I’m struggling with suicidal ideation too. Decades suffering gender dysphoria I couldn’t recognize left its mark. I was depressed, anxious, always feeling stuck on a neverending treadmill, gasping to keep up and keep moving. Once I understood the cause, I took steps to discover joy I didn’t know I could have, only for the world to crash down for wanting that joy, needing it. Trans folk are being crushed for the political expediency of hideously selfish prats. They use us, as they would any other convenient minority, to sustain an illusion they’re accomplishing something in politics. These fascists dehumanize us, destroy our joy for their self-gain, and damn the lives they break along the way.

I don’t want to die, I want to live. But my world is screaming and I can’t breathe. I don’t need platitudes; I don’t want to live for the sake of spite; I want the pain to stop. Everything is a severe blizzard of white noise, blinding and formless and overwhelming. My path is unclear. I feel so goddamn alone.

Despite this, there’s one hope I hold. I reject the dogmas of capitalism and fascism where one can only succeed by trampling others. I know we can be more than a worthless wreck of squirrels: hoarding, screeching, and killing each other over territory and power until we’re all boiled down into shapeless grey lumps. I also know this won’t happen on its own, and it won’t be by my will alone.

What I can do, in the here and now, is live my life the way I think it ought to be lived, and share it as much as I can to any who’ll listen. I choose what I value, not what the world forces upon me, and I reject the notion “there’s no other way.” My life is fullest when I enrich it with a diversity of stories, art, music, etc., because they challenge me, and show me the wonders of this existence in ways I couldn’t imagine on my own. Stories of characters I admire and love keep me alive and focused, when the world drowns all other thought out. I value experiences, above all else, not for novelty nor distraction, but for personal growth and the sheer enjoyment of exploration. I want to be the better person, for my own sake; and I don’t have to cut anyone else down to make it so.

I know you’re struggling right now, and how crippling it can be. Please stay. The world is better for you being in it, even if you can’t see or feel it right now. We don’t always get to see the effect we have on this world or others, but even the smallest steps we take matter. Even if all you can muster is one small step, it’s enough.

Well, how else would companies profit off of works they contributed nothing to? /s

Capitalism needs to die. We need a society that works to better and enrich all, not fuckwads who bleed and exploit others and their work for personal gain.

This hits pretty hard. Looking at the bigger picture is depressing: what the fuck is humanity’s end goal? Because it looks like it’s the heat death of the planet, all so a bunch of narcissistic fucks can pretend they’re royalty, and lord it over the rest of us who weren’t as lucky and see stepping on others for your own desires as cruel and morally reprehensible.

Corpo-speak doesn’t mean shit. Actions do.

I worked with a small media company like this. They’d constantly throw new tasks and duties at you like candy with no plan, no resources, and unwritten and unsaid expectations you’d somehow make it all work while they sat back and raked in the cash. Burnout was inevitable, and it’d make them furious and vindictive with you when you dare to ask for less work or more pay or people to do the job.

Enough is enough. If treating your employees like spare parts is what’s needed to succeed in a capitalist society, then not only do these companies deserve to die out for their inhumane treatment of workers, but the whole system needs to be upended.

Fuck this Ferengi “we need all the profit” nonsense, especially given what Star Trek is about. I’m not paying for another service. The only thing these companies are doing is making piracy a more appealing option again.

Well duh. When you’re the primary instigator, of course they’re going to target you.

Can we prove consciousness? One of the biggest ethical concerns I have with AI is folks who say it’s all just mimicry, that it’s following its program. Okay, sure. But couldn’t you argue something similar about humans? That our responses are biologically and sociologically determined? Not saying they are, but we don’t have a firm grasp on what constitutes consciousness, and scientists, as objective as they like to see themselves, can be anthropocentric when it comes to what “intelligence” looks like. We may end up creating something like the Geth from Mass Effect - something that evolves beyond what we thought it was capable of.

Fucking evil. Not only sexual abuse, but controlling their victims not only through forced pregnancies, but using the potential life of a baby as a tool for coercion. Attacking abortion was never about protecting the fetus, it’s only another method for Christian fascists to control and subdue women.

