I will wait forever if I have to.
“Jack Black is a gamer and he wants you to know it.”
“Activision Boss Hyped About AI, Suggests It Could Be Used In A New Guitar Hero”
Friday Afternoon Links
About The Author
Riven
[riv-uhn]
noun
1. a gaming, lifting, shooting, intoxicated, ravenous, and happily-taken nerd.
2. often aims to misbehave.
3. and though she be but little, she is fierce.*
And rumor has it that she (and her husband) are also delightful dinner companions. You didn't hear it from me, though.
I have not yet begun to First.
You said it, not us.
I would much rather be playing Tears of the Kingdom than sitting in this training.
We checked before leaving for work this morning, and the download was complete đ
My download was completed on Tuesday.
But it’s date night tonight, and I have to take my car into the shop tomorrow morning. Sunday… I may be able to get some time to play Sunday.
Fingers crossed for you. I won’t be playing it for probably a year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB2yqeD0Nus
Not sure if you already bought it but: https://www.gamestop.com/zelda-trade2-list
Game Stop is willing to accept some really bad games to give you Zelda.
I didn’t like the last one & this one sounds like more of the same.
/wonders if it would even play on a Wii U that’s in a box somewhere
Reddit: the person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWsuokWmEZI is all that leaps to my mind.
Am I the only one that thinks Jack Black is basically the character he played in High Fidelity?
Absolutely not. This song came straight from his heart, I have no doubt
This one’s for the ladies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zliY-MrI0mY
/lyrics NSFW
Here I thought it would be Rico Suave. Shows my age.
I buy it.
Owing to my adolescent obsession with The X-Files, I always remember him from the episode D.P.O.
He’s arms dealer in my memory.
You’re not alone.
Until you watch Demolition Man and you realize that his role in Tropic Thunder was a reprisal.
High Fidelity should be the totality of Jack Blacks career. Start on a high note, end on a high note.
JABLINSKI GAMES!
Because actually getting a learning AI on a level playing field instead of the “give the bot progressive cheats to equal ‘difficulty'” in strategy games is too wild a thought, after all.
But that would get rid of all the cheesing strategies!
Labor theory of value should be easily torpedoed by “work smarter, not harder”. The value is in the result — not in the drudgery it took to get there. I’ll admit the guy was overpaying technically, sure (as he admits) — but the value was in both the task and the perceived passing on of morals and rewarding the same to the next generation.
And AOC can go f herself (no, I don’t want to date you you annoying twit).
More Scrooge McDuck.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would like you to think that we often exchange money for the alienated souls of laborers. Pope Francis insists that labor transactions are âwin-loseâ events between haves and have-nots.
And that’s why neither of them should be within twelve parsecs of economic policy.
Commie Pope keeps revealing his utter ignorance of all things ecenomic.
You can cross off the economic of that statement.
As a matter of religion/morality, the Pope is obligated by thousands of years of tradition and the teachings of Christ and the church since inception to invert this formula. The crux of Christianity in contradistinction to the Judaism from which it sprung is that outcome is irrelevant and only intention really matters. Following the law with a grudging heart doesn’t count for salvation, you have to realign your intentions. It’s not a materialist philosophy, and can’t be made compatible with a materialist philosophy. Humans being something substantially less than God, that’s not how public policy should work. Let God judge people’s hearts and intentions, if you subscribe to that philosophy. The arbitrary and capricious whims of the politburo are not a substitute.
Reminds me of Wilbur Ross and Bob Lighthizer but yet they were the bastions of Trumponomics
Well, now I feel robbed. Iâve been buying stuff and paying for services my whole life, and Iâve never gotten the soul, alienated or not, of a laborer.
The Biblical story of Eden is actually a metaphor for our ancient alien ancestors terraforming Earth after Mars become uninhabitable – change my mind.
I thought we were in a perpetual cycle where Mars is settled by a few families fleeing nuclear war on Earth, evolving until they are practically unrecognizable as humans — then being wiped out once Terran civilization gets back up to planetary travel.
Or maybe I just read the wrong things….
Back from before she was woke.
Edgar Rice Burroughs disagrees.
Wow, there were rivers on Mars? Let this be a cautionary tale. Those Martians made their entire planet a desert by driving whatever Martians drive.
Funny how nobody asks what caused Mars to dry up, and are those forces doing things to Earth as well?
I thought most folks assume it was the lack of a molten core, resulting in a too weak magnetosphere and dessication / loss of atmosphere due to solar wind.
