[keatxu]

abandonware should be public domain. force companies to actively support and provide products if they don't wanna lose the rights to them

[omikronsoul]

Game companies hate emulation, but none of them seem to understand that a lot of us would just buy ROMs from them directly if we could. I don't want a fifth remake of Final Fantasy IV, I want to pay five bucks for the 3MB file you already made bank with thirty years ago. Nobody who wants to play something for the purpose of retro gaming is going to consider a $40 remake as the alternative option, and we're certainly not going to let the original dissappear. They're crying about opportunity cost for a product they're not even selling.

[justletmeremember]

op i know you're probably talking about like, video games, etc, but this is also critical for research science - my lab has so much abandonware, either because the company's out of business, or the company decided to not maintain it, and it's a fucking nightmare. we have two windows 95 computers that are CRITICAL for performing experiments/data analysis because the software needed is abandonware. one of the main roles for a guy in my lab is to maintain these little dinosaurs because if they go out, we lose access to ~20 years of raw data for research. part of why is that these companies also make their own file types, and make it difficult-to-impossible to convert those file types without their specific software. by habit, i convert all research files to more generic versions (txt, pdf, tif, etc) so that i minimize risk of losing my shit, but some stuff can't be converted.

for example, we have a microscope that is perfectly functional, good microscope, but its software is abandonware because the company refused to maintain it. the company is still in business, still makes essentially the exact same software, but they made all of the old tech incompatible with new software to force people to buy the new microscope tech. it would cost a quarter million dollars to replace this microscope. this perfectly good microscope.

so like, i know a lot of people look at the original post here and go "well op just wants old video games to play" (which is valid! games companies should not be able to push shit to abandonware and then close it off) but also this is critical for like. biomedical research. if y'all had any idea how much basic infrastructure built on science relies on shit that is technically abandonware, you would probably be horrified.

[jollysunflora]

#there is so much abandonware just...out there being used and carefully maintained#because nothing quite replicates the functionality

[probablymermaids]

At my last job there was a computer in a closet and if it shut down an entire product we sold could disappear.

The computer and closet were not labelled.

[probablymermaids]

Month 3 at the new gym: the older women who frequent the sauna before close are accepting me as one of their own.

[kaleidoscopic-quiddity]

remmick and the vampires present a false dichotomy

Hogwood (the man who sold the twins the mill) and the KKK are very obviously bad, they are outright malicious bigotry, they use the n-word and plan to lynch the moore's and their community, they are so blatantly racist and hateful it's unavoidably obvious

remmick and the vampires however say that they believe in equality, say that they want to create a community, and yet remmick's goal throught the movie is to both metaphorically and literally steal sammie's ability for his own goal of reconnecting with his irish ancestors, a white man wants to harm a young and upcoming black man and use talents for his own goals without giving any regard to said black man's autonomy or agency

when sammie sings 'I lied to you' in the juke joint and calls forth the spirits from the past and future, it's a blend of cultures; west african, east asian, native american, and african american song and dance blend together across time and space to tell the stories of blues; where it takes its inspiration from, the music genres it then inspired, the complex history of black american culture and its intersections with other peoples of colour in the USA

when remmick and the vampires kill and turn the people in the juke joint, and then perform rocky road to dublin, only remmick's irish culture is on display, there is no influence from the black and asian people he has forcibly assimilated into his song, it's juxtaposition with the earlier scene is blatant, remmick is more than happy to assimilate people of colour into his 'community' of 'equals', and yet its only whiteness that is celebrated, that is normative

remmick claims that he's doing people a favour by turning them immortal, conviently ignoring that he literally has to suck the life out of them to do so, trapping their spirits on earth, he claims that he's the good guy, that the KKK were gonna come and lynch everyone at the joint in the morning anyways, conviently ignoring that he's doing the exact same thing; a white man leading a mob to kill a bunch of black people

