This is yet another predictable side effect of people misunderstanding the stimulus and response reflex of capitalism: Apply dollars, make things happen more.

I have played a handful of FTP games and put a not insignificant amount of time into them... but never any money. If I don't get to own the thing, defined by being able to use it (not even "as I see fit", just at all — but on my schedule) then I won't pay more for the thing than it's worth to me right now, like going to see a movie. If I don't get the server, or if there's DRM which requires activation, that severely reduces what I'll pay.

LLMs invent invalid moves. It is somewhat miraculous that they can sometimes generate valid ones, but the real miracle is that people think there is intelligence there. It's a miracle for the people selling "AI" anyway.

It's very common for mechanics to be required to provide their own tools.

It's California law that you cannot require an employee to provide their own tools, unless you are paying them at least twice the minimum wage. This is true in general, not just for auto shops. I worked in an RV shop. I had to provide my tools. I got in a wage dispute over it. I received a settlement.

Only the low-end guys in the shop don't typically have to provide tools.

None of that stops using the car. The problem is when a solo game becomes unavailable, due to some online feature being shut down. If the game was sold as an “online solo game”, the customer is aware of what they are getting into. Not so much if is presented a “solo game with online multiplayer mode”.

While ideally online games would become available in LAN hostable mode, the other element is ensuring that games companies aren’t misleading customers (intentionally or otherwise).

Yup, since for certain products types it might change what I select. If the store is only 20 minutes away, then hopping down to pick it up may be favourable.

"No. That is a rare skillset."

It's less rare now than ever before, and becoming less rare thanks to howtos and cheap equipment.

As we have seen, the 2a nuts mostly don't do shit. The only time he's allegedly been attacked is one of the most obvious false flag operations of all time. I wish I were shocked to see so many on this site fall for it, but I already knew there were loads of idiots here.

This EXACTLY. They are getting NOTHING. In fact they are losing everything, and owning themselves HARDER than "the libs." And they're asking for it to happen more.

Apparently the bill just passed, so it looks like they are getting it.

You never worked in a shop, I take it.

Not given how bad you are at explaining it, no.

Science is the study of, if you are religious, HOW God hung it up there. In no way does that fundamentally conflict with the idea of religion.. However, it can easily conflict with some religions when they are stupid enough to try to describe science even though that's not what they are for.

If you are a maggot, yes, except you only read scientific journals to find out what to be mad about because you don't understand it.

I bought a $300 laptop almost two years ago, it still does all the things I want it to do, and quickly too. It's got a 2C4T AMD and I was able to upgrade the RAM to 8GB with a perfectly matching used module from eBay for $15. (IME they have to match exactly for modern integrated video to work reliably.) It's no game console, but video encode and decode work well.

None of those things you listed are open to the general public, so there is no reason not to use a self signed certificate.

Too bad you haven't read any studies about the impact of DEI on scientific output, despite your opinion that you know or care about science.