One of the first ones I thought of as well. Lots of indie games that are lots of fun that I’ve gotten for less than $10. I’ll add Stardew Valley and Slay the Spire, but they might be more than $10.

How many Qonvoyers were going on about their “second amendment rights”. One must presume they are very concerned about the formation of Manitoba.

Google soft-forked Linux for Android (maintained in parallel IIRC) but re-merged into the mainline, presumably because why maintain a whole operating system?

In theory the Linux Foundation would keep Google, Microsoft, AMD, whoever playing nice with each other for mutual benefit and maintenance of Linux, but like you said, and the source of my worry, is who else would have Linus’ combination of prestige, principles, and perseverance?

I’m sure there are others who could fill the role, but even Linus is still bullying Nvidia with only partial success. The most vital role Linus probably has had for some time now is leadership. But even someone who might have superior soft-skills wouldn’t have the history, which certainly contributes to his authority.

Glad someone finally mentioned Bus Factor.

On topic, I wonder if Linux technically has a bus factor problem. In theory, anyone could fork, take all the source give and start making Johnix, Tomix, or Whosix. Everything is documented and all the code is available.

In the real world, you have multiple teams and individuals submitting code from all over the world. Sure you’ve got the Linux Foundation, but who would have the respect and authority to keep everyone contributing instead of forking off?

Stop Russia in Ukraine today or in Warsaw tomorrow I guess.

I know there are several seminal works locked in archives or even just lost.

I couldn’t think of any specific examples off the top of my head, but I was considering the fate of Microprose, Sierra On-Line, and other studios that were gobbled up, disbanded, broken up, etc.

Your Mechwarrior example is a good example of licensing, where you might have defunct TTRPG studios (FASA) licensing a property to a have company it studio that has also gone though several mergers.

There should be a “use it or lose it” provision in copyright law, kind of like back in the day with what happened to “It’s A Wonderful Life”. The only reason IAWL became a Christmas classic isbecause it became public domain.

You probably could really help gaming by setting up an incubator fund to help indie developers.

Other ways a little bit of money could go a long way is by contributing to open source development of projects like Godot.

Finally, contribute to games preservation. This could take a couple of different forms, but just a fund to back something like the Free Software Foundation or Archive.org, maybe to set up an Abandonware project.

The guy is a mega-billionaire. He could accomplish some very positive gamer related things for a fraction of a fraction of a percent of his wealth.

And this is the real cost. Sorry Mario Brothers will pretty much always be available as long as Nintendo is around, but obscure games or classics with disputed Copyright will disappear.

Who is out there even trying to stream the old Sierra games? At least they are on GoG, but I know even GoG has tried to track down current copyright holders for old classics and the are plenty of orphan games where after several mergers and divestments, there is some uncertainty, and it’s not worth it for any of the potential copyright holders to sort it out and license it, and unfortunately it’s not worth it for GoG to publish it to find out if they’ll sue GoG.

This is why Abandonware is such an important concept.

I used the old Stardock/Impulse/GameStop game platform as well! I’d mostly switched to GoG (and Steam) by the time it shut down, but there are certainly some games that were lost to the platform shutting down.

I don’t think I even signed up for Steam until 2010 or so. Certainly it was pretty clear that Steam had “won” by the time I made an account

In principle I agree. Changing so our clocks so a few people don’t have to do seasonal hours is silly. The only problem with everyone using UTC is the days. Incrementing the day, or flipping the date in the middle of a workday is annoying. It’s solvable, but just sticking to a time is good enough.

As long as a bunch of the world is changing their clocks one way while a bunch changes it another is done away with, conversion to UTC for coordination is simple.

Didn’t think Knoppix was obscure, but that was my gateway to Linux first on all my personal PCs.

I guess the years have passed it by.

I remember when 128 but SSL Encryption was export restricted in the mid 90’s. When I first opened an online banking account, the Bank sent a CD with a customized version of Netscape Navigator with 128 bit SSL, and the bank logo in place of the Netscape N.

I think it was PS3 that shipped with “Other OS” functionality, and were sold a little cheaper than production costs would indicate, to make it up on games.

Only thing is, a bunch of institutions discovered you could order a pallet of PS3’s, set up Linux, and have a pretty skookum cluster for cheap.

I’m pretty sure Sony dropped “Other OS” not because of vague concerns of piracy, but because they were effectively subsidizing supercomputers.

