Since nobody else will provide the actual clarity

EscobarVape and Elfbar are created by two separate Chinese companies, Shenzhen Innokin Technology Co. Ltd and Shenzhen iMiracle Technology respectively. Mi-Bar is created by an American company but has partnered with Elfbar to distribute Elfbar products in the US

Really wish more people would just provide the facts that speak for themselves, rather than point fingers about who is and isn’t doing their research

Imagine a vampire getting frustrated with a realtor because this is the fourth time they’ve arrived at a house they’re interested in to do a walkthrough but the owners aren’t home and the realtor, as someone who doesn’t have ties to the memories created in that home, can’t invite him in.

This also has fascinating implications for house flippers. If you only live there while working on it, have you not amassed enough “home power” to keep vampires out? Does the power of your previous home follow you to a new address if it’s mostly the same decor?

Ah yeah, didn’t read that way haha. Thanks for clarifying 💙

That is for sure. There is no question that it is an asinine attempt by the GOP to weaponize the law, rather than a genuine attempt at protecting Jews in any way, shape or form

Not be contrarian, but this is a common misconception. Hate speech IS protected speech in the US, but it can be used to enhance the punishment of a related crime into a hate crime.

It can also, under specific circumstances, be considered “fighting words”. But again, that depends on the specific context and is not broadly true.

This is one of my least favorite facts, but it is unfortunately true

And when you see someone conflating all Jews with the Israeli government, you are free, nay encouraged, to call that shit out.

But guess what’s NOT happening in this thread? Or this entire comment section?

Israel is committing genocide.

Sincerely, your friendly neighborhood Jew

I’ll take the downvotes to point out the political reality:

Raising money is literally the DNC’s primary role. It is a coalition of people raising money collaboratively, with the understanding that agreeing to the party policy as a group is a requirement for being a member of the group.

So when he says that Hogg is stealing his spotlight and making it difficult to build the network he needs to raise funds, he’s not out of line.

He is INCREDIBLY shortsighted in failing to connect “supporting good candidates” with “ability to secure votes” which itself is a necessary component of long term fundraising. But let’s call a spade a spade: raising money is what the DNC is all about, by definition, and without those funds they have no purpose, let alone ability to promote candidates

This is misleading and dangerous rhetoric.

Autonomous vehicles - actual autonomous ones, not Tesla bullshit marketing “self-driving” - are already significantly safer than human drivers. Yes, they are limited to certain conditions (they don’t handle inclement weather very well yet) but the point is that they are already improving safety over human drivers.

Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Additionally, once autonomous vehicles become the standard, you will see a dramatic shift in how the insurance industry operates.

Think about it: if I’m not the one driving, why would I be the one taking on liability? I wouldn’t. The manufacturer would. Suddenly, the insurance industry would be targeting vehicle/software producers instead of individuals. And anyone who chooses to drive themselves anyway? They would almost always be liable by default. Premiums for drivers would skyrocket and this would be a huge disincentive to getting behind the wheel in the first place.

Don’t. Let. The. Perfect. Be. The. Enemy. Of. The. Good.

We all lose out. And it costs lives.

Did I fall asleep?

If you think even 50% of her campaign decision making reflected her personal politics you are mistaken about how the DNC operates.

As I said, on paper she was a fine candidate to start a campaign with. She could have easily converted a win if the party as a whole hadn’t totally rejected anything progressive long before she took to the campaign trail.

People forget that after you get elected you still have to collaborate with Congress. Presidential candidates are absolutely beholden to the will of the DNC, and their party platform. They will not hesitate to torpedo a presidency as retaliation for failing to toe the company line

That was 4 years before she, you know, was vice president for 4 years. That tends to provide valuable experience.

I’m not gonna pretend I liked her but she wasn’t a bad candidate to begin a campaign with. But then she ran to the right in an insane way

I grew up in Ohio, lived in NYC, and now live in the PNW.

Ohio is bad, as a whole, about bigotry. Very bad.

