“No. Fuck you. Pay me. Now pay me more. Now enjoy ads. Pay me again. We’re now introducing fees associated with the privilege of paying me. So pay that while paying me.”

– approximately everything

What’s the best alternative software to gear up to transition to? I’m pretty pissed because they finally got decent integration for PS5. I was playing Space Marines with a couple friends, one of whom is playing on PC, so we’ve been able to crossplay with voice chat.

This, starlink regarding Russia invading Ukraine, and I’m gonna guess spacex regarding government contracts? Idk about that 3rd one being investigated but it’s definitely one of the many conflicts of interest.

Yeah but stupid people are plentiful and overly confident that they can spitball a better idea for solving the problem than literal experts with decades of expertise can because “they’re too close to the problem” or “they’re paid off by big [fill in the blank] to gum up any progress” or whatever. They just don’t believe in complicated solutions or complicated problems because most people aren’t doing anything particularly complicated with their lives. Incurious people aren’t interested in any explanations or nuance.

You get to know regulars. Sometimes teachers sit in and grade. When it’s slower, you can make small talk. I’m not sure if it’s a thing with Starbucks but I know a lot of places offer teacher discounts if they show school ID, so maybe that’s another avenue for it.

My best friend and a few other friends used to be teachers but they all quit because it’s such a shitty, thankless job. Just like with nurses, the fact that they care so much gets exploited by way of paying much less and demanding more hours out of them.

My spouse is a Starbucks barista. “You are special” goes on 90% of the cups she hands out. She puts actual effort into it for the people who are underappreciated workers like nurses and teachers.

Same. I had even paid for the paid tier of my 3rd party app because it was such a good value to me that I wanted the devs to have some of my money. Thanks to that app, I was on the site more and pretty much never via computer anymore.

I think it was for the best though. Quality over quantity here. I find it to be far less toxic on Lemmy overall. It’s like how people tend to be nicer in a small town because you know you’re gonna run into these people over and over again, but the big city you came from had more variety in stuff to check out. Definitely a trade-off, but I think it’s worth it to have this much more pleasant space that isn’t so packed with content as to be addictive. Good vibes.

I’m not against piracy, but publicly posting about intending to pirate would just invite cops to come and snoop around. I’m not dumb. I should either shut the fuck up about this topic and feel free to pirate or I should not pirate so I can freely speak up about how bullshit it is to pay for these things when piracy is far and away the better experience. I chose the latter, and especially now that resources have been provided to help others to choose the former, others can do so without even asking where to start.

I can afford to buy my media, but I wasn’t always so financially stable and I refuse to forget those chapters of my life. People are really struggling right now, so I wouldn’t dare judge anybody for pirating instead of paying these absurd streaming bill amounts just to get a dogshit selection, bad UI, and pisspoor video quality. As everything in life seems to be going to subscription model, I’m becoming more interested in owning my media. It also just seems like building a NAS and ripping my discs to build a library within it could just be a fun tinkering tech project.

It’s ludicrous that the original pirate-killer service has become such a bad deal. 13 years ago it was such a good deal that it didn’t really make sense to pirate anymore. Now it’s triple the price, 1/3 the quality content, and a worse experience.

I would have had less issues had I pirated

This right here is the problem. Consumers are being punished for paying for their service. I would be more than happy to hand over my hard earned money for products and services that are good value. I’m not trying to get something from nothing here. It’s absurd that we could get better than they’re promising, let alone actually delivering on, and it could cost us nothing.

Yesterday, I learned that several titles on Netflix are locked out from the ad-supported tier “due to licensing restrictions”. Inexcusable. Pay, still sit through ads, get a fraction of the library. I think I’m gonna start building a NAS and home library this year. BDs and DVDs can be snatched up for cheap from pawn shops and eBay. I’ll do it legally just so I can tell any FBI pricks to go fuck themselves if they should ever decide to check on my shit.

I think you’re already forgetting just how prevalent the story of the murder was. It wasn’t just local news. It was unavoidable.

Luigi is innocent until proven guilty. I think it’s weird that cops found a backpack in central park with no real evidence, but found a gun, a suppressor, and a written confession that started off with praising the cops on this guy who decided to get McDonalds in the middle of the day. I’m not saying that the cops planted evidence to have somebody to finger, but it seems convenient.

Idk about you, but at this rate, I don’t dare try to tell them otherwise.

I for one believe that the question of whether a food service establishment has rats is very relevant to the business.

The character of the staff and clientele as well as the financial state of the staff as a direct result of how stingy their employer is can also be very relevant. Do you want to eat somewhere if the people preparing your food there will sell their morals and decency? Kinda seems likely that I could pay somebody there $100 to put their pubes into your quarter pounder.