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Earth, the colonies, the poor

Going back to ME1, it's just… very clear that the outlook for a lot of people on Earth in the 2180s is… horrific.

Basically, every colonist we meet is eager to escape Earth. This is especially obvious with the people of Zhu's Hope on Feros, or in the cut content for Caleston. If we piece everything together, when you want to leave Earth and have no capital or marketable skills :

you can join the Alliance military and benefit from the Deferred Education Plan (if you don't die in the line of duty first !)

you can, apparently, go to some bureaucratic entity called Colonial Affairs, which sets you up for a colony and definitely isn't downplaying how awful and dangerous it gets because they want as many colonies as fast and far as possible (Fai Dan : "Life is hard and often brutal, even without our current problems. Colonial Affairs back on Earth told us we'd be beneath the notice of any raiders — I guess they weren't counting on the geth." Hollis Blake : "It's a little different from what they claimed."), and worst of all it pushes you toward "corporate sponsors" like ExoGeni or Genex Chemical who are eager to make a profit on your back and at your expense (presumably to offload the financial burden of setting up colonies to the private sector ?) — and if I take Arcelia at her word when she says that "most of us" worked for ExoGeni, that means the colonists are also contractors, liable for damages if they do not fulfill their end of the bargain.

you can bypass the Alliance's bureaucracy entirely and go straight to Eldfell-Ashland Energy, who'll give you a job and an education through their subsidiaries, though you'll eke out your contract in a company town for God knows how many years.

per cut content, you can also benefit from an aid program called "contractual transit" (basically, an organization pays for your transit off-Earth to a location where you'll get to work) except when you end up on an independent colony technically outside of the Alliance's jurisdiction you've got no protections and might end up becoming a debt slave who's ruthlessly exploited.

if you can somehow scrounge up enough resources, you can set up your own independent colony outside of the Alliance's purview, like Horizon… but you're entirely at the mercy of space bogeys. And with no prospects. So the best shot for your kids, like Traynor, is… the Systems Alliance military, and the Deferred Education Plan.

"Colony Life — It's Not That Bad !"

Also, here's a completely accidental possible explanation as to why Americanish people are overly represented in the Alliance : per the first book, at least some parts of the UNAS (e.g. the Texan megalopolis) are among the poorest on Earth, period. So, uh, I guess people might wanna leave ?

#mass effect #mass effect lore

sometiktoksarevalid

curlicuecal

I quit writing when I realized I had no desire to do all the steps to professionally publish a book. And I started writing again years later when I realized I was allowed to do things I enjoyed without a profit endgoal

You don't have to do a thing the way society says is correct

You can do it the way that is satisfying to you

mamoru

life pro tip: if you happen to be considering purchasing an LG TV or monitor, you possibly want to pick something else! and if you have an LG monitor that has not been plugged into anything in a while, you might want to leave it that way!

if you already have an LG monitor or TV or intend to buy one, you probably want to watch this video and keep an eye on gamers nexus for updates (or anyone else covering the LG spying situation):

posted july 16 2026

LG is doing some bad things. how bad? well. here are some very brief bullet points. I am not an expert, gamers nexus is, see the video for more information than this:

LG monitors (brand new and years old, cheap and expensive) auto-install LG's own adware-spyware called LG Monitor App onto windows 10 and 11 computers. you plug in an LG monitor for video output and this gets installed automatically. no hitting OK, no confirmation, no toggles, NOTHING.

the auto-installed LG Monitor App auto-grants itself access to your internet connection and ALL computer resources. the LG Monitor App has the ability to collect: geolocation data, device data, personal information, online activity data, contact data, and more!

...and it shows pop-up ads! because fuck you

on some affected versions of windows, auto-installed shitware like the LG Monitor App can be prevented by navigating to gpedit.msc -> computer configuration -> administrative templates -> system -> device installation -> prevent automatic download of applications associated with metadata

...but, if your LG monitor already installed the LG Monitor App, this is like closing the barn door after the horse got out. and that horse has the logs of everything you were doing on your computer! someone stop that fucking horse!!!

unrelated to the LG Monitor App, many LG TV owners are now required to tell all household members and guests that their LG TV is recording and processing ALL nearby voices. or else they may be in violation of local eavesdropping and wiretapping laws. for owning a fucking LG TV.

plus, how many businesses, workplaces, public spaces use LG TVs?

allegedly the microphone spying can be turned off by disabling microphone features, but LG has been caught disregarding opt-out settings before.

LG TVs can record everything that happens on the TV, including the video output of connected devices like phones, computers, gaming consoles, anything that happens on the TV screen.

LG was sued for their spying, and as a result of that spying suit, now shows pop-ups saying oops! they got caught spying and intend to continue spying. thanks for buying LG!

as of when the video was posted, there was no list of every spying LG monitor or TV. but this stuff is getting rolled out to more and more LG devices, including those purchased years ago.

and that is the shortest summary I can make of this situation without just summarizing more of the gamers nexus video.

