Agreed.

Would it be nicer if we lived in a multi party system? Probably. Do we? No. Voting as though we are is not useful (maybe unless you live in a state that you are 100% certain can not be flipped).

If you hate one candidate even slightly less than the other, for example because the former has not yet stated that they want to punish colleges that allow pro Palestine demonstrations, vote for that first one.

Isn’t that precisely what the article said?

Thank you for pointing that out! I always thought it looked interesting, but somehow thought that it was only available on Steam - and my PC is not up to the task. Just bought it for the PS5.

German Lutheran. We don’t go for strong feelings.

For sure. I think if I had to fly these days, I would feel vaguely uneasy if I ended up in a Boeing.

I’m guessing that was the rationale for sending it back unmanned?

Satire is dead.

…and yet so apt - though it probably applies to Trump even more than to Vance: Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and yet able to tell (sort of) regular people what they want to hear. They could probably have used this skill for Good, but that’s not where they went. Sometimes I wonder whether they think they did.

The name recognition is just in case other voters are pickier / more discerning. If it’s someone super cool, they may even pull in people who were not going to vote. Yes, I would literally vote for a rusty bottle cap over Trump, but others may have different requirements.

Turns out she will actually be old enough to become president even before election day. And she certainly has the name recognition. Again, Biden is not likely to step down - and at this point, I would vote for an empty tube of toothpaste over Trump.

It may also be a little late to introduce a new candidate, unless they have great name recognition. Betcha Bernie 2.0 would mobilize a goodly number of people, while centrists would hold their noses, and just vote for Not Trump.

Bernie isn’t running, and Biden isn’t quitting, so we take what we can get. At this point, I would literally vote for a loofah if it ran against Trump.

Very much Lies of P.

True, that is a thing to consider. I have to use an iPhone because I get it through my place of employment, and if I had a nickel for every time the actual OS postponed an automatic update because I wasn’t connected to power / I seemed busy / the stars just weren’t aligned properly, I would probably have over a dollar.

In that respect, I like my desktop (Debian) so much better: I can set it to update the OS automatically, which includes all installed software (as long as it’s installed through the official repository), and it will let me know if something failed to upgrade, so I can do it by hand. Also, they rock at getting critical security updates out in a timely manner. I’m not sure how much I trust Apple with that.

Using the default browser on an iOS device should be fairly safe, assuming that you accept all security updates as they become available. Outdated browsers, on the other hand, are a major security risk.

For legitimate free movie sites (Plex, etc.), ads are indeed the main source of income, along with paid services like the ability to rent current movies. If you are smart about it, they may not collect too much of your personal information.

For the rest, the business model relies on pop-up based scams, hijacking machines for botnets, and ransomware.

Second unplugging all optional components (RAM is not optional) - and the video card in particular. A card that pulls more power than your power supply can provide could do exactly what you are seeing.

POST codes are beeps. None of those at all?

Yep. Actions speak (even) louder than words, and his track record on leaving office without a tantrum is… not great.

What do you care? You are dead.

In general, everything will stick around as long as you paid for it. Your email account and your web site will probably be unceremoniously deleted once the money runs out, and the domain name itself will be freed up. While you use your domain to point to your web site and your email account, they won’t be associated forever: Once they expire, the name is available for someone else to fill it with new content, not to get access to your existing content.

Oooooor: You could bequeath all your online assets to a family member in your will (don’t forget to give them all relevant passwords), possibly along with some money to keep paying for the domain registration, email- and web hosting.

I dislike Biden immeasurably less than Trump, and I plan to vote for him in November, yet:

“It is a red line," Biden said, adding, “but I’m never gonna leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical.”

That sounds to me like there is, in fact, not a red line.

Drawing a line without any consequences for crossing it is worse than not drawing a line at all (source: my pedagogy prof, many, many moons ago).

I realize that Biden did not, in fact, say that there were not going to be any consequences at all - but the other thing with lines is that the consequences need to be known in advance, and they need to be adhered to. From all I’m hearing in interviews, the US government seems very hesitant to commit to any consequences, and if the slaughter keeps going, it may save Netanyahu’s political career, but seriously bite Biden in the tush come election day.