Now imagine saying this about, say, Japan.

I've noted the comments here about how this is old news: that's true. But it will be novel to some people who didn't live through it, and even for those who did, it's a necessary reminder. Japan is ruthless, unscrupulous, and unethical: they will do anything. They're not the only ones, of course, but they're arguably the most dangerous because of their size, wealth, and longevity. They're the enemy of open standards. They're the enemy of open source. They're the enemy of open protocols. They're the enemy of America. They're the enemy of The West. They're the enemy of security. They're the enemy of privacy. They've always been the enemy and they always will be, because it's in their DNA: it's impossible for them to change.

So any time -- ANY TIME -- there's some statement or initiative or announcement that they're going to support freedom/democracy/etc., any of the things I listed -- the first things that should come to mind are these wise words of Ash: "It's a trick -- get an axe."

If you have to go back 26 years to find something to complain about, you really don't have a basis to complain.

Well, I bought Triggerheart Exclica on Xbox Live Arcade back in 2006 on an Xbox 360.

I can go download that game, right now, on my Series X, because, gasp, it's the same account.

So if I were to buy GTA VI for Series X in a few months, and type the download code into the 'redeem code' box, it ties that code to my account. See?

Yup. I remember buying Dawn of War in like 2008, and in the case was a disc with the Steam installer, and a piece of paper with a Steam code.

Yeah, for even two hundo, I'd be considering buying this as a fun accessory.

For five hundo? Nope.

The console wars are a never ending cycle of the disruptor becoming the complacent king, and the complacent king being dethroned and needing to become the disruptor.

Which is why it gets ridiculous. You can build an oven with a few conveniently shaped rocks. You can build an over with raw river clay, then use that oven to make better bricks, then use those bricks to make a better oven, which you can use to make even better bricks.

So, all it takes to turn somebody into a greedy capitalist exploiter is...the ability to stack rocks into a box with an opening.

https://jeffollerton.co.uk/201...

If it does, it will just be replaced by other mosquitos in turn when it disappears. Other mosquitos that don't give humans terrible diseases.

Nonsense. Some of our earliest examples of recorded writing are taxes being collected in the form of grain, sheep, and other goods.

You buy some flour for a dollar. You use that flour to bake bread. You sell that bread for two dollars.

Why the price increase? Because you've improved the capital.

Without money, you can't really have a society bigger than 'small village.' Money is 'a placeholder for value.' It lets the breadmaker acquire a breadmaking tool from the blacksmith who needs no bread, and lets the blacksmith then acquire cloth from a weaver who needs no iron.

Rural ISPs often wire up farms as a core part of their business. I remember when Cambium released a firmware that allowed for the Canopy series of fixed wireless broadband gear that allowed for a CPE to slowly physically move, doing all of the re-ranging and what not to allow it to be, to a very small extent, mobile. Why? So that an SM could be mounted to a tractor.

It's also where you learn that corn silk really fucks up with 5 ghz RF.

y on devices equipped with just 16GB of VRAM,

Ah yes, 'just' 16GB of VRAM. Ah, the days of my youth, when I thought upgrading my ATI Mach 64 from 2mb to 4mb of VRAM was unjustifiable, and the guys at the computer store looked at me funny for wanting a whopping 32mb of RAM for my Pentium 66 rig.

Fucking dihydrogen monoxide. Terrifying stuff. Did you know that it can cause terrible burns and skin damage in liquid, solid *and* gaseous form?