What do you think all those dual cassette decks were for?

So you could make friends a copy or copy friends’ music.

Perfectly acceptable at the time. Only an issue if you were selling them, but even then not a huge issue.

IRC the Netherlands and Belgium it’s also not a crime, you won’t be pursued by the authorities.

However, that doesn’t stop rights-holders from suing you for damages.

In any case, if you’re using a VPN and privacy conscious you should be fine.

This being said, I really should switch to linux.

TBF to China, they’re selling to both sides.

The whole thing is a Helleresque farce.

For example:

…Alexander Yakovenko, founder of one of the largest drone manufacturers in Ukraine, …noticed [during his visits to factories in China] that their managers were increasingly planning his arrival and departure down to the minute and second. Sometimes they asked him to wait nearby for a while, led him through side doors, along service corridors or into empty conference rooms… It took [him]some time to understand why his whizzes demanded such opaque rituals of schedule manipulation and extreme punctuality. Everything was done to ensure he didn’t cross paths with the Russians who were also visiting the plant. “Our suppliers make an effort to manage Ukrainian and Russian clients. They try to ensure that we don’t end up at the same plant at the same time. They invite us at one time and the Russians at another. So, as soon as the Russians leave, the Ukrainians arrive.”

A comedy for those who can think, a tragedy for those who can feel.

Obviously, there’s a war on, so take everything you read with a pinch of salt.

rutracker dot org

So you’re saying I should steal content by downloading it illegally from rutracker.org?Thanks for the tip. I’ll be sure to download loads of content illegally, then seed it in perpetuity, so that others can also steal it and infringe copyright on a mass scale.

Just kidding, I will be sure to only download public domain content and open source software.

In all seriousness, is rutracker something I should visit with my browser in a sandbox, or is ublock and privacy badger enough?

A related notion is subsidiarity, the idea that social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate or local level most suitable for resolving these issues. Subsidiarity is a general principle of EU law, but has its roots in the teachings of Aquinas and his ideas about natural law.

I find it interesting how figures who are seemingly diametrically opposed, can still reach a similar conclusion when it comes to where power should reside; on the lowest level possible and practicable. Or how a pope, the leader of perhaps the most hierarchical organisation in human history, can sometimes agree with an anarchist.

Are you me? LOL.

Yeah, you become a complete snob. On the other hand, once you’ve watched enough, perhaps read a few books or watched a few documentaries, you recognise references and techniques much more, and that becomes enjoyable in its own way.

It’s a bit like kids watching classic The Simpsons and enjoying it without getting the references, compared to old people watching classic Simpsons because they get or vaguely recognise most of if not all of the references.

And I find you start to enjoy movies which are different, even if they are a bit shit, because they manage to do certain things in different ways and still surprise you.

Also having too much choices isn’t a bad thing

Meh. It’s not all good.

Back in ye olden days, when you had to buy physical media, you’d usually play the album you bought on repeat because it was the only new music you had. Some albums, repeated listening does truly improve your enjoyment and appreciation of them. Same thing for movies, there was nothing else, so you were forced to keep watching, and often learnt to appreciate something you’d have stopped watching now.

Same thing for dating, tbh. People find someone, but then they go on the apps and find someone who might be a bit better, date them for a bit, find someone who might be a bit better, etc. etc. End result; they never get to know one person on a deeper level and miss out on that arguably more rewarding experience.

Or you’d end up wasting your time watching/listening to/ dating something/someone horrible because there wasn’t anything else yet.

Watch top 10 lists, 5* reviewed, or cult classics only. Don’t watch what’s new or being heavily promoted, watch the best of the best. Why drink bud light when you can drink champagne for free?

As someone who also downloads books and audiobooks, I can totally relate though.

Sorry if this is a bit of a tangent, but it’s a shame torrenting music aren’t as big a thing as they used to be.

It was nice being able to download high quality album rips pretty quickly after release.

I dunno, maybe my tastes have become too niche or I’m looking in all the wrong places.

No coincidence that some of the first joint-stock companies were the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company. Capitalism helped fund colonialism.

