Driving someone to chicago and dropping them off isn't trafficking, but there is most definitely a slew of child-labor happening in this country, and the majority of the children involved are migrants who illegally crossed the border. There's a lot of coverage about this if you look for it. I imagine that Texas might be involved in some part of that process if they're the ones handling these people.

Edit: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/04/1173697113/immigrant-child-labor-crisis

I understand your sentiments, but here's the crux of the problem:

The majority of all physical disk are really just download licenses. They don't actually amount to anything more than a game key you buy on a card. Why? Because the majority of games can't even fit on a single disk to begin with. Unless disk technology has changed significantly since blue-ray (I don't keep up with it), even the largest disk only hold about 25gb of data. That means you'd need technically 6 blue-ray disk just to install Starfield... now think about that on a supply-chain level. Games would cost even more than ever if they had to fit the entire games worth of data in the box.

They'd save more money selling USB drives with the game art slapped onto them. In fact, if we think about the future of physical media, it isn't CDs, it's game cartridges. The Switch is ahead of the game on this. The problem though, is that even if that is doable, there's the very real fact that releasing physical media cost money, and these days, that is an un-necessary cost. The only reason all of these indie developers are thriving is because they can readily release their games without worrying about physical release. We're in a golden age of indie video game development and its entirely driven by digital downloads.

So instead of worrying about physical releases, what we should be focusing on is DRM-free media. You can get DRM-free games on GOG.com, for example. It's always better to buy your game there instead of on Steam for this reason. DRM-free is essentially the ownership you're looking for.

It's not. Even the disk these days is just a physical license to download the game on your console. You literally can't play most games right out of the box unless it's a Switch title (that I'm aware of). This has already been happening for well over a decade on PC. Everyone else is just now catching up. Besides, less plastic/paper waste is undoubtedly a good thing.

So far it does feel like a re-imagining of traditional internet forum of the early 00s, but Reddit inspired. I actually had no idea about the whole "Fediverse" thing until today, but so far it seems really promising that there isn't any one central agency in control of the platform. Maybe that's a misunderstanding though.

Am I correct in thinking that Fediverse operates somewhat like the internet? Is it just a collection of end-points sharing data through a single protocol and if one shuts down, the rest aren't affected? Or is there a host that is technically in control of Lemmy as a whole?

Late to this thread, but wanted to add to it:

Going out, and going out regularly. Go to places you enjoy, partake in activities that interest you, be consistent about it, and you will meet people. It can be as little as going to the same mom and pop shop every week for a sandwich or coffee, or as big as going out to some kind of club weekly. I actually made a few friends by going to this coffee shop pretty regularly, even hooked up with someone who worked there. Nearby to that same shop was a little occult shop that I liked to frequent and made acquaintances there as well. At one time I was involving myself in a HEMA club and that was super fun and you engaged with a lot of cool people.

Now with that said, there's another part to this. In addition to putting yourself out there to be met, so to say, you also need to know how to converse and listen to other people. Frankly it doesn't matter if you surround yourself with people, because if you are annoying or incapable of holding a conversation, or always come off too strongly, you'll inevitably be ignored.

It would be an odd move if Sony didn't plan to do the same. They'd give all the exclusive power to Sony and effectively kill any reason to buy an Xbox in the first place.

your business sucks

This is the exact problem and hardly anyone is talking about it. These sorts of restaurants had real simple recipes and food back when they started. You didn't need the same kind of supply chain then that you need now, and when you throw the franchise services fees and royalties, what you end up with is exactly this.

Contrasting this, there's this hamburger wagon near where I live. It's literally a wagon, serving slider style burgers and the dude refuses to give you anything but pickles, onion, salt, and pepper. He's got a few drinks, some chip options, and that's it. He has zero condiments or other toppings and serves nothing else. And you know what? He makes a fucking killing. Rain or shine, this wagon has a line of 10-15 people come lunch time and has plenty more come throughout the day. Only hires two people to work it.

I'm sure he's raised them before, but he hasn't raised his prices once since I've been going there. 1.50 for a single or 3.00 for a double. Even crazier is the fact that it's been there for over 100 years. Never turned it into a storefront, never tried to make it a franchise, never added to the menu really. Just always did what it did best, and its still insanely popular.

Food for thought I guess.

That's the nature of entropy in any system, especially one where anyone can freely engage with it. I think it should be recognized that anything good will inevitably change, and by being aware of it, we can take steps to slow down the inevitable descent into chaos.

If anything, I do think the fediverse itself is a good set-up for preventing the sort of issues that Reddit eventually faced. It's almost like the internet itself. There's no centralization, only various participating end-points sharing and receiving data.

I agree. The economy is shit right now and I would be amazed that anyone in their right mind would invest in a company whose already lost half their value in just a few years (at least, that's what I've heard. They supposedly went from 10B to 5.5B or something like that). And like you said, interest rates are a factor as well.

The mods are jumping ship or just straight up abandoning the site, and the slew of NSFW content, real or not, is damaging its advertisement potential. It's a lemon.

Just abandoned ship myself. Saw a post on there this morning that they were headed for IPO. Decided it was time to finally start looking elsewhere.