those falsely convicted — does not necessarily mean to kill YOU. Unless they’re a psycho or something, most killers have killed because of some circumstance that put another person in the way of their life. I’m not saying they absolutely had to kill the person. Just that had the circumstances been different, they wouldn’t have necessarily killed someone at all. Sexual predators are different. They target their victims and set up the circumstances, in most cases. But killers? Not necessarily a threat to you, unless you are necessarily a threat to them. Even serial killers. Serial killers just have a body count. Most of them don’t want to kill everyone.

Funny thing is, sucralose (brand name: Splenda) is 600 times sweeter than sugar. If you open a Splenda packet and a sugar packet side by side, you seem to be getting less sucralose. The fact is, you’re getting a LOT less sucralose! Most of what is in a Splenda packet is filler material that is safe/harmless to consume. I feel like you would be sick if you ate a teaspoon of raw sucralose, but I’m really not sure what would happen. I would not want to find out.

Some say it’s bad for you… I think, largely, this either comes from ignorance (simply not knowing), or fear of a repeat of the aspartame scare of the 1980s (Equal/Sweet-n-Low was thought to cause cancer — it didn’t, but, like the Tylenol scare (where someone opened a bottle and put something else in and someone got sick, leading to those tamper-proof seals you can’t fully remove — that’s why you can’t — it made people wary), or even being part of or affected by Big Sugar propaganda that says fat, not sugar, makes people gain weight (“after all, it’s right in the name”), but the fact is, one Splenda packet in a normal cup of coffee (6-12oz) or two in a larger, gas-station sized (20-24oz) cup is so little of the material, it won’t really do anything to you.

Salt is salt… unless it’s kosher salt or sea salt, which tastes better but lacks something table salt has? I dunno. I mostly just use table salt. In small amounts, of course. I don’t think anyone who cooks skips salt entirely — unless they use MSG, which is a lower-sodium alternative that is also the subject of a conspiracy theory — that Chinese buffets use it to make you fuller, faster. (Sodium, or consuming less sodium, will not make you feel full. Rice, on the other hand, tends to expand in the stomach. But that’s more to do with rice, and not at all to do with sodium.)

Imagine paying that much money for a fridge with a screen and it’s used to show you ads.

Imagine using Android — an operating system that Google bought because they figured they could collect more personal information and serve more ads to people than Gmail alone could reach — and not expecting ads. (To be fair, iPhones have ads, too. Both platforms can hide most ads via DNS filtering. Android devices have a better option — the HOSTS file — if they are rooted.)

Corporate VPNs don’t make it look like you’re in a third world country, though.

If I’m working for a megacorp in New York and I work from home, I would use a VPN on my company issued laptop to make the corp’s network think I’m on the intranet, and thus, it’s okay to serve me intranet resources and secure files. If I go to a location based site (such as Google Maps), I’ll still show up in New York, not Bumfuck Egypt.

I don’t think they’ll ban corporate VPNs. I think they will go after the privacy respecting ones, though. And if you’re a hobbyist using a VPN for your server and it’s not masking your location, I think that’s something that will be allowed. All these regional restrictions though, like on porn sites, I do think they will go after companies that let you defeat those restrictions.

I think the VPN companies think so, which is why they’re offering fire sales on 3-10 year plans. I don’t think they expect to have to provide the service for that long.

That graph doesn’t tell us anything, though. 100% of what? People who were the most against homosexuality? In those countries? Likely, but why are they afraid to say so?

It’s insulting because there are a lot of LGBTQ+ voice actors who want to do this but the powers that be won’t greenlight it.

Look at Amazon’s relationship with Trump, Trump’s positions on LGBTQ+ people, and ask why Amazon is doing this. They aren’t contractually obligated to do so. They are doing various animation projects and paying real voice actors. Though Hazbin Hotel is pretty gay, and so is Helluva Boss (same people/same universe). The only other animation project I know at Amazon is Mighty Nein, and I wanna say those guys are LGBTQ+ friendly but I’m not sure they’re on the spectrum. So I don’t wanna say Amazon is acting prejudicial here, but it smells.

Wasn’t this posted like a week ago without the paywall?