in the final confrontation with sammie remmick repeatedly dunks him into the river, a forceful baptism. both the celtic irish and enslaved west africans had their religions suppressed and destroyed by colonialsm, had christianity forced upon them by the british empire, and in that scene we see remmick repeating that cycle, using christianity to inflict harm, and sammie reclaiming christianity, despite all the complex emotions he has arround it, as many colonised peoples have and still do, when he recites the lord's prayer

remmick and the vampires are no less racist than hogwood and the KKK, are no less predatory or evil, they're just less blantant about their bigotry, they represent the system, the normalised white supremacy that is seeped into the very foundation of culture in america, the point isnt that remmick would call any of the black characters in the movie the n-word, i dont think he would, the point is that his exploitation and desacration and inserting-himself-into-when-he-wasn't-invited of the juke joint is a microcosm of what white people have done to black american arts and culture since ever since there have been black and white people in america, and even before that

theres a reason vultures are shown early on in this movie

[hyperpoppedpuss]

Theyre literally culture vultures lol

[probablymermaids]

I've never really put work into photo mode in games before, but Infinity Nikki has me trying.

[probablymermaids]

I've been trying to figure out fatigue and sleep issues for MONTHS. I made them check my vitamin d, checked that my estrogen was "high enough", cancelled my boutique gym membership for something more gentle, am eating really well, etc. I've got a continuous glucose monitor stuck in my arm. I was counting macros.

It was my protein. I read about the bio-availability of plant based proteins and swapped my powder to whey and I am cured. I'm sleeping through the night. I went on a little run for the first time in months and felt good afterwards.

Lessons learned:

Being on HRT doesn't exempt me from any fun part of menopause, like your body not being able to synthesize protein as well. I gained ten pounds on this protein powder pre-surgery.

No woman I know is getting enough protein if I wasn't.

[sci-fi-gifs]

Companion dir. Drew Hancock | 2025

[lightsgifs]

I swear this isn’t me, this is the damage talking.

[probablymermaids]

One thing that I wasn't expecting after this last surgery is how different it feels to have a body that is purely recreational.

Boobs are functionally for babies? Not these. Reproductive system? Not here. Not only is my body not waiting for its chance to kill me, I get to custom mix my hormones to make me FEEL my best for the sake of deserving to feel my best.

I'm not sure that I quite know how to articulate it. I feel free and light and like the rest of my life should feel this way. Every piece of clothing should spark joy. I'm not tolerating mediocre friendships. I'm gonna play my whole steam library. I have an entire life ahead of me that is mine.

[cryptotheism]

For the last like 2000 years you could get pussy just by being a guy. Now with divorce and the pill and women having jobs and bank accounts and shit, things have changed. If youre a dude and you want pussy you actually have to ask nicely. This will lead to the collapse of several nation states.

[cryptotheism]

No amount of ideology will save you. If you want pussy from a woman, they actually gotta like you. Your wife divorced you at 55 for a bishounen boytoy with a CS degree, and you don't know how to use a washing machine. This is proof you are a loser.

[probablymermaids]

I AM MAKING a medically planned, professionally supervised ATTEMPT TO COME OFF THE ANTIDEPRESSOS

[shblackwoodart]

idk why he's dying in a swamp don't ask me

[phantomrose96]

The alt-right's foothold into Gen-Z is frustrating and I can see from over here how they're doing it.

You've got a generation of young-adults who are learning to be adults for the first time and for so many of them it sucks. It sucks to be in your first shitty apartment where things break, and to have your first shitty car that needs maintenance, and to be working a low-paying service or retail job where you get berated all day and barely scrape by. And you go home and you have taxes to figure out and electric bills to figure out and a screen on your phone to rot into to destress.

And this is men and women, equally, in this spot. But the alt-right messaging gets to tailor their approach to gender.