Certainly going to be a concern if/when Musk gets going and why I fully expect dome life will remain the standard for any Martian colony for the foreseeable future.
As long as we get three tit women, dome life won’t be so bad
The orginal Terrans stole all the water.
Then the Protoss took them out.
“driving whatever Martians drive”
Bill Bixby’s ass hard enough that he turned into a green rage monster.
I don’t remember seeing that in the comics.
Wrong Bixby vehicle. Try My Favorite Martian.
/lols in old-person
/holds up rabbit ear antennae behind head
I was half asleep when I wrote this, forgive me my vulgaritaay.
In simple terms, the theory states that the amount of hard labor put into a product or service is what determines its value (and price). The harder the work, the more value generated, and thus the more the worker should be remunerated. Sounds innocent enough.
Digging coal out of the ground should pay better than knowing where to dig.
Insert old IBM mainframe tech joke about “the value is in knowing which screw to turn”….
Best refutation of the labor theory of value is the guy who gives an LSD tab (or sheet of tabs) to Zappa, who did not partake, and Zappa turns around and sells the pack for $100 bucks.
I’ve seen that happen at auctions…
Here’s a labor theory of value.
They have to be taught how to grift, and that’s the start right there!
The wage is ridiculously low. It’s no surprise most of them come from families who can financially support them.
But they never strike or quit because they know the payoffs will be great when they finally become members of the in crowd.
This. They are social climbing power hungry little shits. You won’t get me to feel bad for them.
I’m more offended that we are basically paying for congress to have servants, regardless of what class they come from.
I assume that when a 33yo is working in a “prestigious” position for that wage, they’re where they want to be.
My daughter has been at FedEx driving her little forklift for 1.5 years. In 6 months, she’ll be a hot commodity on any dock in the city. Yet she stays at FedEx because she’s waiting for a full-time position. But she likes her situation: nice coworkers, good boss, valued employee. She doesn’t want to risk falling into a bad situation just for the money. Now, granted, she has that luxury because she lives at home, but I think she’s wise for doing that.
75 percent of staffers are white. Whites are about 70 percent of the population depending on how you count. Doesn’t seem like a big discrepancy.
Average age of staffers overall or entire staffing workforce? Because it looks to me like they conflated starting wage with average age of all staffers.
Yeah — once every couple of years for the House, and every 6 years (though there’s a rotation) for the Senate.
‘which may help explain why more than 75 percent of Hill staffers were white.’
Shouldn’t the explanation be that white people are too dumb to make good choices and/or congress is racist?
Well all, as I mentioned up thread, it’s date night. That means that I won’t be home to host the usual Friday night Zoom/Happy Hour/Airing of Grievances at 2000 Eastern. So I give you the open, unmoderated, meeting.
Enjoy, I may be able to stop in later.
Iâll be there later. Hell of a week.
Once I finish last night’s movie (still not started), I’ll join.
You’re worth as much as you will accept, unless you have an overly generous mentor who finds the job more valuable to him than you know, and then you get taught a thing or two about your worth.
However, one might think one is worth more than the job pays (assuming one is actually right), but one is desperate for the moment and will take what one can get. And then one is beaten down, tired, and forgets what one is really worth. Just sayin’.
The hours are long and the pay is bad. According to Issue One, a non-partisan political reform group, entry-level staffers (average age: 33) made around $38,000 a year in 2021.
Why do they do it? Nobody knows.
Age gap kink?
We know the White House interns are in it for the cigars….
Social worker degree? Or entry level with hopes of moving on up, maybe to the East Side.
These dummies have never heard of delayed gratification.
I went to Walmart and got ink for my printer. The refills (to the surprise of nobody here) were more than the original cost of the device. I just hope the damn thing prints.
The day I threw away my last inkjet printer was one of the best days of my life.
:sotto voce: Laser next time!
I haven’t dealt with an inkjet printer in over a decade. I don’t miss them in the least.
Laser only here. Color laser. Cheap refills, worked for years. One of the first wireless printers too. Inkjet printers are tools of the devil.
Just buy a new one then. đ
The printer manufacturers used to run into issues with replacement printers costing close to the same as replacement cartridges, so they started selling the printers with “starter cartridges” that were only 25-50% of the regular capacity.
Once upon a time I had a Tektronix solid ink printer. Printed magazine quality and used up every last bit of ink because instead of cartridges, it used a slab of wax for each color. That’s another one of those items I’d buy again given unlimited funds.
