If you use AI to write your speeches, you clearly have not bothered to study the issue at hand and are therefore not qualified to be representing your constituents on said issue.

Gotta look out for those telescreens, Winston.

I’m far from a specialist. Not only is my knowledge about 25 years or so out of date, I ended up leaving with half a year left on my degree because not only did a divorce make me unable to afford to continue, but some guys from the middle east crashed into the World Trade Center and ignited a war that shut down any actual archaeological work in the most of that part of the world for a decade or so.

So rather than specialist, I’m a guy that has 3.5 years of a 4 year Bachelor’s degree, and then went off to take a bunch of computer certificates instead. lol.

Still regret never going back to finish it once the middle east settled down again.

Schliemann dug straight through the actual Troy that he was looking for, destroying a huge chunk of it to get to an even earlier settlement in the strata beneath that he decided to call Troy. His “method” was essentially do dig a trench all the way to the bottom, assuming that the oldest level would be Troy. (Yes…he was that stupid).

It was only afterwards that other, actual archaeologists placed the proper stratum that the homeric Troy would have existed in. And by then, much of it was already obliterated.

I majored in Near Eastern Classical Archaeology with a focus on the Bronze age (Hittites, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Babylonians, etc…), and lesson one may as as well have been titled “Why Heinrich Schliemenn was an asshole.”

I consider myself pretty jaded and cynical when it comes to developers pulling that kind of stuff. As long as they keep it somewhat subtle and low-key I can ignore it and move on.

But recently ( and no, I don’t know how this happened) I discovered that for a very long time, I’ve apparently owned Final Fantasy XV Royal edition on XBox. I don’t remember ever buying it, it’s never been in my “purchases list”. But as I was scrolling through a “deals” list, I noticed that it sayd owned, so I said fuck it and installed it.

Well, let’s just say that as soon as Cindy appears, I’m not jaded and cynical anymore. I’m just thinking “holy shit this is just shameless…”

Anything and everything in the world is priced on the assumption that you have two people bringing in an income.

There’s a 100% chance that this guy is a pedo.

Of course I can’t stay too long because of the radon.

I’ll let you know when it happens… /s

Just kidding. I’m not THAT big of an asshole.

So brave posting this on Lemmy.

Other than Mastodon this is the only social media presence I keep around. So I’m limited. It was either here or c/showerthoughts. Figured it fit better here since controversial is a kissing-cousin to unpopular

Maybe not in the Lemmy-verse where well all tend to lean left. But certainly in America at large.

It should be pre-emptive.

Johnny beat-cop walking the street dealing with traffic stops, vagrants, etc…; nothing that for the vast majority of times requires anything more lethal than a taser.

Suddenly they get called to attend a potentially dangerous scene with a high likelihood of violence occuring and the supervisor says “okay, based on the suspect’s history and the run down of the situation (or whatever), I’m authorizing weapons unlock for this one”.

Actually I unironically consider Arnold a good actor (In a very specific way).

If a measure of good is being able to take ownership of a role to the point where the audience can’t imagine anyone else playing it…Arnold has the presence and the charisma to do that no matter what role he plays. Sure, his english may be stilted, and he’s not going to be winning an oscar or anything.

But acting includes physicallity (IMO) and I can’t picture anyone else in a huey puffing a cigar like a badass and then accusing his buddy of pushing too many pencils in the manliest hand shake scene ever in Predator. And then telling a bunch of kindergarteners that It’s not a tumor…

Only Arnold can pull that off. He’s iconic. And THAT takes at least some ability.

He’s not bad. I mean…of course he’s not Olivier or anything. But he’s perfectly servicable.

The characters he plays are just all the same note; stoic, semi-serious tough guys who say very little.

There are a few episodes of Atlantis where he’s given the opportunity to get out of that and actually show some range, and when that happens he’s acceptable.

He’s not going to win any awards or anything. But I’ve seen far far worse.

As long as I have enough money to buy ammo, it’ll all work itself out in the end.

Tsukomogami and Patina: In Praise of Old Things

It’s the concept that old mechanical things like typewriters and camera lenses (for example) all age individually. They develop their own quirks and foibles as they are used. They almost (as in Tsukomogami) develop a soul.

We are fundamentally losing that to a society that is about consumable mass-produced trash, and on a long enough timeline, it’s going to mean losing a fundamental piece of who we are as a society.

What a fucking loser. I can’t even describe how pathetic he is when he tries to put on his tough face. Fucking cosplaying motherfucker probably got tea-bagged too often in CoD and now has to take it out on actual soldiers.

That’s the soundtrack for the game. Not the game itself.

There is nothing in this world at this moment that would make me happier than digging through that box, reading old ACTUAL paper game manuals, and falling back into my early 20s when gaming still felt magical.

I’m 50 years old and I’ve always wanted to get my PPL, and it’s always been out of reach.

There has never been a point where private piloting wasn’t limited to the wealthy (or at least the extremelly well off).