Urban areas will always be more tolerant, on average, than their rural neighbors.

But a semi-rural area in a blue state might be more tolerant, on average, than an urban area in a red state.

Columbus is one of the most tolerant areas in Ohio, because of The Ohio State University and the educated, young community it fosters.

But things get bad pretty quickly as you move further away from the college areas.

My recommendation: you are more likely to find your people - the family you choose to have, whoever they are - in your new area. However, there are still significant risks to being completely open, including things getting back to your family.

Find the people who correct bigotry or misgendering, etc, and learn how to be yourself around them. When you are ready, you can either confront your family and become an outspoken lgbtqa+ ally, or peace the fuck out to somewhere better :)

Atta girl, Patty! This is what we sent you for.

Not gonna pretend she’s not part of the establishment, but her and Maria Cantwell have been our picks for the Senate for several elections now and with good reason when you look at the alternatives.

Called this a while ago https://urusai.social/@neatchee/112255667073894754

I never said anything about the quality of the games. I’m speaking specifically to the monetization bullshit.

As I said elsewhere: budget bloat happens in a lot of places. Greedy executive and publishers is one place. Overambitious design goals that get scrapped is another. There’s also bad tools workflows, mismanagement, and any number of other contributing factors.

But even indie devs are getting screwed on pricing and making far less than they deserve to be in many cases.

If people keep buying CoD and Assassins Creed, devs will keep making them. And if they can’t increase retail price to cover the budget they will find other ways to do it.

I almost replied from my inbox; glad someone said it before I even got to it haha

Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the capital structure is fair by any means. I understand all the reasons why people - especially right now - are struggling to justify big purchases.

And I will readily agree that inefficient and improper use of resources is one of the contributing factors to ballooning development budgets

That said, video games are - and I challenge you to disprove this - easily one of the best investments for entertainment. Dollars-per-hour of fun on a 20hr, $60 game is $3. For a live service game where people spend hundreds of thousands of hours playing it can get below $0.10 per hour.

EDIT: I also agree that demos need to make a comeback because I’m sick of wasting money. Though people also need to read some reviews before they buy occasionally :/

While that may be true, the costs and budgets we’re dealing with today are orders of magnitude higher than they were back then. Physical product manufacturing doesn’t even come close to making up the difference when you factor in digital storefront costs.

I simply chose two big, well known, and beloved titles for the sake of expediency.

This problem is not unique to big budget games.

Indie devs are getting screwed too. You saying that you’ve found great games for $30-40 from indie devs isn’t an argument against more sustainable pricing like you think it is.

If the dev budget for the indie game was 5% of the AAA game but the price was 50% then you’ve literally just helped prove my point

The fact is - and I challenge you to prove me wrong here - video games continue to be hands down the best dollar-per-hour investment for entertainment. Even a $60 game that only lasts 20 hrs is still coming in at $3/hr of entertainment, which is very hard to beat. When you look at live service games where people will spend literally thousands of hours after paying anywhere from $60-200 you’re looking at $0.10/hr in some cases.

Fun facts incoming!

Cost of “Mario 64” on release = $59.99

Development budget for Mario 64 = ~$1.56mil

Inflation adjusted Mario 64 cost in 2022 = $111.91

Inflation adjusted Mario 64 budget in 2022 = ~$2.91mil

Cost of “Elden Ring” on release = $59.99

Estimated dev. budget for Elden Ring = $100mil-200mil

Mario 64 units sold = ~12mil

Elden Ring units sold = ~28mil

These details are provided without comment. You do the math and decide whether the fact that prices haven’t changed since 1996 might be the reason for some of the enshitification we continue to see.

And now for the comment:

Consumers are horrifyingly resistant to price increases for games. It is directly responsible for many of the shitty monetization models we’ve seen. Development budget continue to rise, even on indie games, while consumers pay less and less in “real money value” over time.

It’s completely unsustainable and the very reason the “business types” get involved, forcing unpopular monetization schemes