Dye sublimation? There was a company that released one that didn’t sell well that used cartridges that looked like tapes. One of the really killer features it had was the ability to do white and metallic “inks” to print on black paper and the like. I picked one up on clearance for cheap, and the thing was really neat.
Nope, solid ink. The colors come in little blocks that feel like crayons. Those are heated on a roller. The result is a glossy finish just like a magazine page.
Those were indeed awesome printers.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gillette-Fusion5-Men-s-Razor-Handle-and-2-Blade-Refills/194110195 $12.97
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gillette-Fusion-5-Power-Cartridges-8-ea/324882572 $22.97
Gillette is the devil.
I’m still working my way through a case of Derby blades I bought 3 years ago…
I’m still on my Gillette boycott.
I’m having HP ink problems so I went on a rant on Twitter. They reached out and are sending free replacement ink. We will see if it helps. I started getting errors for counterfeit cartridges even though mine were thoroughly HP.
Looking at a laser printer now since I rarely need to print color (I can do that at work)
I know they aren’t “$30 and a bucket of cheese” starter-cartridge inkjet cheap, but I think the color lasers are pretty danged cheap these days. Might consider it. (Says the guy who hasn’t actually bought one in 10-15 years [don’t remember when I did buy my current one… just buy toner every 3-4 years or so… and most of that is because of school stuff for the boy]).
$119 for a Brother monotone.
Cheapest color I found was $279.
I went with a B&W HP Laserjet. I hadn’t printed anything in color in over a decade when I bought it, and haven’t had a reason to since. Generic toner was something like 40 bucks for 2 high capacity cartridges, and I haven’t even finished the first one yet (installed probably around 2 years ago, maybe more).
No one ever learned how to read before this magical science of reading!
Amazing how this generation is the first to discover things everyone knew about for 100 years.
Teaching reading requires a PhD in education to bring a scientific approach. Sure, just like Marx invented a scientific political theory.
Sound this out. çŤ
Holy shit, it (the printer) worked.
Just buy a new one then.
That’s where this printer came from. The old one crapped out in the middle of something, and I got so pissed off I drove to Bozeman and bought it (at Walmart).
Buying a laser printer makes no sense. I f I print a dozen pages in a year, on average, I’d be amazed. I don’t use up the ink, it just dries out sitting there.
A cheap laser printer, you’d probably still be on the starter toner.
And that the toner doesn’t dry out (worst case scenario would be the rubber pieces in the feed/paper path assemblies drying out and jamming… but inkjet can do that too) is exactly why you go cheap laser. If you print just a bit and it sits there… it will still work when you need it. (Well, barring Windows being stupid and screwing up the print queue like they seem to have for the past 6 months (keep having to remove/reinstall the printer because it insists it is “offline”… not the printer’s problem, just the stupid OS).
When I first started screwing around with desktop Linux back in 2004, printing was a nightmare (mostly on account of wonky drivers). But these days with CUPS I have way fewer problems on Linux than Windows.
That’s why I bought a second-hand 5MP back in the day. Anything with a functioning Postscript driver would work at the time — Linux, OS/2, etc.
But yeah — CUPS now is typically better than the HP driver attempt at shovelware, no argument.
Agreed. When I run a new Linux setup, itâs flawless now. âOh, thatâs your printer? Got it.â Not one issue. My wifeâs Windows computer always has problems. Mac isnât even that smooth.
I have a top of the line laser printer. I need high fidelity copies of my Firsts.
The copies are inherently seconds. You’re perpetrating fraud.
How cheap is cheap? Probably more than fiddy bucks?
I spent $175 on my Dell wireless laser printer/scanner combo. Color Laser. Each color cartridge is around $9, or $35 for the combo deal for all of them. One time I found all 4 (with black) for $19. Each cartridge set lasts freakin; forever, like half a year.
This dude is awesome
https://www.instagram.com/reel/ChUq7vgj91U/
That’s fun. Shared with many.
Grocery store fires five workers for stopping shoplifter, which is against grocery store policy…
https://kdvr.com/news/local/king-soopers-fired-5-workers-for-stopping-shoplifter-problem-solvers-investigation/
“Olivett and her fired co-workers said King Soopers is sending an unmistakable message to shoplifters: âAnybody can go into any store now and take anything they want without any accountability.â”
Here’s the grocery store’s not-terribly-literate statement:
“We value our hardworking associates and nothing can be more important than their safety and that of our customerâs. We appreciate that in this instance their actions may have been well intended however, they violated the very policies that are in place for everyoneâs safety. Nothing in our stores is worth sacrificing that core value and their safe return home.”
