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Phonebooks
  • Oh! Apologies, I just saw that someone else said something relevant and decided to post my comment as a reply to them instead of a top level comment. Sorry for the confusion!

  • 'Agatha All Along' is Marvel Studios' cheapest live-action Disney+ series to date
  • That is really funny!

    You know, that stage show actually did run at Disneyland for about two months. What if that's actually it? What if they just used the budget from Hawkeye to underwrite the stage performance and call it "Marketing and Promotion" without having to dip into the theme park budget?? That actually doesn't sound too crazy to me.

    Incidentally: my husband went to Disneyland to see Rogers! The Musical and said it was quite good.

  • 'Agatha All Along' is Marvel Studios' cheapest live-action Disney+ series to date
  • Where did they spend $150 M in Hawkeye?

    I guess I remember one big outdoor chase scene, but generally I feel like someone embezzled $10 or $20 mill. Loki? Sure. Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Yeah, that had a bunch of locations and high-value actors. But seriously, how would one spend $150 million on Hawkeye? No disrespect, but I didn't see that on screen.

    I wish I did. I unironically love Hawkeye.

  • Phonebooks
  • I'm from Pittsburgh. I think we ran a cross country meet in Hershey once.

    The amusement park and factory tour are all quite charming. It's hard to recommend one make a dedicated trip, but if anyone is ever on a road trip nearby, it's worth the detour to stop by for a day.

    Then again, my recommendation is 20 years old. It could be either better or worse now.

  • Phonebooks
  • They were starting by putting a finger in zero and then dragging to the number. And for zero they were dragging all the way to the stop.

    You're supposed to dial by putting a finger in each number hole and then dragging to the stop. So they dialed zero correctly, but only zero.

  • Phonebooks
  • I had one in my room! Such a good feel to it. Same with picking up and hanging up!

    This was in the early 2000s, btw. They were already relics, but landlines were still commonly used when I was in high school, and it had such a handsome look to it and felt great to use. I have long thought that a product that would do incredibly well would be a cell phone charging dock where you put your phone in and while it's charging it just acts like a landline rotary phone. The user experience is very, very gratifying, and if you've ever tried to hold a call while your phone is plugged into the wall you know how much better a solid headset with a coil wire would feel than that.

  • Phonebooks
  • I'm 38. I remember a few times when I was a kid needed to call a classmate urgently. Like, maybe i needed to know what math problems we were assigned as homework. For folks I knew well, I might have their number written down in a book in a desk drawer, but for anyone else I would have to look up their last name in the white pages and read down a list trying to find the right number.

    Was their dad's name Prescott? No, that's not an ethnic match. Here's a David. That sounds right. Oh! And it's on Beacon! That's the right neighborhood! That's got to be it!

    I think about it all the time. You could find your teacher's house and just go drop off a fruit basket or something if you wanted. It was crazy! It was just assumed that if someone wanted to find your house it was probably for a sensible reason. Why otherwise? If you're paranoid or a public figure then maybe you'd choose to be unlisted, but for anyone else there's no point in it.

    Simpler times, for sure. I'd still like to go back. I think it was worth it. The alternative doesn't seem to work. We're all getting constantly harassed with robo calls and stalked on line. At this point, the only people who don't know where we live are the ones who might drop off a casserole. We've gained nothing.

  • Phonebooks
  • Yeah.

    I'm 38. I remember a few times when I was a kid needed to call a classmate urgently. Like, maybe i needed to know what math problems we were assigned as homework. For folks I knew well, I might have their number written down in a book in a desk drawer, but for anyone else I would have to look up their last name in the white pages and read down a list trying to find the right number.

    Was their dad's name Prescott? No, that's not an ethnic match. Here's a David. That sounds right. Oh! And it's on Beacon! That's the right neighborhood! That's got to be it!

    I think about it all the time. You could find your teacher's house and just go drop off a fruit basket or something if you wanted. It was crazy! It was just assumed that if someone wanted to find your house it was probably for a sensible reason. Why otherwise? If you're paranoid or a public figure then maybe you'd choose to be unlisted, but for anyone else there's no point in it.

    Simpler times, for sure. I'd still like to go back. I think it was worth it. The alternative doesn't seem to work. We're all getting constantly harassed with robo calls and stalked on line. At this point, the only people who don't know where we live are the ones who might drop off a casserole. We've gained nothing.

  • Stem cells reverse woman’s diabetes — a world first
  • This is so exciting. I worked in a lab where we were trying to do this, and so I was very aware what a gold rush we were in. I'm so glad to see that it's actually happening.

