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The video game industry is booming. Why are there so many layoffs? A great question! https://theconversation.com/the-video-game-industry-is-booming-why-are-there-so-many-layoffs-222685 The video game industry had a banner year in 2023, with critically acclaimed blockbuster titles selling millions of copies. Yet, it was also a year of layoffs with 10,500 game makers losing their jobs. And with 5,900 reported layoffs in January alone, 2024 will likely surpass the previous year’s numbers. If the industry is booming, why are there so many layoffs? Who is benefitting? Who stands to lose? And what can we do about it? There’s an easy answer to the question of who benefits from layoffs — it’s shareholders. Many of the largest layoffs have come in the wake of corporate takeovers. Some companies explicitly point to improving profit margins as their impetus. You're welcome to read the rest of the article, but the two lines above are basically it. https://www.gamesradar.com/games/after-at-least-1400-layoffs-7-studios-closed-and-29-games-canceled-embracer-ceo-admits-i-deserve-a-lot-of-criticism/ Amid an ongoing period of unprecedented volatility in the video game industry, Embracer laid off 1,400 employees, shuttered seven studios, and canceled 29 games over the course of about nine months in 2023. [CEO Lars Wingefors] "As a leader and an owner, sometimes you need to take the blame and you need to be humble about if you've made mistakes and if you could have done something differently...I'm sure I deserve a lot of criticism, but I don't think my team or companies deserve all the criticism. I could take a lot of that blame myself. But ultimately I need to believe in the mission we set out and that is still valid, and we are now enabling that by doing this [new] structure." Yeah, typical CEO. They always have golden parachutes anyway -- so even if a company goes down, people lose their jobs and wonder how they will pay rent, these CEOs just quietly take in some millions of dollars and call it quits. Apparently the CEO of Activision earned over $77,000 PER HOUR -- https://www.nme.com/news/gaming-news/activisions-bobby-kotick-is-the-second-highest-paid-ceo-in-gaming-3137849 Honestly, with AI becoming what it is, I'm wondering if these companies are basically waiting for this scenario -- 1)Purchase and have a ton of well known IPs 2)Use powerful AI that can create, debug, and make games. There will be some limited human oversight of course. 3)Since the vast majority of people will be replaced by AI, it's time to make bank! 4)Repeat steps above.

Apparently that's "real" -- although the book looks like some weird satire -- http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-literary-history-of-golden-age-of.html

Haha, nope, LRG is now actually coffee stains https://embracer.com/releases/embracer-group-announces-its-intention-to-transform-into-three-standalone-publicly-listed-entities-at-nasdaq-stockholm/ "Coffee Stain & Friends”, a diverse gaming entity with a dual focus on indie and A/AA premium and free-to-play games for PC/console and mobile, with a high degree of recurring revenues. Nothing says "marketing" like uh, being "promoted" to coffee stain & friends

Pretty confident he's actually been waiting for Martin to finish Winds of Winter...

What could possibly go wrong Well, how about the flamethrowing robot dog on top of the bullet train to watch out for... uh, Russian spies

Groundbreaking ceremony held for high-speed train from Las Vegas to Los Angeles https://thehill.com/regulation/transportation/4613210-groundbreaking-ceremony-held-for-high-speed-train-from-las-vegas-to-los-angeles/ Federal, transportation and union leaders gathered in Las Vegas Monday to drive spikes into a symbolic rail, marking the beginning of construction for a $12 billion high-speed rail line that will link Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area. “People have been dreaming of high-speed rail in America for decades,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday ahead of the groundbreaking ceremony. “It’s really happening this time.” The trip is expected to take slightly longer than two hours, with trains traveling as fast as 180 mph. This will be nearly twice as fast as driving. “I believe we’ll look back at today and say, ’This was the birth of an industry of high-speed rail,’” Brightline Holdings founder Wes Edens said Monday, per the AP. Excellent and about time! They hope to have it ready by 2028, and I hope so too. This will be a big boon to America.