The above story links to one from last month, where a security guard was struck by a shoplifter, and subsequently fired…
https://kdvr.com/news/local/king-soopers-security-guard-fired-after-he-was-punched-by-shoplifter/
“âIâve had shoplifters come in, walk over, grab something off the shelf, look at me and go, âYeah, Iâve got it. You canât touch me. You canât do nothingâ and walk right out the door,â Sims said.”
That’s not actually new — back when I worked retail (and we’re talking 1990s here), that was the actual policy. Well… “notify loss prevention and they’ll tail them” to be precise… but the stricture that you were not to directly confront them was still there. Less of a problem when prosecution of theft was actually a thing, mind you.
This is ridiculous though. Either he can do his job, or donât employ any security guards at all, because they deter nothing and only cause issues with your free food distribution plan.
Getting fired is probably the best thing that ever happened to him. Go find another line of work that pays better.
I was thinking the same thing regarding the security guard. He gets fired for confronting a shoplifter… so what the fuck did you hire him for, window dressing?
Yes. This is what corporations/retailers hire guards for.
That Target loss prevention guy who punched the reparations broad? Almost certainly fired, even he acted in self-defense. Corporations just want their employees to curl into a fetal position when threatened less they be held liable. It’s a function of their cowardice, society’s degradation, and a fucked up legal system.
Yep, this is nothing new. And good thing too, cuz back when I did that work, no fucking way am I putting myself in danger for The Man.
That said, let them keep their jobs FFS.
The honor system probably works a little better when people are honorable.
Bring back the Hue and Cry.
Bring back shooting thieves.
Problem solved in about a week.
Case in point
Hold on, I’m confused. I’m white, so I am supposed to be frightened and threatened by the black guy with the gun, right?
Because that’s not what I’m feeling.
I worked in a suburban drug store in the 80’s. If we caught a shoplifter the freakishly tall (but amazingly nice) pharmacist would pick the fucker up and slam him against the wall and tell him to never come back.
They never did.
Experts emphasize, however, that the science of reading is not just about phonics.
It’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand.
Trust the priests, ignore those sinful Gutenberg Bibles?
Qualifications, first and foremost
President Joe Biden said Friday he will promote Federal Reserve board member Philip Jefferson to the central bankâs No. 2 position and nominate World Bank official Adriana Kugler to an open seat, as the Fed weighs its next moves in the fight against inflation.
——-
If confirmed, Kugler would become the first Hispanic person to have a vote on U.S. interest rate policy. Jeffersonâs candidacy is historic in its own right; he would become only the second Black vice chair in the central bankâs history. He was confirmed to the Fed last year in a 91-7 vote.
âWith todayâs announcement, we are ushering in a new chapter at the Federal Reserve, which for 109 years has never had Latinos or Latinas in the upper echelons of its leadership,â Menendez said in a statement. âWe are finally giving Latinos, all 62 million of us who call this country home, a seat at the table where the most consequential decisions on monetary policy are made.â
Everything you need to know.
Strategically, wouldnât you want a board full of old white guys there when the hammer falls? Now minorities are going to get the blame for the coming banking apocalypse.
It’s sad to think that there are actually Hispanics out there who think this guy is going to have their interests in mind as if they really have anything in common with someone who makes it to the second highest position in the fed.
Seems it’s been scrubbed from the internet, but it reminded me of the SNL Ford/Carter debate where the debate moderator introduces Garrett Morris’ character Earl Rowland, who was selected to the panel “because he is a negro.”
New Gun Day! New Gun Day!
This came into my my gun shop, addressed to me. My background went right through, which is fleetingly rare here in Oregon these days. It is home now, safe in the safe. I don’t think I am going to be able to get to the range for a few days, at best, but it is going to be first out of the bags when I do. It is a mid-fifties Walther KKJ in .22lr. And it is beautiful.
https://postimg.cc/VJCcYhVr
Congrats. Too bad about the boating accident next week though…
A fine thing. I need more myself. Also some 38+P rounds for the tiny revolver I want to go shoot.
đ
Gorgeous!
Wowser, congrats all around. That is a beauty.
Yabba dabba doooo!
/blows closing time whistle
*Pours pre-mixed Ye Olde Fashioned
Couldnât have happened to a nicer week. Bye bye, work week!