And hey women, yes you working a shitty job for shitty pay, overwhelmed by financial responsibilities and car repairs, what if you actually didn't need to do ANY of that? You don't need to. And you don't need to feel guilty about it. (You're not quitting, you're not being lazy), you actually are just embracing the chance to be exactly who an ideal woman should be. You should actually be beautiful, and demure, and barefoot in a sunny kitchen, glowing, pregnant, hearing the joyful sounds of your children while you bake a roast for your wonderful husband (strong, protective, loves you, handles the finances, handles the jobs, handles all the things you hate). OUR ancestors (don't mind the dogwhistle) did this for GENERATIONS, and modern society has failed you instead!

It's offering to break women out of all the parts of their real life that suck, and do it in a way that promises they're actually being better, being more admirable, more moral, more respectable, more correct, can feel good about, can feel proud about, as a Woman as Feminine as Mother as Goddess.

And the thing being promised does not need to actually reflect reality. It's a fantasy. It is not real. For every "beautiful demure barefoot" day, you'd be having another one covered in shit changing diapers of screaming infants with screaming children while your husband ignores you because it's Women's Work (take pride!) But that doesn't matter. It just needs to sound better than the reality they're living.

Then the men are targeted too. And it's the same in that it's getting to them by appealing to pride in their gender, but the messaging is different. It's "those finances are hard but ACTUALLY you're leveling up, you're grinding, you're finance maxing." It's hard but it's the kind of hard that is a challenge you can WIN at, boast about, post about, prove your manliness. Knowing cars, knowing home repairs, knowing taxes, that's your MAN pride, and you are so elite, you are so sigma, you are the envy of everyone, you are a masculine man. Women love you. Women will defer to you. Strong, respected, moral, loyal, unshakeable. Unlike those pansy men (mind the homophobic dogwhistling) who will whimper and cry like girls. You are better.

The shitty retail job is actually humble beginnings because you're minmaxing your way to financial success (bitcoin, crypto, investments). You can sleep with any woman you want as long as you're confident, and then you'll find one who understands how smart and confident and strong and protective you are and she will defer to you as her man. She will birth your children and teach them good morals and you will make it. Our ancestors lived this way for generations (dogwhistle) and modern society took it from you.

And with that messaging it makes it clear who the enemy in all this is - modern society that has convinced women to torture themselves with high education and terrible jobs, turned them Ugly with Ugly opinions and bad hair and nasty attitudes, yelping about "rights" and "equality" (pitting them against men! TAKING things from men!) All the while, society has been trying to emasculate men--replace them with women, make them soft and emotional, make them gay, make them WEAK. We've been made WEAK.

The naive women hearing this go "I'm not ugly! I don't hate men! I DO hate my job and my finances. I've been tricked. I'm actually rebelling by declaring my goal is to get a Perfect (White) (Christian) moral husband who will make all our decisions and protect me and our children." (And when she's financially trapped in an abusive marriage...? When she's suicidal with PPD but her husband won't touch that because it's Woman Hysteria...? And when her husband leaves her for someone who was as hot as she was 20 years ago and now she's figuring out finances, health care, taxes, bank accounts for the first time in her life...?)

And the men go "They've been TAKING things from us for too long! It's time to be men again! It's time to take pride! I am strong and confident. I am in charge! I never show weakness!" (And when he's got a gun to his head due to the depression he's never been allowed to talk about as Women Feelings...? And when he's financially ruined from a crypto scheme that stroked his ego and robbed him blind...? And when he's dead from alcohol poisoning and none of his adult children notice because no one's spoken to 'Dad' in 15 years...?)

And it's so hard to fight because you're arguing against a fantasy. How do you disprove their fantasy? It's so hard to explain to them, hey you're working a shitty job where you have no future because the rich bastards took it all from you. And now you're doing their work for them. You hate society because of what they've done to it and now you're doing their work. Now you're targeting groups who've never done anything to harm you and the guys responsible are laughing to the bank. How do you explain? How do you disprove fantasy?

