For a while (maybe even still, I haven’t kept up with it) you could unlock paid features with a modded client, so they absolutely have a history of using client-side verification.

Matrix does have a bot API, but there is not even close to as robust an ecosystem of bots to choose from. Whatever you want is probably possible, but depending on your needs you may have to write it yourself.

…why hold back from saying it though?

I get it. There’s social friction in that kind of altercation, but fear of that social friction is a contributing factor for the current state of things.

Sure, you can’t walk out on your job to start protesting in the streets because for all practical intents and purposes everyone is a single paycheque away from financial ruin, but Jesus Christ people, you can stand up to the batty woman in your local parish telling you that trans people are grooming children.

Yes, there are social consequences, but the line needs to be drawn somewhere, right? Are you seriously going to tell me that quiet acquiescence is preferable to ostracism from a sexist/racist/homophobic/etc social circle?

There are countless tiny opportunities to stand up and none of them are easy, but we’re long past the point where they’re necessary.

I never cared much for the orange juice, but minute maid frozen lemonade concentrate is amazing. I’m going to miss that one for sure.

I offer that it’s actually worse, since it requires acting on it and knowing it’s wrong.

Old hardware is certainly possible. I salvaged it from my parents who were going to throw it out. It’s got an A10-8700P and is limping along with a single 4GB DIMM. The thing doesn’t even have a second memory slot.

I do like the dedication to Mint! To be honest it’s generally my default pick if I need to slap Linux onto something. I actually tried putting it on the gaming table machine but for reasons I didn’t feel like digging into it just did not cooperate, and Debian did.

CachyOS on the luggable gaming machine is mostly just because I hadn’t used it before and wanted to give it a spin. So far so good.

As for the Windows machine, it’s a gaming rig and at the time it was built, pre-steam deck, Linux wasn’t quite yet in as good a position for that as it is now. I just can’t be bothered to switch it mid-stream as it were. It’s almost certainly going to be the last Windows machine I ever own though.

• Luggable gaming rig: CachyOS
• Surface Go 2: Mint
• Old laptop strapped to the underside of the gaming table: Debian
• NUC home server: Ubuntu Server
• Steam Deck: SteamOS

Non-linux:

• Gaming tower: Windows
• Previous gaming tower repurposed as NAS: TrueNAS

This is such a bizarre lawsuit. I had to pull up the actual filing to make sure I wasn’t missing something.

Specifically, the PCR contends that Valve has abused its dominant position by:

(a) imposing Platform Parity Obligations (“PPOs”) that prohibit publishers, which market PC Games, from selling Products through other distribution channels on better terms than the same Products are available on Steam

This is only true if you’re selling Steam product keys, which I feel just makes good sense. You’re still selling something that’s on Valve’s platform, so you need to adhere to Valve’s rules. You can offer a non-steam copy under any terms you like.

(b) restricting the ability of users to purchase Add-on Content for games purchased on Steam through other distribution channels (a ‘tying’ or ‘anti-steering’ infringement)

…is there any platform where this is not the case for paid content? I guess for anything that has additional content available on GoG this is technically true by virtue of it lacking DRM, but where else would you even buy it in that case? Is there some other DRM-free platform from which I can buy Blood and Wine and drop it into my GoG version of Witcher III?

(c) charging publishers unfair and excessive commission rates for distributing the Products (collectively the “Infringing Conduct”).

The question of whether Valve’s 30% is “fair” or not has been beaten to death already but it is funny to me how it was basically the industry standard right up until people started gunning for bigger pieces of the PC gaming pie and started undercutting Valve.

I have a handed down Surface Go 2 with 4GB of RAM. The thing was damn near unusable with its stock Windows installation. I’ve put Mint on it now and it’s actually a nice little machine.

Ugh, I’ve run into this as well.

Several times now I’ve commissioned a professional artist to create posters of D&D/Pathfinder groups I’ve run campaigns with. I’m in a new campaign that started this month and did an initial look around to begin scouting out an artist for another and my god. Having to sift through all the obvious AI “portfolios” is bad enough, let alone trying to suss out the ones that are using it in less obvious ways. I’ve settled on filtering my search to only artists for whom I can find works prior to 2023 or so. It’s insane.

A lot of food preparation techniques of ancient origin come from efforts to store or preserve food. Pickling, smoking, and salting being among the most obvious.

Bread likely shares a similar lineage. Wheat that has been ground to flour is much easier to store, keeps for a long time, and can be reconstituted into more appealing food in small batches as needed.

SUPER

HOT

I don’t really disagree, at least in principle. You’re absolutely correct that workflows should be clear and developers often do not make good UI/UX. You just didn’t really qualify your original statement with any of that and made it an absolute, but you’ve clarified now and I’m pretty sure we agree.

a UI should offer everything a user can do in a given moment, readily available, nothing hidden behind more than a single menu.

That would be a nightmare for any sufficiently complex software. Can you imagine how dense the UI would need to be for something like Blender or even Excel if literally every possible option of “things available to do right now” had to be at most two clicks away?

It is bizarre to me in a way I find difficult to articulate that they felt the need to treat a bathroom visit in a Target as if it required full operational kit.

They are in general purpose PCs though. Intel has them taking up die space in a bunch of their recent core ultra processors.