    This is truly a watershed moment in science. This is going to mark a major turning point in cellular medicine from theory to commonplace care. Eventually, this will end the pharma industry's insulin cash cow.

    But it's even bigger than that. Because once we can engineer cells that produce a natural product, the next step is to engineer cells that produce synthetic medicines. Antidepressants, birth control, hormones, weight loss drugs, boner pills... The frontier is huge, lucrative, financially disruptive for pharma companies and life changing for patients. This is a big moment in history, and we all need to be fighting harder than ever to end for-profit healthcare. Otherwise we're going to end up with subscription licenses to our own bodies.

  • Solar punk summit
  • Oh! I was very much confusing those! Thanks for the disambiguation.

    I do not know anything about the summit. If anyone goes, please report back.

  • Solar punk summit
  • I think they posted a lot of their presentations on YouTube.

    I have not. I thought about it, but I'm generally disinterested in fully remote conventions, so I haven't attended. But I like the idea.

  • Israel Bombed Lebanon Today, Killing Hundreds. The U.S. Is Sending More Bombs.
  • I'm sorry, but this narrative so completely exonerates Biden and Harris for their direct responsibility for risking the election over this.

    The notion that Harris is in a bind is an absolute fiction. The overwhelming majority of Americans want an arms embargo with Israel. It has broad bipartisan support, including with an overwhelming majority of Democrats. And in top of that, she chose to not even let a popular Palestinian American lawmaker from Georgia give a vetted speech endorsing her at the DNC.

    She is risking this election. That is a personal choice. I hope she wins, but if she loses because she didn't have votes she made clear she doesn't want, that is not on Jill Stein, that's a Harris decision.

  • Gov. Newsom signs new laws cracking down on oil industry in California | Cities, counties and local voters will be able to block new oil and gas wells in their communities
  • Finally! As an Angelino I can tell you that this took a lot of organizing and was a long time coming.

  • Israel Bombed Lebanon Today, Killing Hundreds. The U.S. Is Sending More Bombs.
  • The first thing you need to know is that if Trump gets elected, there is no discernible point between whether he "goes dictator" or not. People just use power and whether they're a dictator is a subjective exercise for historians.

    Second: if Trump gets elected, everyone should actually be doing the same things they do if Harris gets elected, which are also the same things we should all have been doing under Biden, Trump, Obama, etc: which is building a base of local power to stand up for the most threatened among us and push back against authoritarian state power.

    In practice, this means getting to know your neighbors. Knowing who serves as your mayor and city council and county council, and police chief, and local prosecutor. Then you need to organize with your local community to build political power to support democracy and oppose authoritarian power. And if you and the folks in the next town do this, you form a bloc of political will to do the same thing at the state level, and eventually the federal level.

    This work still needs done if Harris wins. She is a better person than Trump, but the larger system both would command is a loaded gun. We cannot simply keep trying to keep the gun in the hands of the lesser of two evils, we need to remove the bullets. That means things like public financing of elections and ranked choice voting. It's not as dramatic as shooting politicians you don't like, but unfortunately, in the real world this is how dismantling fascism actually works.

  • Israel Bombed Lebanon Today, Killing Hundreds. The U.S. Is Sending More Bombs.
  • I agree with all of that. Except for the part about possibly appealing to the anti-war voter if it would help them win. There are some -- Biden for instance -- who clearly would rather lose than do that. I don't know Harris well enough to judge.

    I think it's sad that people complain when someone says that they won't vote for the lesser of two evils. It's sad because it shows a profound misunderstanding about how democracy is supposed to work, and what they're entitled to demand from their fellow citizens.

    The largest voting block in every election is the depressed voter. And the reason is that our system is constructed to favor a broken two-party system even at the expense of civil participation that can solve our problems. Millions of people don't vote because they see no benefit in doing so. The problem to be solved is that the political system has failed these people, not that they aren't showing sufficient enthusiasm to do paperwork to satisfy the demands of people who feel invested in the outcome of elections.

    The media falsely claims that each candidate has 47% support when really they each have about 30% support, and a larger number of people have not felt any interest in supporting either candidate. That's a massive failing in reporting and political process.

  • Israel Bombed Lebanon Today, Killing Hundreds. The U.S. Is Sending More Bombs.
  • I honestly disagree.

    He's like Trump. There are certainly no shortage of knock-offs who are eager to try and replace him if he falls, but what we saw during the Republican primary is that none so far can quite achieve what he does. They're all lesser copies.