Update: We are working on a follow-up to the LG story and have some disturbing findings re: LG's products. It will take us a while to parse

⬆️posted july 23 2026

gamers nexus is fairly respected in technology journalism. they fly around the world investigating companies that fuck people over and have pressured major companies to make major changes over the years.

so for gamers nexus to say that this LG spying situation is both unprecedented in how uniquely bad it is in this era of spying, and that it gets even worse than their video where they already say to stop buying and using LG products while recanting every prior recommendation for LG products?

oooooofff

jenroses

For context, Gamers Nexus is a channel that does incredible deep dives and they work very hard not to be beholden to the tech industry. Steve is what I would consider a Very Reliable Source and I pay a lot of attention to his work.

Also LG is the epitome of planned obsolescence and while they often make very clever products, they also do things like not having parts available for less than the cost of a new machine and designing stoves that will destroy themselves with the self clean function.

I will not buy them again. Not in any category.

if-you-are-tired-clap-your-hands

Old Animorphs websites made by fans

i went on the wayback machines and found a bunch of old websites made in the late 90s-00s about animorphs. i wasn't alive during those times but it's really cool to see how people used to talk about it on the old internet. and there were already so many fanfics ! here's a few i found in the wayback machine.

#the old web #must have a look later

scribghetti-junction

Magikarp’s hidden talent.

hexmaniacmareen

BLESSED POST

pokemonheritageposts

Pokemon Heritage Post

#splash you motherfuckers

derinthescarletpescatarian

iamoutofideas

iwontknowyouanymore

this trend of shitting on peer-reviewed academic studies in favor of tweeting “we already knew this was happening” is so soul-crushing. not to be an elitist cunt, but we have got to open the schools again. people genuinely seem to have forgotten that their personal lived experience isn’t indicative of the larger population, AND IF IT IS…… then you need researchers to support these assertions from a relevant data pool instead of a blog post from 2013 💀

chaoticevilspacewitch

"Believe women and the marginalized" does not replace the value of empirical data.

ivy-saurs

randomly remembered this tweet and had to stop myself from bursting out laughing

bodhrancomedy

Look, it’s a weird hill to die on, especially when I don’t really explain, but children deserve to experience fear, disgust, and discomfort in safe scenarios where they can process those sensations.

Media for children used to be scary and that’s important.

the-davest-of-uncles

“Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” ― C.S. Lewis

grace-in-the-wilderness

"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."

-- G. K. Chesterton

yayyyy

If you don’t let go of your prejudices and past grudges, your heart won’t blossom. 2013 is coming, let’s make a change. We only have one planet so let’s show each other some kindness.

crowboy-bebop

2013 is coming… let’s show each other some kindness…

natalieironside

How do I make Google understand that when I searched for "Goth girl names" I meant that like Amalfreda and Radagonda and not like Enoby Darkness

natalieironside

Though little is known about them, some historians believe that the House of Enoby, the Enobyngii, were the most powerful tribe of Goffs in their day. Linguists still speculate what influence Crimean Goffic had on the East Germanic branch.

natalieironside

Some limitanii stared at me

I put my middle finger up at them

nekogirltail

@xrozario-sanguinemx

natalieironside

He looked just like Fritigern of the Thervingii (and if yuo don't know who that is, get da fuck out of here!!!)

#my immortal lives on

hometoursandotherstuff

rooted-clangen

dawg my discord got hijicked and sent out fuckin spam links... ive fixed it and still have access to the account but ughhh i now have to see if i cant get the guideline strikes off.

i cant message on there till the 15th tho

rooted-clangen

i hate it here

rooted-clangen

im out here making waves. they cant stop me. innovation is key

rooted-clangen

the discord is innovative

indirectcomedian

xena gave us trans drag lesbianism as a treat

autisticexpression2

There are layers to this. Earlier in the episode, Xena discovers her secret while they're sharing a locker room. A woman she has got naked with turned out to be trans. It's the exact scenario terfs are always fear-mongering about, but Xena just shrugs it off.

Also, the kiss was a big deal not just because it was gay but because the trans actress was HIV positive. They wanted to show the world that you can't contract HIV just from kissing someone. Bear in mind, the AIDS crisis was still fresh on people's minds in the 90s.

Happy Pride.

aromanticduck

Free service with ads: Well, if I'm not paying for it they have to foot the bill somehow.

Paid service with no ads: Well, if they're not funding it with ad revenue, they need to charge us something.

Paid service with ads: Well that's bullshit.

"We used to be a paid service without ads, but now we're putting ads in it! If you want the ad-free version you have to pay more for preeeeemium": Fuck you fuck you fuck you

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