Also why the hell is this a thing? Those ads are showing gameplay, it would be so much easier to make that game and then take a video of it for the advert than to just make an animation of it. So in my mind the game exists. Why is it just Mafia Wars reskinned every fucking time?

Late to the party, had no solutions myself anyway, just wanted to say thank you OP for including the solution in the post.

I’m in the same boat as you OP, in that I try to prefer privacy when its convenient and available but ultimately not enough. Do you have any way of confirming that your privacy-based choices are actually legit? I just go off what people seem to agree on, but these might not even be people and instead just bad actors astroturfing some dangerous services and I’d have no way of knowing.

I’d like to go all in on shit like that, but basing an entire digital defence on vibes seems kinda shaky to me

This is me just learning avatars are a thing.

No real weight for the system I think. Theres a lot less people though, so if I see the same guy like 5 times in a row with -8 comments, I’m more inclined to think that person is a prick because thats how humans are built.

Its not going to stop them posting or push them to the bottom by default or anything though.

I recently visited Blackpool Tower, which has a glass bottom bit near the top where you walk on glass and can see a massive, definitely lethal, drop underneath you. I was petrified to get on it, and could only walk on the glass by looking upwards.

Until that moment I thought I was still brave. Im scared of heights but fear never really stopped me from doing much before. Ive avoided certainties out of pragmatic fear, but I’d never known myself to be scared of fear itself until that moment.

Going to the glass and finding myself unable to walk onto it was very surprising. I even told my wife “huh, this is new…”

Pure anecdotally here, but as im getting older death seems more and more significant and possible and to be feared. Im only in my 30s but somewhere along the line i picked up a self-preservation instinct.

As a kid/teen i was going to live forever. I couldn’t die. The biggest fear was waking up in hospital but even that was farfetched to one as invincible as me.

Nowadays though im perpetually aware that one slight misstep could bring me down skull first on a roadside kerb and it could be game over.

Yep. Im also terrified of actually dying. I want to die in my sleep so I dont see it coming, but I dont want to miss the experience of death because everyone gets it and you can only really do it once so it really is once in a lifetime experience. Except I wont have any life to remember the experience so it doesnt matter. And since it doesnt matter why do I want it. But what if it hurts?

He absolutely is. You’re not laughing with him

How would one go about finding other story-telling podcasts?

Podcasting as a concept sort of slipped me by and I wouldn’t even know where to start.

Not under appreciated at all, but the XFM shows (the Ricky Gervais show) are fantastic. Only mention because I’m not sure how popular/well-known it is globally.

If its new to you, OP, give it a shot.

Except the Ben saga and the whole Dr Cox breaks down bit.

They are absolutely not for when youre feeling down.

Theyre getting worse as time goes on. Phones just work. You touch what you want and it works. Theres no need to learn how it works any more.

Not the best, but GaiaOnline has a soft spot in my memory.

I only tried Linux once, about 15 years ago, and got scared off because it was all command. When I blow the dust off my laptop I might try it again now that its all user friendly.

Technically its repeatable under perfect conditions? Probably I don’t understand it well enough.

Realistically repeatable when Average Joe gets his hands on it? Not today anyway.

I’m amazed by AI and what it can do, compared to what computers could do in the past. Its truly astonishing at how far we’ve come and we can marvel at the capabilities.

I still dont want to use it though. It’s not reliable enough for what I would actually use it for, and if I had a job that could make use of it, I’d be counting down the days until it puts me out on the street.

Do esports count? Because that.

Only semi-related but I bloody love those animals that have super bright “well 'ard colours” but have zero venom or toxins or anything.

Truly the wideboys of nature.

Halo 3. Peak online console, it was all downhill from there.