    Netanyahu is an extraordinary politician. Not a lot of his peers have what it takes to be as effective, dangerous, and destructive as he is.

  • Israel Bombed Lebanon Today, Killing Hundreds. The U.S. Is Sending More Bombs.
  • I wanna push back on that.

    Israel has a population of 5.2 million people, and 2 million of them are Arab Muslims.

    The representation of Israel that we see in their media and culture is a reflection of Apartheid. It erases the presence and will of literally millions of people who are the target of the brutality that we're talking about.

  • Israel Bombed Lebanon Today, Killing Hundreds. The U.S. Is Sending More Bombs.
  • A world where Trump gets elected and then assassinated is a world where JD Vance is president of an America that elected Trump and then saw him assassinated. That's how you get Gilead by 2025. That is NOT something to fantasize about. That's a hell scenario. And it's why people who think that there's any solutions to our problem that come out of a gun are -- and I mean this with all due respect -- very, very dumb.

    And to put a fine point on this: it's not that this wouldn't be a bad idea if not for JD Vance. It's illustrative of how political violence in real life almost universally makes whatever problem might've motivated the violence suddenly far worse rather than better.

  • Israel Bombed Lebanon Today, Killing Hundreds. The U.S. Is Sending More Bombs.
  • You know what would to be really, REALLY uncomfortable?

    If Harris loses, there's a strong chance that it might be over this terrible war. What a stupid, stupid reason to have to live through another Trump presidency.

  • Israel Bombed Lebanon Today, Killing Hundreds. The U.S. Is Sending More Bombs.
  • Is that a real comment or sarcasm?

  • The Amazon’s Ashaninka tribe restored their territory. Now they aim to change the region - Lemmy.ca
    lemmy.ca The Amazon’s Ashaninka tribe restored their territory. Now they aim to change the region - Lemmy.ca

    What was once a gathering to commemorate the Ashaninka has evolved into a showcase of what they have done: the village’s self-sufficiency, which comes from growing crops and protecting its forest, is now a model for an ambitious project to help 12 Indigenous territories in western Amazon, amounting ...

    1
    Miss me with that doomer shit

    cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/13236888

    > Not givin' up

    25
    I just read Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower" and I can't believe it took me until now to read it.

    cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/13156086

    > Parable of the Sower is such a good book. > >First, it's interesting that it starts right about now. The book starts in mid-2024, and even mentions that its an election year. That was a fascinating experience to read a scifi book in the moment in time in which it is set. It still feels like it takes place about 20 years in the future. It was written 31 years ago, so politically things have seemed to move as many steps forward as backward. It seems like a lot of things have not gotten better and worse than when Butler wrote it, so in some sense I feel like I'm looking at it as a near future in the same way as when it was written a generation ago. I guess I'm glad things didn't go as badly as in the story, but it's rough that the looming threat from 30 years ago feels the same distance away now as then. > >Second, it's painful to read. Although the events described in the book haven't happened in the book's setting -- California -- the social collapse and migrations described have happened in Honduras, Gaza, Yemen, and certainly others I'm not aware of. It was really hard to read that and know that it was already real somewhere. > >Third, as a solarpunk novel -- and really as general fiction -- it feels like it should be part of a high school curriculum. It's really well written and an engrossing read. Since publishing Fully Automated, I often relate solarpunk stories to that game. What might I have added to the game if I'd read this before? How well does it naturally fit? One thing that struck me is that her emerging in-world faith -- Earthseed -- reminds me quite a bit of elements of Seekerism, a new faith tradition in Fully Automated. I wish I'd known and included direct references to Earthseed, but it's nice when the game has alignment with great works that I wasn't directly familiar with. > > Has anyone else read this? What do you folks think?

    10
    Campaign 1: Regulation; The Soundtrack!
    www.youtube.com Fully Automated: Regulation! Soundtrack

    A collection of songs used to score the Fully Automated RPG start campaign.

