I hated X because I found most of the characters sans Auron and Lulu to be incredibly obnoxious.

X-2 just made those problems worse by largely getting rid of the few characters I could tolerate, and somehow making Rikku even more annoying.

It says something about how good the combat was in those games that I managed to power my way thru X and a fair chunk of X-2 before it just got to be too much for me.

I hate X-2 with the burning fury of a thousand suns, and I’ll still praise the combat.

Thing is, all the other major manufacturers are just as bad or worse.

As a PC technician, HP still somehow has the best service and support, which speaks volumes about how bad everyone else is. Dell’s support tools are a generation behind HP’s, and Lenovo’s build quality is atrocious. Not to mention Lenovo’s technician support is so badly fragmented and poorly run, they default to having the customer send the device in for repair and avoid sending an on-site technician just so they can avoid dealing with technician support. Speaking from personal experience, getting to the right person when I have a problem or need to order additional parts is like pulling teeth, and even if I manage to reach someone, they’re usually equal parts incompetent and unhelpful.

And Apple doesn’t even want to service their stuff.

These days, you have to pick your poison.

Do it.

See what happens.

Every day is “Shut the Fuck Up Friday.”

My company doesn’t pay out for unused PTO, so my boss will periodically (but more often towards the end of the year) tell us to use our vacation days if we still have some. He’ll even call us and basically beg us to use them if we still have some in October.

I used to feel bad about calling out or taking PTO when I worked hospitality, because I knew that if I wasn’t there, someone else had to fill in. Now I do warranty repairs for major PC manufacturers, so if I call out or take PTO, some clients might be annoyed, but I’m not inconveniencing any of my coworkers. It helps that my boss is awesome and encourages us to use it or call in if we don’t feel well.

I’ve been getting a lot of mileage from this.

There’s compelling arguments either way. On one hand, this is a pretty naked attempt to hit at China and control the flow of the US government’s desired information.

On the other hand, the legislation isn’t technically a ban, but a forced divestment of a corporate asset. The power of the government to force the breakup, dissolution, or divestment of corporate entities is the basis of US antitrust law, and is well established.

It’s an interesting case.

I amar prestar aen.

The world is changed.

Han matho ne nen.

I feel it in the water.

Han mathon ned cae.

I feel it in the earth.

A han noston ned gwilith.

I smell it in the air.

Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.

TikTok isn’t doing anything that any other major social media company isn’t also doing. The only difference being that TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, and not a US one.

Just banning one app does little to resolve the overall privacy and information nightmare that social media is.

I feel like a better option here would be limits on magazine capacities. Limiting internal and box magazine capacities to 5-10 rounds on semiautomatic firearms could have the same effect without it being an outright ban. Maybe have different capacities for handguns and rifles.

This is just more ammo (heh) for 2nd Amendment voters. Being a bit more clever about it could convince some of them to drop their resistance.