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prole

@prole@sh.itjust.works

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prole ,
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Not really a great analogy though, is it, since Biden wasn't the one who pulled the football up the first time. His administration has also been working constantly, using every way they can, to forgive as much student loan debt as possible. That's after the SCOTUS ruling.

Say what you will about him, but Biden has shown that, at least on this issue, he's doing everything in his power to get rid of as much as possible. And he's already changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of borrowers... Again, after his plan got shot down.

I wouldn't be surprised if they get this done in time for the election... They will try to get the timing right though so it motivates people to vote.

prole ,
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Didn't Pythagoras have a cult or some shit?

Also, I would say a lot of modern medicine, since the discovery of germ theory, has included a sizeable portion of evangelism. How do you think they got people to start washing their hands or taking antibiotics?

prole ,
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Play Sekiro if you haven't yet already.

prole ,
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(holy wall-of-text. Sorry for writing an essay, but maybe indulge me? Lol thanks)

Oh man, you're in for a treat. If you haven't permanently rage-quit Sifu, then I think Sekiro will be perfect for you. It's similar, but far more polished and rewarding. So rewarding.

The boss fights are incredible, and nearly all of them seem downright impossible (looking at you Demon of Hatred and Sword Saint Isshin) at first, and that's not an exaggeration.

But you persist. And then you start to steadily feel yourself progress; you will continue to die over and over, but you start remembering the timing of their moves, and seeing the cracks in the enemy's defenses, etc. And it feels great. Sometimes you'll feel that progress stall, but if you take a break and come back the next day, you're often shocked at the improvement (not sure if sleeping has anything to do with cementing that muscle memory or something?) when you come back to it.

e.g., I spent probably 4+ hours on the final boss one night and quit in frustration to go to bed. Next morning before work I was like "I need to try this one more time"... I literally beat him on my first try. Wish I had a video or something.

Next thing you know, you're making that boss your bitch. You know their tells and time your counters perfectly. To your surprise, you find that you not only survived each boss transformation, you did it without even being touched... And the dopamine rush is second to none (well aside from some drugs probably). It makes you feel like a god, and it truly feels like an accomplishment when that classic From Soft "ENEMY SLAIN" text pops up .There's just something so gratifying about it.

And that's not even getting into the wonderful setting/visual style, level design, and movement/traversal. You get a grappling hook right away, and I still think it's the best implementation of that in any game I've played.

When you get into that flow state in this game, it can almost feel like a rhythm game of sorts. And I'm not the biggest fan of that genre, but it all works so well.

I will just say: I enjoyed Sifu, but every time I started it up, it just made me want to play Sekiro instead (and I usually did). I'm trying to think of a better metaphor than "Sifu is Sekiro's stylized John Wick-Loving little brother"... I'll probably think of something randomly 6 hours from now and won't care anymore by that point...

Anyway, I really REALLY love this game if you couldn't tell lol.

If you're new to FromSoftware games, don't be intimidated by Sekiro and any people who may tell you it's too hard or complain that it doesn't have the usual Souls/Bloodborne/Elden Ring build-focus and weapons/equipments. I think this aspect can make Sekiro a great entrance into the series/genre as it allows you to focus on gameplay and story (that actually exists and is comprehensible)

As someone who attempted to start games of DS1 and Bloodborne on multiple occasions without "getting" it and giving up, Sekiro was their first game that sucked me in. And boy did it suck (me in). I was hooked.

Not only that, but it's like riding a bike. I go back to the game at least once or twice a year now since first beating it, and I can still beat the final boss with only a handful of deaths..

Anyway... Lol

Once again, i cannot recommend this game enough. It's probably my favorite game ever (at least of games I've completed). At risk of sounding cringe, I would say the gameplay loop had very positive effects for me in terms of letting things go, and controlling anger.

Just play it. Sifu on steroids.

prole ,
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Well I'm glad at least one person read it! I never miss an opportunity to evangelize for Sekiro lol.

I probably wouldn't suggest Sekiro as a first From Software experience for most people (that would probably be Elden Ring. Or maybe Bloodborne), but given your obvious love for Sifu, and it seems that clearly you're pretty good at it which means you're good at timing parries (you'd have to be).

So I don't think you'll have much issue adjusting to Sekiro. Worst possibility is that it "ruins" Sifu for you lol.

Ah man, might be time to finally go back and finish my first NG+

prole ,
@prole@sh.itjust.works avatar

Just recently signed up for Mullvad... No CC numbers or email addresses, you just get a string of numbers and that's all you need to connect with it anywhere. And you can pay with Monero.