So do we really think that everyone who works at Google or Microsoft is a bad person? Let me remind you that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has given billions to charity. He’s probably not a saint, but is he a net positive or a net negative to the world?

Net positive and net negative… there are 8 billion people and that in and of itself is a problem. Should we fault every human on the planet for being part of the problem? “I was just following orders,” someone in the comments said. Biological directives to mate and reproduce and raise a family. Two people having more than two children between them are increasing the population. If you have three kids, and you’re the father, if there are two different mothers, it’s the same equation. Three adults replaced by three children (after so many years). But population is increasing, not decreasing. We’re all part of the problem. Are we all evil?

That’s not the way I see it. I don’t think it’s fair to judge the individual by the group. I think a person can still be a good person even if they’re part of something that is not good. If you agree with me on overpopulation but not the company in OP’s post, do you draw the line at being able to help it? Like if you’re one of 12 kids you can’t help that, so maybe you adopt when you’re ready to have kids, instead of actually bringing more into the world? So most people can’t help where they work on account of your hopes and wishes won’t pay their bills. You can will them to do the right thing, but you’re not the one responsible for paying their bills, and if they get their lights shut off, their car taken, or evicted, you can draw the shades and say “that’s not my problem.” So why should you get a say? Are you willing to support their families? No, you are not.

But at the same time, I also recognise that some organisations are evil, some governments are evil, and those who enable them do own some responsibility for that. I just don’t think it’s the final say in who a person is.

Everyone else is asking why and here I am wondering why an American company would use the English spelling of aluminium instead of the American spelling “aluminum” (Americans drop the last I).

Or maybe the author just wrote it in English out of habit and the word looks like the American version at a glance. But it’s something I notice.

Frequency.

A couple months ago, I found a really cool remake of one of the songs from KPop Demon Hunters. Everyone was doing covers of those songs, and many of them were indie artists, and I was rolling through them. So I found this video, and the video was just an image effect on the cover, which looked very AI-generated, but it’s just the cover image, right? Who cares about that? I asked them in the comments if they would release their stuff on Apple Music. And they quickly responded — no, they’re going to leave that money on the table, and have decided to stay exclusive to YouTube. Why would an artist choose to do that? Sure, a couple artists pulled their music off all other streaming platforms when they made their own, or their friends did. Garth Brooks has never been on streaming (except Amazon, I think they’re the only one whose ethics he agrees with or something?). But most indie artists are on all the platforms. Maximise revenue. So these people saying no, not only to Apple Music — maybe they didn’t like Apple kissing up to Trump — but also to Spotify, Amazon, Deezer, and all the rest. Turns out most of those platforms are stricter when it comes to AI music.

But here’s the thing — their songs are still by the original artist. They’re just stripping out the lyrics and putting new music to the lyrics. And that music is AI generated. Or so I later learned. I looked more into the YouTube channel, and they say they will make you a cover of a song, in any style you like, for $200. And they have hundreds of uploads… in a few months. Each song may have five or six variants. And the songs are still fine, but they have a generic, plastic, not real feel to them.

Of course, they also qualify the first thing in OP’s summary, no social media presence. They just have the sales site, and the YouTube channel.

But maybe it’s fine, or at least less bad, that they’re taking existing songs and just remixing them with AI? Only they’re saying the covers are better, and they’re monetising the videos, so they’re getting paid for the streams when that money should be going to the original artist. It’s fine if they actually covered the song and recorded it, but having a computer do all the heavy lifting? Just seems scummy.

I’m not going to name & shame, but if you look up KPDH covers and see something that looks like AI slop with click-bait titles… you’ve probably found the right one. (They cover other stuff too, not just KPDH.)

In looks, maybe if you squint? Lions are felines; bears are not canines. They are not related.

Coyotes and wolves are the wild equivalent, but they aren’t much bigger. I think the largest canines that exist today have been domesticated, like the Saint Bernard and the Great Dane. There are others, but those are the popular ones. Also, I think you could breed the wild out of coyotes and wolves if you tried. I’ve never heard of anyone keeping coyotes as pets, but wolves? Sure. Especially wolf cross-breeds with domesticated breeds.

Unless you get on the other side of an end zone. Then you should be safe. (American football joke. The Chicago Bears’ unofficial motto is “maybe next year.” Though they’ve been doing good this year.)