Just finished this on Netflix -- Overall, I enjoyed the movie. First, the actors -- Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, as well as the supporting cast are fabulous. The movie is quite faithful to history -- people often don't realize that Elvis was to an extent also "canceled" during his days by people who thought his music was "inappropriate or un-American". Also, Elvis was a big supporter of civil rights and this is conveyed accurately in the biopic. He had a lot of ups and downs (like most people), and of course he was "flawed" like any person, but I'm happy to say that while the movie doesn't shy away from that, it also does not put undue emphasis on such things. Presley's final years are often considered sad and tragic -- he was physically and mentally sick, and should have been at the hospital rather than performing. Fortunately, while the movie does get into that, it does not make that a prominent feature. It's clear that the director, Baz Luhrmann, respects Elvis not only for his talent but what he accomplished with his trailblazing music. At the end, it's clear that the movies says "Let's remember Elvis for all the good he has brought to the world with his music. Let's learn from his tragedy, but we should remember him at his best" and I truly appreciate that. There are some things I felt detracted from the film. First, the special effects are either hit or miss. When they work, they work well. Other times, it feels like I'm watching video from a PS2 game. Luhrmann also directed The Great Gatsby with Leonardo DiCaprio. That film was flashy, and Elvis follows many similar flashy cinematics which mostly work in this case. The main problem I had with Gatsby is that in the middle of the film there would be modern music playing, which completely removes you from the epoch. Since this is a film about Elvis, clearly the vast majority of music is Elvis! Luhrmann is definitely conveying to the audience "hey, even today Elvis is still influential", which of course is 100% correct. Still, there were a few musical numbers they added that I thought detracted from the period piece. But, as I said, it's not nearly as jarring as in Gatsby. My final criticism would be that it's a long movie. It could have been shortened by at least 20-25 minutes without losing anything. At the end of the day, I would recommend this movie. While I have no intention of seeing it again anytime soon, it was worth watching. 4 out of 5 stars

Actually, they can also be plasma -- although plasma is primarily H and He -- basically stars. Definitely don't think one should lick plasma, it tends to be rather spicy

People don't really understand radiation and uranium etc. Concrete has uranium bits in it. Concrete is radioactive. You still get much more radiation from the Sun than from spending walking around in concrete. You can hold a chunk of uranium in your hand and nothing will happen. I wouldn't lick it, swallow it, etc. but it's not enriched uranium and is naturally occurring. Forever chemicals, microplastics, etc. those pose much more of a cancer risk than most anything else.

And as a scientist, my immediate reaction is "seriously, you can't lick gas people"

The 80s theme is sweet. Not sure I'd be interested in the game mostly because FPS are not my thing, although I can certainly enjoy them, as long as they're not too hard By the way, what are people's favorite 80s-inspired video games? The two I've really played and enjoyed are -- Infernax Saturday Morning RPG

Wait... are you saying video game collector's actually go to GameStop

Boeing whistleblower tells Congress he was 'told effectively to shut up' as he voiced concerns. Here’s a timeline of the company’s latest problems. https://www.yahoo.com/news/boeing-whistleblower-tells-congress-he-was-told-effectively-to-shut-up-as-he-voiced-concerns-heres-a-timeline-of-the-companys-latest-problems-170104497.html A Boeing whistleblower testified to a Senate investigations subcommittee on Wednesday that despite numerous attempts to flag safety issues he was seeing with aircraft manufacturing, he was ignored and sometimes threatened by his superiors. “They call you on your personal phone to let you know that they know where you live," the whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, testified. "They know where you are. And they can hurt you.” Several witnesses told senators that Boeing’s company culture prioritizes money-saving measures over safety in its production of the 787 Dreamliner and the 777 aircraft. "Unless action is taken, and leaders are held accountable, every person stepping aboard a Boeing airplane is at risk," Pierson said during his testimony. “This is a criminal cover-up.” "Boeing dictates to the FAA, tells the FAA what they will do, what they will accept,” Jacobsen claimed. “Accountability goes all the way to the top,” Pruchnicki alleged about Boeing. “I’d be fascinated to know how many times per week [Boeing’s] CEO people actually talk to their safety people.” Just pathetic and sad. I used to be a big fan of Boeing. They really do make great airplanes and other products. But clearly, as this damning report shows, somewhere along the line money became more important than safety, and I have no idea how the hell Boeing expects people to trust them now. Especially on their 787 and 777 aircraft.

