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Comment Re: I'd love to use GOG more (Score 1) 54

I buy games on Steam and then do all this stuff to make them work better on Linux. But I also buy games on GOG. And I have games on Epic and EA too, and Lutris does all those too.

I initially got ProtonUp-Qt specifically for use with Steam, because it is the best (easiest) way to install steamtinkerlaunch.

Comment Re:What exactly is "Steam" anyway? (Score 1) 54

Steam is definitely not literally a monopoly. Most people don't seem to know either of the most important things about monopolies, which is 1) what one is and 2) that it's not necessarily relevant whether they are, because antitrust doesn't require a monopoly. It only means you're abusing a somehow dominant position in a market.

With that said, I've been using Steam for a lot of years. I've had many technical problems with it, but I'm not aware of any way in which they are abusing their position. I haven't exactly been looking for this information either, though, and I do see that the article mentions a lawsuit I seem to remember something about.

I think 30% is a lot, but I don't think Steam is really doing anything to prevent anyone from releasing anything else anywhere. They also allow a whole lot of content that is frankly surprising for a mainstream game site, they are ultra-liberal about permitting whatever and I think that's pretty amazing. I do worry about the whole thing packing up one day, but that's a whole other discussion. Are there really any complaints about Valve that have legs?

Comment Re:I'd love to use GOG more (Score 1) 54

I hate to be a broken record about this lately, but Lutris is a great interface to your GOG library. So far it's successfully installed and run everything I've tried. I'm gonna have to try this Heroic thing that seems to be more popular than it is now, but last time I looked everyone was telling me to use Lutris — when at the time I was happy with PlayOnLinux, which was then being maintained. On Linux you can very reasonably use the web for GOG (and it's easy enough to get Steam reviews there) and then install the games with Lutris.

While I'm advocating for software you want for playing Windows games, you will also want ProtonUp-Qt if you don't have it already.

Comment wait, they did this already? (Score 2) 16

"The company will also create a program in the next major Android release allowing alternative app stores to register and become what Google calls first-class citizens."

They did this already in Android 12. Third party app stores could even do automated background updates. Did they undo it?

Comment Re:Can't reject waste heat with a laser (Score 0) 48

A quick and non-technical explanation of that, is summarized by the amount of drool pooling in your audience while you give a "non-technical" explanation.

You think there was a time when most people understood entropy? Or the mathematics needed to understand it? How quaint.

Comment Re: An endless supply of nuclear waste. (Score 1) 101

let the market decide, instead of being a political decision based on feelings. But that is unrealistic:-(

It's unrealistic because the market doesn't get to decide. Logic doesn't decide on the supply side OR the demand side. On the supply side, the market is controlled by regulations which were put into place because power companies proved they couldn't be trusted to function without them. On the demand side it's limited by physics, power has to get to places before it can be used.

In the USA for example power companies are really only able to profit from new generation projects, so they are motivated to produce the most wastefully expensive projects because when they cost more, they can pocket more of the costs. That means nuclear whether it makes sense or not. And while everyone complains about solar requiring grid improvements, so does nuclear. It represents a large amount of production in one place, so you need a large grid connection to that place. And they are typically not built near other things for obvious reasons, so there's no synergy.

And then of course there's the fact that it's already a requirement to pay the expected decommissioning costs up front, but it's never enough, so The People always wind up paying.

Comment Re:Knew they were working on it (Score 1) 101

Or you could bury it at the bottom of an oceanic trench, where "given enough centuries" it will be subducted into Earth's mantle.

This has been studied and it's not that simple. First you have to get it there, then you have to ensure it doesn't break open and spread before it gets subducted. I had the same idea, it just turned out to not be a good one.

Comment Re:Knew they were working on it (Score 2) 101

Waste from a molten salt reactor should be fairly stable. Put it in the center of a glass brick and use it as a low level heat source. (Actually, that's what I think they ought to do with most reactor waste except the stuff that's too hot for glass to hold. And you might need a couple of barriers within the glass. Glass would stop alpha and beta cold, but some gamma might need a lead foil screen.)

Yes, there's a paper saying that given enough centuries the waste will slowly leach out. But the level of the radiation emitted would be less than the rock it was concentrated from. The only problem is the rate of release, and if you dilute it enough the problem disappears. (Either that, or nobody should live much above sea level.)

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