    Fully Automated: Regulation! Soundtrack

    cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/13067768

    > I finally got around to making a playlist of the music used to score the starter campaign, Fully Automated: Regulation! > > I think it's a collection of real bangers. I hope that for people who haven't played these stories, this might give an enticing taste of what to expect. And for people who might've played, perhaps it takes you back to some memorable moments. > > Demonstration of Power > > - The stakeout: “This DJ” by Warren G > - Fight scene!: “Dare to be Stupid”, covered by The Cybertronic Spree > - Roll credits: “Fine”, by Lemon Demon > > Psychonautica > > - Opening Sparing match: “Champion” by Buju Banton > - Entering neurospace: “Just dropped in” by Kenny Roger > - The mindscape: “Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C.” by André 3000 > - Dance battle: “Do the Damn Thing” by Rupee > - The Bathhouse: “Ants to You, Gods to Who?” by André 3000 > - Android assault: “Robot Rock” by Daft Punk > - Synthesizing the cure: “The Oligo Separation Verse” and “Analytical Gangster” by True Speak > - Roll credits: “Pony” by Deluxe > > Piece of Mind > > - Surf Intro: “Cecilia Ann” by The Pixies > - Fighting back: “Headshot” by she > - Starting the investigation: “No Time for Dreaming” by Charles Bradley & Menahan Street Band > - Sneaking around: “The Sensual Woman” by The Herbaliser > - Piecing things together: “Cause for Alarm” by The Heavy > - Research montage, pt.1: “Metrocenter 84” by Sunset Neon. > - Research montage, pt.2: “You Rock Me” by she > - Making a plan: “Drag and Drop” by the Soul Motivator > - Showtime: “Swing Break” by the McMash Clan, feat. Kate Mullins > - Showdown: “Mastermind” by Deltron 3030 and Dan the Automater > - Showdown, cont’d: “Don’t Get In My Way” by Zach Hemsey > - Roll credits: “UNLVD” by Socalled > > Olives Fair in Love and War > > - Vampire fight: “Dark Entities” cover by Daniel Guerra Caballero > - Roll credits: “Birdhouse in your Soul” by They Might Be Giants

    0
    Your Houseplants Can Think with Zoë Schlanger [Factually podcast with Adam Conover]

    Adam's podcast is just straight-up low-key solarpunk at this point. Like half the videos feel relevant.

    Here is the audio-only version, too: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/factually-with-adam-conover/id1463460577

    6
    We just released our 3rd adventure in our free, open-source solarpunk setting: it's a cyberpunk-heavy mind control conspiracy called "Piece of Mind"!

    Our indie dev group just released our third playable adventure! This is the climax of a four-part set! It is now available for free on DriveThruRPG!

    It’s for a free, open-source game system/setting we made that’s like cyberpunk in a post-scarcity society. Check it out! Honest feedback is appreciated.

    >A gang of whitehat biohackers suspect they’re being targeted. That threat is about to get very real. > >On a sunny summer day, your help is needed escorting a eccentric researcher to a meeting with their collegues. It’s been six weeks since unknown actors staged a daring armed robbery on their laboratory, and tensions are running high. But when this mysterious adversary puts their plans into action, it’ll take all your skills and judgement to avert a nightmare.

    This story continues to build on the previous two in its scope, complexity, and challenges to give diverse player and character types opportunitites to see more places, meet more characters, and find ways to use their specialities to help their communities in a story with around 8 - 10 hours of content.

    8
    The "xylo" is greek for wood

    A lone figure at a party reflects that the rest of the revelers don't know that "xylophones" with metal bars are actually glockenspiels.

    31
    My game group just release a new adventure set in the world of Fully Automated!

    Our indie dev group just released our second playable adventure! It is now available for free on DriveThruRPG!

    It's for a free, open-source game system/setting we made that's like cyberpunk in a post-scarcity society. Check it out! Honest feedback is appreciated.

    >An adventurer is facing a mind-bending medical crisis. Are you prepard to join the rescue party? > >Psychonaut Psilosybe Vulgaris has fallen into a catonic state while testing a new psychadelic. Now her doctor and friends need the aid of some daring and capable first responders ready to do whatever it takes to find a cure, before her mind dissolves away to nothing! > >As the second published adventure within the Fully Automated! solarpunk game catalog, Psychonautica is written for new players who are ready for a more free-form adventure. Unlike the short and simple demo mission, this one has twists, turns, and opportunities for GMs and players to tell stories with a bit more freedom. > >Respond to a medical emergency! Explore the wild mental dimension of neurospace! Meet a wilder, wider world of characters in a story that stands on its own while planting the seeds for an even more climactic sequel!

    4
    guys the NSA put me on a list :'(

    Before you get mad at me, relax: I live under an electoral system in which my vote isn't counted.

    4
    This meme was inspired by the response to a meme I posted on r/worldjerking

    cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/10351845

    > This is the post: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldjerking/comments/1d92dkp/rate_the_political_factions_in_my_totally/

    153
    andrewrgross Andy @slrpnk.net
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