Gotta wonder who comes up with these falsifications? Would not surprise me one bit if it's Russia or a similar actor -- anything they can do to sow discord they will.

Facebook wrongly labels photographs of Auschwitz victims as showing ‘bullying’ and ‘nudity’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/15/facebook-wrongly-labelled-photographs-auschwitz-victims/ The social media giant incorrectly labelled 20 of the Auschwitz Memorial Museum’s posts with a note saying they had been moved down their feed for violating community standards. The posts, which showed photographs of people who died in the concentration camp in Poland, were flagged as showing “bullying and harassment” and “adult nudity and sexual activity”. An image showing a group of orphans was also deleted. Museum staff said they had been posting photographs of Auschwitz victims “for years” before Facebook said they were violating standards. One post showing Ida Mullerová, a Czech Jewish woman who died at Auschwitz, was said to go against “community standards for sexual solicitation”. Another post showing victim Marie Sachnowitz, a Norwegian Jewish woman murdered in a gas chamber, was said to show “adult nudity and sexual activity”. Facebook also said an image of Berek Anataba, a Polish Jewish man who died at the camp, showed “bullying and harassment”, while a photograph of Jewish orphans in Izieu, France, was removed for violating unspecified community standards. “For years, the Auschwitz Memorial has been sharing similar content without any issues, yet suddenly, 21 posts are simultaneously flagged. “Moreover, we also noticed that a post commemorating the tragic fate of Jewish children from an orphanage in Izieu from April 6 was summarily removed without the possibility of recourse. “This egregious incident not only undermines the important work of our institution. Such an act is unacceptable and offensive to the memory of the victims of Auschwitz that we try to preserve. “The posts in question feature nothing but respectful remembrance and historical documentation, showcasing the faces and biographical information of those who suffered and were murdered in a place that symbolises one of the darkest chapters of human history. I don't think it's just AI that does this. Someone programs the AI and/or people can go flag pictures etc -- yeah, sad, but is anyone surprised by this?

Updated -- some items sold/traded -- some added, including:

I've always been "impressed" that people keep making sequels to poorly-received B-films. I looked at RT and the audience score for the first film is 40% -- and that's the highest score for the series by far -- well, clearly someone is making money on these somehow

Crime and social justice are intertwined. That said, I don't think we're being "paranoid" -- and while neither of us live in NYC (although Boston is only a few hours away, and things that impact NYC to tend to trickle down to Boston) we all have friends/family living in NYC or the surrounding areas (such as Hoboken). Just like you, we certainly have every right to share our thoughts. I do think you make a good point, or good question, are we overblowing crime in NYC? Honestly, you can read articles that say yes, and articles that say no. One thing for certain, people are scared. And when people are scared, statistics don't really matter. Also, as @Tabonga noted, it's NYC so what happens there reverberates across the country.