Don’t know if any of those PS3 clusters made it onto Top500.

Where else is this song played? Where is it from?

Can’t disagree with anything you said. You’re a hero for watching the Joe Rogan interview, I cannot listen to Trump for more than 5 minutes at a time, it breaks my brain trying to parse what he’s actually saying instead of treating it like some sort of Rorshach test.

I will say he gets the vibes. The US economy is doing pretty well. They’ve done better on inflation than any other OECD country that I’m aware of, their economy is growing, unemployment is low. But… it feels bad. It feels bad for too many people just trying to pay the rent and put food on the table. Is it because too much of that wealth has accrued in the pockets of the wealthy? Maybe, but paying more for a place to live and more for dinner tonight have a visceral reality that talk of housing starts doesn’t.

We’re in a similar position in Canada. I would actually point to the Daycare program as one of the most significant programs that’s helped working class families in years, but I also don’t think it matters really, because I don’t know how well the LPC ahs captured the “vibes” of it.

Domestically, they made their bed, they can sleep in it. Yeah, I feel sorry for a lot of Americans, who will certainly suffer but then I also feel sorry for lots of people around the world who are suffering. In the US, they have a democracy, even if flawed and imperfect. At the end of the day, this was the will of the people. Maybe not so much that they wanted Trump (many certainly do) but rather enough people weren’t bothered enough to care.

Unfortunately, this is a central Russian propaganda aim in democracies. Why bother voting? Politicians are all crooks. Mainstream media is all lies. Just give up, don’t engage, just… surrender. Why even try? It’s found fertile ground in an increasingly disillusioned public, and you don’t need to convince everyone to sit out the election, just enough.

Not to stress you out, but have you considered a Trump dynasty? What if Trump endorsed one of his children? This could go on long past this Presidency without even amending the constitution.

The Trudeau administration weathered the first Trump presidency pretty well. This time, I don’t know. PP and the CPC seem to be ascendant, and it’s only a matter of time before a Federal election, and then what?

It’s disheartening to admit, but despite plenty of warning I’m not confident that the other liberal democracies are well prepared to handle this second Trump administration. It won’t be all bad I’m sure, and there has been moves towards resilience and autonomy, but I fear it just hasn’t been that effective.

To take one clear example, NATO and Ukraine. From a pure Realpolitik position, sending old US military equipment to Ukraine is probably the single best ROI you could get for US military expenses. It’s unclear how things will shake out under Trump, but considering what associations were uncovered around Stone, Manafort, and Bannon, I’m not real confident on Trump’s abilities here. Sure, NATO defence spending overall and as % of GDP has climbed dramatically since 2022, but despite more Euros in the Bundeswehr budget, there isn’t much more ammo in the cupboard yet. Once Russia is done with Ukraine, Georgia, perhaps the Baltics, Poland, who knows will be next. The longer Russia is bogged down in Ukraine and the more degraded Russia is by the war, the better for everyone around Russia.

Combine this a likely tariff spree and trade war with China, we are likely going to be entering a time of fragile supply chains, back to inflation, decoupling from the US as an unreliable partner, and I don’t really know what else.

The success of Trump in this last election probably means that Trumpism will be a force to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future, with history remembering Biden as the last gasp of “normal” political administration. The next President of the US will likely be a Trump appointee or part of a Trump dynasty (maybe the first female US President… Ivanka?)

Canada will have to not just manage Softwood Lumber, renegotiating NAFTA, and salvaging the TPP, but also trying to fill a void left by US withdrawal and diminishment. I don’t think Trudeau is strong enough domestically to be able to focus on an 8+ year plan, and I don’t trust PP to have any capacity to even have a plan. Although Maybe Pierre Poilievre will have a snappy slogan.

Maybe that is the best play for Canada here, have Poilievre bend the knee and commit to flattering Trump. A new Trump Tower in Vancouver would be a small price to pay.

I think if we had a fresh-faced Trudeau without any baggage, there is a path that Canada is suited for to navigate these coming troubled waters, and I commend him for getting the ball rolling, but I’m just not confident it will play out as well this time.

I should know how this effects me, but I really don’t…

It’s an interesting technology, a solution in search of a problem.

I remember reading the insert for this back in the day included in my Civilization box or something. Was interested in getting it, but I think I picked up Betrayal at Krondor or Ultima Underworld instead.

I guess now it’s time to revisit it.