[yrrtyrrtwhenihrrthrrt]

My approach to disproving the fantasy is to recite the actual reality about the lives of my grandparents and great grandparents who lived in this supposed "fantasy." To talk about how one of my grandma's sisters had to point a gun at her husband and tell him she'd kill him dead if she ever saw him again, because he was abusing their children, and how they were technically still married when they both died.

How when my great-grandfather died, he left behind seven children and a wife who didn't even have an eighth grade education, and how his family starved. She was too frail to work the fields of their farm on her own, and she had no skills or knowledge to get another job. Her eighteen year old son, who was brilliant and was going to go to college on a scholarship to become an engineer, had to give up all of that to run the farm then join the military to try to keep his family alive.

I tell them about how my grandmother slapped me when I was a child and complained about having to go to school, because she knew that going to school for a girl was a privilege, and she saw what happened when women weren't educated. She made her daughter go to college. She made her promise to never, ever be dependent on a man, and she made me promise the same. She was a typical 1950s housewife. Suicidal, young, and cripplingly addicted to Valium just to get through the day.

It doesn't really work. But I tell these stories because this is the story of not my family, but most poor rural families from this so-called "Golden age," and I hope for the love of God that someone will listen.

[probablymermaids]

I just finished the main story in Red Dead Redemption 2 and I am completely and utterly devastated. Eviscerated. How do I go on? I fought the pacing the whole time and now I think I played too quickly. How do I do a replay with this knowledge?

Husband asked for a no-spoilers explanation and I'm just sputtering "my HORSE" "i have never wanted to beat the shit out of two men so badly and not been allowed to" "DEVASTATED"

Him: So I should play it? Yeah, when you don't have a job, because I sunk 100+ hours into the main story and now think that was too fast.

[escuerzoresucitado]

[demilypyro]

Man, imagine being Liara T'soni. You're only 106, only barely an adult in Asari years, and you're doing some routine archeological dig on some nowhere planet. And you suddenly touch the wrong thing and a forcefield traps you in place. And then a human shows up. A beautiful alien space commander from beyond the stars comes to rescue you, with her guns and her muscles. A knight in shining power armor. Yeah I'd fall in love too. I'd follow her anywhere. And when she died, I'd turn to crime to save her. I'd sacrifice anything to bring her back. To see her again. I get it

[probablymermaids]

Full stack Trumpism

Read to the end for billionaires prostrating in front of a giant AI head that hovers over a fountain of piss while it shoots lasers and Jako

Bannon’s two most important political theories are that politics “exist downstream of culture” and that the only arbiters of culture that matter are the media, who can easily be distracted or manipulated by “flooding the zone with shit.” During Trump’s first presidency, this felt true enough. Trump, a creature of pop culture and reality TV and tabloids, conquered the White House and then spent the next four years ruling via a media loop built from livetweeting Fox & Friends. But American mass media is effectively over now, replaced by tech platforms whose algorithms determine culture and, thus, politics, and run on a business model that requires an ever-constant flood of shit. And it turns out the monopolists that own these platforms are just incel-adjacent enough to gladly sell their networks’ influence over to the Trump administration if Joe Rogan agrees to call them alpha males and Trump’s team promises not to regulate them. And Trump’s playbook — or rather, the playbook concocted by powerful white nationalists and religious fanatics content to use his never-ending appetite for corruption as an institutional wrecking ball — has evolved to meet this new information landscape. We’re now seeing an updated version of Trump’s govern-by-tweet strategy from 2016, but shrewdly inverted. Not tweets dictating policy dictating laws, but laws as swift and disposable as tweets, generating discourse that feeds back into the online platforms owned by all the billionaires that just swore allegiance to him. A perpetual motion machine of bull shit. Full stack Trumpism.

[probablymermaids]

I work tech support for software that makes a little government program function. That's the whole thing it does. Project 2025 calls this program out by name as something it's going to cut. After never appearing in the news, the past two months little half-informed articles about corruption in this program have been trickling out.

lol i'm in danger

pls pay attention to WHEN rhetoric about things start(ed) in addition to what is said when you are vetting information