Who's surprised by this? I actually do follow trends and statistics involving crime, and there are many politicians and others that love to say "crime rates are falling dramatically!" -- but it's incredibly hard I've found to get into the essence of what they mean. For example, one study might say "violent crimes have decreased in NYC" -- from when? Many people like to go back to the 80s and 90s when murder was at an all-time high and NYC was famous called "Fear City" -- the pamphlet was actually from 1975-- https://archive.org/details/FearCity/mode/2up Also, different people have different "ideas" of what "violent crime" actually means. You could argue that "violent crime" is. For instance, most of us would say "robbery" is a violent crime -- however the DA might (and depending on where you live probably already has) disagree with you. As @Tabonga just noted, a crazy guy broke a young girl's nose -- isn't that violent crime? But he was released without bail! So, is it still a violent crime? Yes of course! but, that's not necessarily how it goes into the statistics. Also, you can manipulate statistics and present them in a way that makes them seem far less frightening then they really are. Just one example -- NYC serious crimes hit levels unseen in two decades last year even as Mayor Adams claims ‘crime is down’ https://nypost.com/2024/04/03/us-news/crime-was-in-fact-up-year-as-mayor-adams-tries-to-downplay-disorder/ Serious crime spiked again last year to levels unseen in nearly two decades, according to internal NYPD data obtained by The Post — even as Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly claimed that “crime is down” in the Big Apple. For the second year in a row under Adams, overall crime was on the rise — driven by a historic surge in assaults, which neared 28,000 for the first time in the city’s publicly recorded history, according to the police department’s rolling report. The report tracks the tally of seven major felony offenses after the time of arrest to when cases move to district attorneys, who decide whether to upgrade, downgrade or stick with the charge. For instance, a perp who punches someone might be charged with a misdemeanor at first, but if the victim’s condition later worsens, the prosecutor could boost it to a felony. While Adams has been touting his success in his war against crime, citing a slight dip reported at the end of 2023, the rolling report shows that the early-year victory lap was premature. The number of seven major crimes in 2023 jumped to 127,111 once around 430 upgrades were accounted for, marking the highest totals since 2006 for the second year in a row, according to the police data.

Wow... “It doesn’t make any sense that this guy — who recently was released after being charged with randomly punching someone else and breaking that victim’s nose — should be back in a public space where he can attack others, especially children,” MTA communications director Tim Minton said. “The people responsible for the criminal justice system need to learn from this episode before more innocent people become victims.” Well, it's NYC what can you expect with judges like Laurie Peterson -- https://nypost.com/2020/06/14/springing-a-cop-attacking-looter-one-judges-new-low/ Peterson last week freed Kevin Bullock without bail, though prosecutors cited solid evidence, including surveillance video, against him. Oh, that's from 2020!! I can only imagine during her tenure how many criminals have been handed a congratulatory note and get-out-of-jail free cards. Sad.

Indian Americans condemn Riddhi Patel as ‘Hinduphobe’ post violent Bakersfield City Council threats https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/indian-americans-condemn-riddhi-patel-as-hinduphobe-post-violent-bakersfield-city-council-threats-101713015517185.html Numberless Indian Americans and other internet users banded together to denounce anti-Israel protestor Riddhi Patel after her brutal threats to “murder” Bakersfield City Council officials. The City Council gathering was slated for Wednesday, April 10, when the American woman of Indian origin twisted her anti-Israel rhetoric into a controversially violent warning for the council members and Mayor Karen Goh. Batshite crazy. Most of us think we're decently "reasonable", and "non-violent" -- and then there's Riddhi Patel who, and you can find a video of her saying all this, she hoped "oppressed minorities" would guillotine city government members, declaring that even Jesus Christ would kill them, and threatening to go to their houses and murder them. “You guys want to criminalize us with metal detectors,” Patel said. “We’ll see you at your house, we’ll murder you.” “I remind you that these holidays that we practice, that other people in the global south practice, believe in violent revolution against their oppressors, and I hope one day somebody brings a guillotine and kills all of you (expletive).” Yup, she's now in jail on $2 million bail. What a waste of space this excrement of a human .

Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there are answers to all of your questions. I'm not going to get into all of it, but a great question -- If it was so easy, why didn't they just do that in the first place? Vito Corleone had negotiated peace to bring an end to the war between the five families, and that pact could not be broken as long as Vito was alive. Also, the book goes into much more detail, it's not as easy as it "seems" in the movie. I no other words, it's not that they could have just done that at any time. I personally think it's a masterpiece of a movie. From the acting, cinematography, music, and complex themes, it's something special. It's also groundbreaking, and inspired numerous movies -- not just Hollywood hits like The Irishman, but numerous films across the world. All that doesn't mean you have to like it, but there are many reasons it's considered one of the greatest films of all time.