Fun fact: the trade in Obsidian dates back at least 14,000 years. Some suggest there may have been obsidian trade networks dating back 700,000 years, but those may have been one off trades. Or human ancestors travelled to mine obsidian deposits in a concentrated manner. Source That would mean trade predates the human race.

Also, only last years researchers proved that significant amounts of the tin needed to make Bronze during the Bronze Agein what is now Greece, came from tin mines in Cornwall. Not enough tin locally. Source. This is why they’ll find really old beads, amber and the like where you’d least expect it. Trade network spanning from Cornwall to Afghanistan, dating back up to 5000 years if not more.

He’s a malignant narcissist and the guardrails are gone. He doesn’t want them to win, if anything he wants them to fail. He’ll often undermine them, like that time Vance was scheduled to call him live on stage in Budapest, but Trump simply didn’t answer the phone.

Like Hitler, there’s a non insignificant risk that he’ll burn America to the ground if he can’t stay in the Whitehouse.

I don’t know anymore. I used to think being a serial rapist and alleged child molester would disqualify people from baby sitting duties let alone high office.

You’ve got plausible deniability with what most people think of as Fraktur.

Tannenberg, a simplified form of Fraktur, absolutely is a nazi font:

Tannenberg is a Fraktur-family blackletter typeface, developed … by Erich Meyer … in Frankfurt am Main. … It is named after the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914, in which German troops under Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff stopped the advance of Russian troops. Meyer’s design for the typeface was inspired by Nazi ideology.

Yeah. I know.

Tannenberg (as in the battle of) is the really nazi version of Fraktur that people should absolutely avoid:

Fascists ruin everything.

I find the Vikings fascinating. Can’t wear anything with Viking Runes on it though, ruined by association.

You just watched a Marvel movie and want to get a Mjolnir’s hammer t-shirt or hammer? Also popular with fascists.

Do you like metal? Chances are that band shirt you’re wearing will get misidentified as a fascist t-shirt or that the band has become popular with fascists.

You like a memento mori skull? Once again nazis. Got plenty of weird looks wearing a Vans t-shirt with skulls on it in Germany.

You like the Punisher cartoons? Think the logo is cool and like how the comics are critical of the police. I’ve got bad news for you.

Lonsdale used to a respected British sportswear manufacturer. But fascists found out you can put a jacket over it, and only NSDA is visible. Brand is often relegated to European discount shops now.

You have Irish family and like Celtic stuff? Often ruined by association, especially something like a Celtic cross.

Shit feet? Find combat boots work for you? Like a nice harrington or bomber jacket? Want to cut your hair short? Dr. Martens or anything skin culture related, was ruined by nazis for a long time, although luckily that’s largely a thing of the past. The wrong colour shoe laces will still raise an eyebrow though.

You like the Wachowskis and the Matrix? Guess who co-opted the red pill metaphor?

You like John Carpenter’s They Live because it’s a satire of Reagan era capitalism and commercialisation? Guess what, popular with anti-Semites.

Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, gaming, hell not so long the fascists even tried to convince Trekkies that their favourite show, which featured an interracial kiss in the 60s and arguably a gay/trans plot in the 90s, had become too woke.

Fucking tiresome. Cunts the lot of them.

e: Sorry for the rant.

Not true. The slogan in the picture above is smaller than in the picture I posted.

LOL. We are so fucked.

Honestly, I think the safest bet is to ignore anything he says, and notice what he does.

He’s building a bunker under the Whitehouse and the Pentagon is drafting a new approach which places a greater focus on shorter-range tactical nuclear weapons, which they claim will give Trump a wider range of military options.

Oops. Never mind. Probably best to pay attention to what he says if you don’t want to die of stress.

I’d prefer he die eating hamberders, so they’re less likely to be able to use him as a martyr.

They’ll sign a new law which will require ALL government communications to be done via Truth Social, which will randomly be replaced with a poop emoji.

And then Tannenberg, the really nazi one that commemorates a German victory over Russia, is a variant of Fraktur in the same family.

I’ve edited my comment above, because I had to go on wikipedia to check.