Fuck yeah. What a slog.
Knock-off ink
Now, look. The printer manufacturer says your printer will DIE if you put knock-off ink in it, but I have gotten a lot of life out of a printer whose knock-off ink was supposed to make it DIE.
Granted, it was an old printer. It’s possible the new printers come with auto-KILL if you put a knock-off cartridge in it. I personally am not going to test this theory with my new-ish printer.
I’ve used both name-brand and generic ink in various inkjet printers going back to the mid ’90s until I switched to laser several years ago. The only difference was that some of the remanufactured carts had shitty color blending. And the nag warnings about ink levels.
Mine will just refuse to print. Bought the printer last year.
Knock-off ink
You know, that’s a good intro for cheap tattoo work.
Next book title.
Granted, it was an old printer. Itâs possible the new printers come with auto-KILL if you put a knock-off cartridge in it. I personally am not going to test this theory with my new-ish printer.
The last time I needed ink, I went to a place in Bozeman where they refill your cartridge. The nice lady told me how to reset the printer to see it as full, but it never would. It printed, but it would always puke up a “low ink” warning.
As I understand it — the ones where the ink isn’t just a reservoir but includes the print head includes a page counter in the circuitry. The actual ink level isn’t checked — it is the page count versus the estimated page count for the cartridge… hence the refill won’t reset the chip on the cartridge itself.
The justification was that the chance of a clog increases as the print head is used… hence refills were a bad idea, yadda yadda.
This is the end of online privacy
Coming soon to a government near you.
Ah, back to the usual “For the children!” excuse now that they’ve worn out the pandemic and terrorism, I see.
That FEE article is great (as usual). I’ve been hiring local workers for my remodeling but I can’t seem to find one of those 12 year-old boys to do handywork.
OT:
I’ve been looking for a single shot .410 and my buddy sent me this link
https://www.sarcoinc.com/rock-island-traditional-single-shot-410ga/
I guess I have to be a little skeptical about quality because of the price. Anyone have any experience with Sarco guns?
I have no experience with their guns.
I did buy a Lee-Enfield bolt take-down tool from them many, many years ago.
It appeared to be cheap metal to me. The first time I used it, It broke. I received a replacement from them. Same cheap metal. Broke again.
I bought a different version of the tool from Alaska Enfield Associates. I still have it. It is solid unlike the Sarco tool.
I guess I have to be a little skeptical about quality because of the price. Anyone have any experience with Sarco guns?
I bought my 1911 build parts from Sarco. I believe it was all Rock Island stuff. I was satisfied. I believe Rock Island HQ is in Pahrump.
Huh. Sure is. It’s amazing how fucking clueless I am about a place I’ve lived for 10 years.
I was waiting for someone to say, “They don’t float.”
Thanks for the reply.
Just a word of caution, at least in my area the shells are impossible to find unless you want nine dollar turkey shells.
Hundreds of images taken by Perseveranceâs Mastcam-Z instrument were assembled into two mosaic images, which indicate to NASA scientists that at least one river flowing into Jezero Crater was turbid, upheaving Martian sediment as it moved water across the planetâs surface.
Don’t get my hopes up about Space: 1889 having some basis in reality.
Things turned bad when I got the text from Mom: âIt was an easy task. No need to pay.â
Way to go Mom undermining your kids’ transition into adulthood.
White women ruin everything.
Try this.
Project Veritas’ latest
Clay Connor Elmore, Legislative Correspondent for Democratic House Rep. Lauren Underwood: âI think itâs so ironic that everybody in my office is like âOh f**k George Santosâ but at least heâs being honest about his corruption.â
Elmore: âEverybody is a liar. Between you and me I feel like my Member is lying about being a nurse.â
We live in stupid times. Such stupid times that I’m going to guess that no one at the DOJ thought about what sort of precedent it set to go after an elected representative for lying to get elected.
Shh, let’s not make them rethink the precedent.
One might draw the conclusion that they are determined to make sure they never sit outside the centers of power again.
Next week’s new unemployment filing number is about to go up by one.
If anybody wants to nurse my member….
I did not know that there was a TC Contender rival that used a 1911 frame:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3I-j8rbyHM
Tonight I am sampling pre-made drinks from On the Rocks as opposed to Batch and Bottle. I’d say overall the Old Fashioned and Manhattans are more in line with what I make. Stronger and less sweet. I like these too, maybe better because I like less sweetness.