It's like the paranoid person's dream.

prole ,
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Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Thank god that shit didn't exist when I was in college, or every paper I ever wrote would have been flagged. I guess I write like a robot.

prole ,
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As others have said, Mullvad is pretty close to (if not at) 100% guarantee... No personal info whatsoever is required to be given when you sign up (including email address or payment information; you can use Monero if you want), so there isn't really anything that they could give to authorities even if they wanted.

Even if they did keep logs (which im 99.9% sure they don't), all that would show is an IP address, and from what I understand based on past precedent, that is not enough to identify a person on its own. But IANAL.

prole ,
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Just switched to Mullvad and haven't tried torrenting with it yet... Doesn't work? Or just slow?

prole ,
@prole@sh.itjust.works avatar

Thing is, I don't even feel like I do write like a robot per-se... Maybe it's more like I write like the average of every person who has ever written anything ever lol.

prole ,
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How long until it's turned into a weapon

prole ,
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It'll be interesting to see just how little this is in the national news given the location of the path compared to times when the path of an eclipse has gone through major metropolitan areas in the northeast or west coast. Almost an indirect measurement of science education in each area. I didn't even know there was an eclipse coming until this article.

Or maybe I'll be proven wrong...

prole ,
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This isn't an album to "skim".

prole ,
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This dude really looks like someone you would not want to fuck with.

prole ,
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Twelve Inch (Landscaping) Bolts

My favorite band.

prole ,
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Not sure what you mean by "typical bread," but the US is lousy with bakeries that make fresh bread. Even corporate owned supermarkets have them inside, and they bake fresh bread and things daily.

Nobody is forcing you to buy Wonderbread.

Israel quietly rolled out a mass facial recognition program in the Gaza Strip ( www.theverge.com )

Israel has deployed a mass facial recognition program in the Gaza Strip, creating a database of Palestinians without their knowledge or consent, The New York Times reports. The program, which was created after the October 7th attacks, uses technology from Google Photos as well as a custom tool built by the Tel Aviv-based company...

prole ,
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Genocide apologist.

prole ,
@prole@sh.itjust.works avatar

How convenient for them.

prole ,
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As someone who used to be a member of what.cd, and still has a bunch of incredible sounding FLAC vinyl rips of albums, this definitely is not true.

prole ,
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the retro sound of CDs

Your mistake is equivocating digital with analog. There is nothing "retro sounding" about CDs, you can download lossless digital versions of albums that are identical to what you'll find on a CD.

prole ,
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No, a CD that carries the actual CD logo cannot have DRM.

Is this true? If so, I'm guessing it's purely due to limitations in the hardware, rather than lack of will? I can't imagine CDs coming out these days and not having some sort of DRM.

Nintendo was able to figure it out with GameCube games...

prole ,
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RIP

prole ,
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No DRM, no remotely removing your ability to use it.

Yet.

prole ,
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This is true. That said, I've seen people claim that nobody can tell the difference between lossless and 128kbps mp3, but that's complete bullshit.

Though once you get above 192, it's pretty indistinguishable.

prole ,
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What used to have staff picks where the download amount wouldn't count negatively towards your ratio, but the upload amount would. When the Beatles remasters came out in 2008 or 2009, they put the entire collection on there, including the FLAC version. It was like 9+ gb I think, all of which was free in terms download amount. All it took was uploading for a few hours and I got my ratio into double digits. Basically made it so I never had to worry about it ever again.

prole ,
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Maybe try Google? As I said, I downloaded them I didn't rip them myself. There was this person with the username "PBTHAL" that always had to best lossless vinyl rips, if you do a search that includes that name, you might find alternate download sources for them. I think they ran their own site where they posted all of their rips outside of what, but don't know if it's still there. They were also very thorough while explaining the process, equipment, cables, etc. for each and every rip. This person was really a perfectionist, and boy did it show. There were albums that they ripped and then refused to upload because they didn't feel their rip was perfect enough.

Absolute fucking legend.

I even have FLACs of reel-to-reel versions of all Zeppelin albums, as well as, Bowie, Dylan, et. al. and they sound fantastic. Don't ask me how it's done. And given the pedigree of that website, these people took the ripping process incredibly seriously.

prole ,
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Yeah, but I imagine that CD logo is a "stamp of quality" of sorts that tells you that the disc inside fits an agreed upon, unified set of standards. And one of those standards is "no DRM."

Point was, if that standard was created or updated today, there's no shot that they wouldn't require DRM.

Maybe I'm wrong though and that's not at all what the CD logo means.

prole ,
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Yeah but it's members only right? Frankly, I'm just too old and lazy and don't care enough about that stuff anymore to go through a whole interview process and shit.

Do they have PBTHAL vinyl rips? Those were my favorite by far. That person really knew WTF they were doing.

prole ,
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Yeah but I would need to "prove" I was a member, and it's not like I still have any kind of evidence. In fact, I got super lucky to get into what in the first place as I just happened to have a screenshot of my OiNK title bar/ratio because I was messing with different CSS themes months/years prior. So when OiNK died, I was able to get into what pretty easily by showing that screenshot.

