>Our leaders are exactly the same.

This is the same bullshit as during the 2015 election: Trump and Hilary are the same.

Nope. They're not. The Chinese, who torture and murder their citizens and put them in correctional camps are not the same as the leaders here.

Our leaders might be shiity and corrupt and fail to live up to our expectations, but just a cursory glance at the way the Chinese state treats its citizens shows such claims of equivalence to be grossly ignorant and utterly false.

Automatic song-end technology was came in toward the end of tape's meaningful life (so you could fast-forward without overshooting, although it wasn't perfect). Auto-reverse cassette players were the norm for a good deal longer, and not just in portable cassette players.

Cassettes were the solution to a small form factor need, which later made the portable, personal music revolution possible.

The limitations of technology gave it it's less-than ideal mechanics, but for millions of people, being able to take your music with you and listen to it in public was truly transformative.

Sure, it's an obsolete technology now, but to describe it as "the worst" is to overlook, to the point of blindness, the amazing personal and cultutral musical revolution it enabled: one which it's tech-privilleged modern-day critics seem to be ignorant of.

Of course, you'd have to be a fucking idiot to use one now. :)

I had problems signing into slashdot the last couple of days. I kept getting stuck in a loop, punctuated only by some GDPR form, but whenever I hit enter, I'd get sent right back to the login screen. No matter what scripts I allowed, cookies cleared, or settings I adjusted, I couldn't sign in. Was it the GDPR form? Was it the website? My browser? I kinda resigned myself to not using slashdot any more (despite it being one of the first sites I used when I got onto the internet many years ago) after it all got me thinking about how little use I get from the site these days. Dropping by is more habit than anything. It was a little sad, but, y'know ... whatever; all things must pass and all that.

But it's content like "Microsoft Says Discovers Hacking Targeting Democratic Institutions in Europe" and the taxing intellectual puzzle it presents, firing all my neurons in a despetrate attempt at pattern-matching, as I try to figure out what the author is actually trying to say, that made me remember why I just can't quit you, Slashdot!

I'M BACK BABY!

(Actually I'm back because the login unfucked itself.)

Data is not like sunshine.

Data is not a natural resource, because that data is generated not by a natural phenomenon to whom all have access, it is (typically) generated by people.

In that sense, data is more like blood.

Which would make Google and Facebook more like vampires and us, their victims.

Sunlight, if anything, would be the GDPR and other regulations, shining a light on their activities, which is the last thing they want.

Doesn't that make more sense than Google's skewed, self-serving analogy?

Well shit. Google altered the deal, eh? Damn.

Installed and tried it.

Tested one website to try it out and it broke the website quite comprehensively, with no way to get it to work (no plugins I could disable, no scripts or permissions I could grant to get it to work (as I do when using firefox with ublock and umatrix).

It also inserts 'epicupdater' into my startup without permission, which I DO NOT like.

That's just my first impression. Not *that* great.

How are they determining a mobile device is being used and can the identifiers be spoofed?

So, a several-hundred dollar piece of consumer technology now has a lifespan cap of two years. Ridiculous.

Sounds like planned obsolescence to me.

I noticed the Firefox mute icon on a tab doesn't mute Flash audio for me. I don't, however, know if it's the same for other people.

I mean, as long as you don't hook it up to the network, it won't make any difference if it's 'smart' or dumb.

My group of friends started with AD&D and then, rather quickly, moved on to Chaosium games and played often little else.

From Runequest (2nd. ed), which was our main game (3rd edition was quickly discovered to be crap after they outsourced it) and we branched out into almost all the others: Stormbringer, Hawkmoon, Elf Quest, Call of Cthulhu, Ringworld, and Pendragon. The rule system (basic role playing) and it's variations weren't overly cumbersome and didn't get in the way of a good adventure, and the worlds were amazing to live in.

These games enriched our lives. I can't imagine my teenage (+) years without them.

RIP, Greg and thanks for everything.