Metaphorically grinding my teeth, dealing with an agonizing amount of mental anguish. Gender dysphoria is hitting me like a freight train, and I’m having a hell of a time trying to focus on anything else. Planning on phoning my GP this week if I don’t hear from the specialist they were supposed to refer me to. Failing that, I may have to look at my DiY options, potential health risks be damned.

If you’re a fan of Star Trek, they have quite a few excellent titles. Personal favs are Armada II (RTS), Bridge Commander (Ship Sim, even better with mods!), and Elite Force (you’re a Security officer on Voyager, FPS made by the Quake developers.

One, I like Corvids. Brilliant birds they are, various mythologies around them, etc.

The latter portion is a reference to an old gaming clan I was a part of in my youth called MotR: Mercenaries of the Republic. It was a Star Wars Republic Commando clan, one of the biggest among them. I was part of Nyx Squad, and we were the biggest group of misfits and weirdos among the other squads. We weren’t always the most skilled, but damn we had character, and we had fun.

We need to move beyond capitalism. What a miserable existence inflicted upon us who see no other way to live than by stepping on others - enough so they diminish the lives of children to be nothing more than tools. Honestly, every lawmaker who’s pushing for this deserves a good, strong punch to the mouth and then some. This constant push to hoard wealth and damn the consequences is killing us all.

Yar, there be a shitstorm a brewin’ on the horizon. With a flood of bots, not only is the content quality going to drop further on Reddit, but we’ll see more disinformation, phishing attempts, and other crap of the same ilk too. This is how big sites die off, not all at once, but in waves.

My comment isn’t about the techniques they were using. It’s a social comment on an absurd argument some transphobes like to use against transfolk saying people digging up our skeletons won’t ever see us as our gender identity, but as our AGAB (assigned gender at birth). As if anyone gives a flying fuck what someone thousands of years in the future thinks about our remains.

It was funny to me seeing this scenario pop up in the news, and the skeleton had been misgendered from the folks who initially examined the pelvis to determine the skeleton’s sex (reinforced afterwards with certain gendered assumptions around the objects found near it). It flips the table on the transphobe’s argument, showing how it isn’t quite as cut and dry as they’d like to believe.

I believe you misunderstood me. I didn’t suggest the owner of said skeleton was trans; rather, the pervasive transphobic comment suggesting archaeologists digging up our skeletons will see us ‘as we really are’, i.e. our AGAB, is a load of proverbial horseshit when we literally have a case here where scientists had difficulty determining the skeleton’s sex in the first place, by what they thought was a male pelvic bone. I simply like how reality isn’t quite as cut and dry as transphobes like to think, and thought it funny a news article flipping the table on their argument (as absurd as it is anyhow, because who gives a shit what other people think of their skeleton thousands of years from now).

Folks, maybe Monty Burns isn’t the best muse for protecting the environment. I’d sooner go with Don Cheadle’s version of Captain Planet. At least we’d get some trees out of it.

The story and the roleplaying were boilerplate, not something you want in a series known for being rich in both. Could tell you about 5 minutes after the prologue who the main antagonist really was. It was the kind of twist Vince Russo would pull in the old WCW days. The heavy focus on crafting and the pain of having to defend places throughout the wasteland was also a big turnoff for me. Felt like a lot of busywork and fluff to pad the game out. I avoid and drop games that don’t feel like they respect my time.

All in all, it wasn’t a good game for me, but I’m glad some folks enjoyed it.

Skies of Arcadia. Two words: sky pirates. Coupled together with a beautiful overworld filled with hidden discoveries, charming characters, fun ship combat, and excellent music. You can’t go wrong with either the original Dreamcast version (higher quality music, VMU minigames) or the Legends remastering on the Gamecube (an additional story quest, less frequent random encounters - the original is somewhat relentless with these).

Access to the Internet is important, but not so much it ruins our night sky and our ability to explore the universe from home. And let’s be real, it’s not about Internet access here. Those satellites are Starlink and that turdbasket Elon Musk’s attempt to corner the market as much as possible, regardless of who it harms, or how much damage it causes. It’s capitalist bullshit, and should be kneecapped and regulated before it becomes a much bigger problem.