I have no such thing for what.

prole ,
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🤤

prole ,
@prole@sh.itjust.works avatar

Right. I was able to skip the interview process for What because I was a member of OiNK and got lucky enough to find someone on reddit to send me an invite. The whole idea of interviewing to join a torrent site rubs me the wrong way and as I said above, I don't really care about that stuff enough anymore to go through the hassle.

prole ,
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I've got a what.cd hoodie lying around somewhere. Wore that thing out for years, so it's falling apart at this point.

prole ,
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I know GameCube discs had a sort of copy protection built in (don't remember exactly how it worked, but it was pretty creative if I recall). I don't think they had the CD logo on them though.

prole ,
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You might be able to find some dedicated metalheads ripping vinyl, but my experience was that it seemed to be done more with albums that were released prior to the rise of digital music. I feel like it makes more sense when the album was written and recorded with vinyl in mind, otherwise you're taking a digital recording and putting it on a record so I'm not sure you're going to get anything that sounds better by ripping the vinyl over just ripping the CD. If that makes sense.

I could be wrong though...

prole ,
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Yeah. I've still got my massive music collection from those private trackers backed up on a couple external drives, so I already have most of what I want/need stored in a couple different locations. And you can find 320kbps rips of stuff on public trackers these days. Might not has the same pedigree as someone on a private tracker using EAC and making sure everything runs perfectly, but it's good enough for me.

prole ,
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It's like the human centipede, if it was a complete circle.

prole ,
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I wonder if a wolf experiencing such a traumatic thing like this at such a young age, only to be rescued by humans, does anything to "fast track" their domestication?

Like are they aware at some level that they owe their life to this human? Like I wonder if you looked at it side-by-side with a normal wolf cub taken out of the wild and treated as a dog, would it end up more or less docile as an adult?

prole ,
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Yeah, all of this news sounds cool, but I'm skeptical when all we hear is good things, especially after such tumultuous monkey trials.

I'm just waiting for a whistle blower to dump a bunch of evidence a decade from now showing all the horrific Unit 731- esque shit they're currently covering up in the name of science. But by that point we'll be receiving all our news directly into our cerebral cortex using "Musk-X" brand implants, so it will never be seen or reported on. And yes, even the poors have them; their units are subsidized by the unavoidable ads being drilled directly into their subconscious.

All you folks with kids have such a bright future for them to look forward to!

prole ,
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The Firefox hate seems so irrational to me. Like it's not completely natural or something. People were SO QUICK to come here and shit talk Mozilla without giving the actual content of the article a second thought to realize that this makes them look good.

prole ,
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Yeah just an honest broker looking for the best product right? So much so that you weren't even willing to correctly parse the title of the article, and took it to mean the complete opposite of what it actually says.

Right.

prole ,
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And the best browser right now is Arc, which just opened up their Windows Beta to the public

Lol, you do realize that ending your comment with a plug for a different browser doesn't exactly make you look like an honest broker... Just a heads up for next time.

prole ,
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Tesla existed for years before Musk bought himself into the CEO position.

US sues Apple for illegal monopoly over smartphones ( www.theverge.com )

The US Department of Justice and 16 state and district attorneys general accused Apple of operating an illegal monopoly in the smartphone market in a new antitrust lawsuit. The DOJ and states are accusing Apple of driving up prices for consumers and developers at the expense of making users more reliant on its iPhones.

prole ,
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Maybe people aren't spending $500-$1200 on a device just because it has a headphone jack. Like that's anyone's top concern.

prole ,
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Apple impacts your life, if indirectly, by shaping the market that they control over 50% of. I haven't owned an Apple product since my 4th gen click wheel iPod, and I'd be a fool to suggest that their decisions don't have an influence on my life.

prole ,
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Lol ok semantics.

"Impact" doesn't mean "direct" necessarily, that's why the word is often used with the word "direct" or "indirect" as a modifier.

prole ,
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Are you asking me to explain microeconomics to you? Ask 100 people in the US if they've ever heard of Zen Phone, and 99 will tell you no.

And, again, that's nobody's top concern. Maybe if it was an mp3 player, rather than a phone, whether or not it has a headphone jack would be higher up on the priority list.

prole ,
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Exactly my point

Inside The Ritzy Retreats Hosting Right-Wing Judges: During Koch-funded trips to mountain resorts, Trump judges huddled over a new strategy to advance “history and tradition” as the law of the land. ( www.huffpost.com )

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240321121231/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/judges-luxury-travel-corpus-linguistics_n_65f75ff6e4b0defe9b276601

prole ,
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These people are fucking evil.

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