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A simple argument shows that capitalism is theft and workers have an inalienable right to workplace democracy - 35 minute video
  • I'm a little worried about the level of critical thinking around here if people really feel that "great" arguments can be expressed in a four panel comic.

    The world is not simple, and memes can not make a valid worldview.

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    Billionaire-owned news is not our only option
  • I don't think either PBS or NPR has been "bought" by anyone. They're both still non-profits owned by their member stations.

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    Seriously good cold-climate heat pumps are headed to the US market
  • Short answer is yes.

    I got curious and dug up the spec sheet. https://budgetheating.com/v/vspfiles/downloadables/BOVA36-60HDN1-M20G Technical Specifications.pdf So I overstated my particular unit. It's rated to -4F.

    I live in a climate that gets under -4F a few times a year, so I also have an auxiliary furnace. I set the cutover temp very conservatively at 20F for last winter as it was the first winter using the heat pump, and I also heard people telling horror stories about $1000 electric bills in January.

    While my winter electric bill is now larger than my summer bill, the increase in electricity spending is about half the decrease in gas spending. Looking back at the temperature record, my furnace turned on about 10 days last winter.

    I've got the cutover set to 0F this year and we'll see how that impacts the balance.

    It's also worth noting that my home was built in the early 70s and still has the original windows and insulation, so it's a long way from the ideal case.

    As for your experience with HVAC technicians, I also met a few who clearly still thought heat pumps didn't work well enough, and others who basically recommended them to everyone. It really seemed to be a generational thing.

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    Seriously good cold-climate heat pumps are headed to the US market
  • I am looking out my window at a heat pump in my back yard which is effective down to -15F. Your info is I think about 10 years out of date.

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    How are we going to have evidence in trials when deep fakes and AI is getting so perfect at "being real"?
  • It becomes useless as evidence unless you can establish authenticity. It just makes audio recordings more in a class with text documents; perfectly fakeable, but admissible with the right supporting information. So I agree it's a change, but it's not the end of audio evidence, and it's a change in a direction which courts already have experience.

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    Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Dev Says Big Budget Games Are Failing in Part Because Teams Are Over-Scoping Their Projects
  • If the argument is that SM2 is successful because it limited it's scope to execute a smaller number of features well, I don't think that holds up. It took on three different types of games and (imho) executed merely okay. What more could they have added? Open world? MMO?

    I think the more plausible explanation for the sales is that it's Warhammer, it's pretty, and SM1 was good.

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    Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Dev Says Big Budget Games Are Failing in Part Because Teams Are Over-Scoping Their Projects
  • Who praised them? But I don't know what measure we'd use to determine the general reception of this particular feature. Particularly given that almost all video game journalism is mere marketing. So that's probably not a fruitful point to argue over.

    Instead I'll offer the things that I think earn the competitive multiplayer a poor rating.

    • No skill or even experience based match making. Too many games are blowouts because all of the level 1 players were put on one team.
    • Teams are static once a match lobby has formed. If the teams are poorly balanced they will continue to be forever. Players can't even switch voluntarily. The only remedy is to bail on the lobby and hop into a different random one.
    • Classes and weapons are poorly balanced. The Bulwark is a key example of a too strong and not fun design. The Assault class, and melee in general is in a pretty poor state (unless you have an infinite defense shield that lets you walk up to people). Many of the weapon options for the classes are almost unusably weak, so class loadouts tend to be very samey. Grenades are spammy and the shock grenade blind duration is not fun.
    • Players are randomly assigned Imperial or Chaos marines. But there is basically no character customization for the Chaos marines, while the Imperial marines have 5 or 6 different sets. Either the enemy team should always appear to be Chaos with their NPC style, or they should have included equivalent Chaos customization.
    • Players have minimal control over which game modes they play. It's either 100% random or selecting a single mode. A configurable selection is a common multiplayer feature.
    • Map design is bland. This is perhaps a more personal preference, but I find the symmetrical, arcade arenas with no narrative character boring.
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    Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Dev Says Big Budget Games Are Failing in Part Because Teams Are Over-Scoping Their Projects
  • Space marine 2 seems like a good example of this.

    Single player campaign: mediocre

    CoOp missions: mediocre

    Competitive multiplayer: poor

    Seems like dropping one of those might have allowed the remaining two to earn a "pretty good"

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    Editorial Board: The teen arrested in Georgia school shooting is not an adult, and shouldn't be treated like one
  • Has there ever been a repeat mass shooter? Is the risk of recidivism really the right theory for understanding the incarceration of mass shooters? Even if we broaden the question to whether juvenile mass shooters are likely to commit other crimes, is that even true?

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    Croup can eat a bag of dicks.
  • Very similar story for my 1.5 year old. Visits to the ER for steroid nebulizers two nights in a row. We were never kept for observation, but that may be because he's older. I don't think croup is supposed to last long. We had two bad nights and got better steadily for another week until it was over.

    But yeah croup is nasty. We thought he had inhaled something and was choking the first night.

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    Why I Haven't Seen Any Trump Supporters In Fediverse (Lemmy and Mastodon)?
  • It would be nice to have some opposition, though. Even if most "conservative" media right now is little more than xenophobia, or cult worship, there do exist sound arguments against the typical internet-left positions. I don't have a solid enough read on what comes through New in the fediverse to say whether any of that is being submitted and just downvoted off everyone's feeds, or if all that's being submitted is the average conservative media junk.

    Still, political spaces without opposition/diversity invariably degenerate into purity contests, and circle jerking.

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    *Permanently Deleted*
  • Well not quite that either. I don't know how to pack this up into a tidy analogy, but the issue is that some of these communication platforms have been designed in such a way that no record of the content can be accessed by a third party.

    So maybe it's more like, "Please give me a transcript of the keynote speech at your murderer's convention," and replying, "Sorry I don't have a transcript." And then the government further saying, "Well then you need to let us install bugs in all your rooms," and you, the host of many different conventions reply, "No. Privacy is part of the service." I have now belabored this analogy to death. You're welcome.

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    Woman 'who first shared lies that sparked UK riots' arrested
  • Sure I guess if there's a fire, or at least believe there's a fire. Hard to figure out who's deliberately lying to start shit, and who's just gullible and vocal on social media.

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    LGBTQ+ orgs blast Joe Biden's "cowardly" statement opposing surgeries for trans youth
  • I think in the context of legislation, interpreting "let pass" to mean "allow to be signed into law" is understandable. But I see you just meant it chronologically.

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  • Pretty much title. I haven't had cable in a decade, and I'm not really a sports person, so I'd really rather not have to sign up for some sports streaming package, but I do kinda like watching Avs games. A friend asked me why I didn't just get an antenna to watch the games, but the broadcast TV page on the Denver Post doesn't look like they actually carry Avs games. Just wondering if I missed something.

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