Honestly, this is just an indictment of the health care system in the Forgotten Realms. Mindflayers should control a powerful lord to mandate universal healthcare and improve the supply of potions and employ cleric healers throughout the realm.

Appropriate: https://youtu.be/vr_FPbAHids?si=sLBGiN0IShtyseoS

The Loner’s Unaffiliated Disassociation.

Motto: “No members allowed.”

I really like having learned delayed gratification. There are plenty of great games (and shows and movies and music) that I’m happy to wait to experience later when I’m ready for them. The only issue is just time-sensitive things like spoilers from other people or games that depend on live servers/seasonal events and I try to avoid those. And being patient often means better discounts, game of the year editions, multiple DLCs, humble bundles, more mods, etc. As long as you aren’t worried about FOMO, it means you’re far less likely to be surprised or upset over the quality or price point of any particular game.

Mod-friendly games with large mod communities like Skyrim or Mount and Blade 2. The ability to play a game like Skyrim in completely different ways keeps it fresh.

If you ordered it online, what does it say on the order history? What does it say your card is in system info?

If the goal is to spend less time with the diminishing returns of gaming, it could be effective while utilizing their interest and experience and possibly inspire other creative projects.

Random thoughts:

Cheat, in the worst kind of way—Full god mode, BFG with unlimited ammo, etc. That can ruin a game pretty easily when there’s no challenge and the story might not be new or interesting. Might lead to boredom and wanting to do something else.

Play games you don’t like much and can only stand to play in small increments.

Play casual, relaxing games like Dorfromantik that you can quit playing easily after a round or two.

Get into game design. Make your own game so you’re creating something that you can share with others. It’s still related to your gaming interests, but could be more productive.

Make friends with someone or a group of people who have a different hobby in common so you have a reason to socialize that doesn’t drag you back to playing games.

Make a bucket list and start pursuing one of the items on the list like writing a novel or painting a landscape or building something practical.

Set time limits for your gaming and force yourself to do something else that doesn’t allow for gaming, even something simple like taking a walk without a gaming device. Make gaming a reward for being responsible rather than an addictive obligation. Focus on learning to appreciate delayed gratification.

I had a point by point response, but I don’t think perpetuating this discussion is productive, so I’ll just leave you with the friendly advice that adopting a judgmental, nearly religious fundamentalist, and authoritarian approach to FOSS feels like it violates the spirit of FOSS itself and will likely be off-putting to even other FOSS enthusiasts, much less anyone you want to convince.

I’m not sure insulting people is the most effective way to win them over to your perspective.

You seem to attribute to character flaws what is more commonly just practical decisions.

Those are real reasons though.

• Familiarity
• More games/better gaming support
• Consistency with computers used at work/school or by friends/colleagues
• IT people can benefit from using the same systems as their users to provide better support
• Availability of proprietary software necessary to run specialized equipment
• Non-power users might not run into significant issues with Windows since it does basic tasks like web browsing, game playing, and movie watching just fine

A lot of libraries have online chat services where you can ask a reference librarian for help researching a topic. They can point out good sources and alternative search databases that might be more relevant than a general Google search depending on your query topic.

Depends on the stores these days, in my experience. Some stores are scheduling fewer cashiers after installing more self checkout lanes and have removed signage about item limits in self checkout. If you want a human cashier, you have to wait a while because there might only be one on shift so you get a line.

Makers by Cory Doctorow

You were excited to get email because it was almost always from a human being who put meaning and intent into their message. It was like getting a handwritten letter compared to all the random terms of service update emails from a service you haven’t used in four years and emails from a service you didn’t sign up for because someone else thinks your email address is their email address and the outright spam in the filter.

Video title: “How to unlock the demon door on the fourth level of Demon Smasher Elite”

“Hello, video game fans! Don’t forget to like and subscribe! Last week I posted a video that isn’t relevant to this video, but I need to drag out the time on this one to game the algorithm, so I’m going to rehash and plug that video. I’m going to shout out to my Patreon subscribers with ridiculous usernames I won’t pronounce well. Now let’s get to the part you’ve waiting for: I’m going to play through the entire thirty minutes worth of level four before you get to the demon door and I will stop to make useless commentary on the bad guys you encounter. Okay, now you’ve skipped forward to what looks like the area before the demon door part of the stage, but I’m going to talk about some unrelated anecdote about this game or maybe the game devs, and then plug my Patreon account and mention a completely different game that I’ll be streaming next. Oh and here’s the five seconds of the video you wanted to see when I tell you to click the right mouse button on the hidden lever next to the demon door in order to open it, except you aren’t seeing it because you skipped forward too far and gave up. Don’t forget to like and subscribe! This video has been brought to you by Nord VPN.”

It’s great for classic films noir.

If any nuclear attack would be met with a counter attack using nukes, the whole world would suffer from the fallout that wouldn’t be contained only within the national boundaries of the countries that get nuked.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_holocaust

I’ve had dreams where I’ve pulled out my phone to take a picture of something beautiful that I want to remember and then I wake up upset that I didn’t actually take the picture.