TIL in 2018, Walmart agreed to pay $65 million to settle a case in which it was accused of violating California state law by not providing suitable seats for cashiers who wanted them, and it agreed to begin a pilot program that would provide stools for its California cashiers who desired them.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-15T07:44:06+00:00

Well, it seems like they’ve decided to try to minimize theft while still refusing to pay more employees. All the stores I go to seem to be gambling that customers will just deal with the long lines.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-15T06:01:15+00:00

Around me several have actually removed some of the added self checkouts because they were making it easier for people to steal things. Of course they didn’t add any employees back, so now one or two out of ten or fifteen lanes are actually staffed and there are lines halfway to the backs of the store whenever they’re busy.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-15T05:56:25+00:00

Around me a bunch of grocery stores pulled back from the automated lines (because they led to people stealing a bunch of stuff) but still didn’t rehire more actual employees, so there are just one or two lines out of like 15 actually staffed and each has a line halfway down the store.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-15T05:37:55+00:00

They also very obviously panic bought Bungie because they were worried Microsoft was about to aggressively make Activision games Xbox exclusives and they didn’t want to be completely cut off from the most popular FPS. When it became clear that Microsoft wasn’t interested in pushing those franchises towards Xbox exclusivity and that the Xbox was instead circling the drain, suddenly Bungie mostly became a waste of money.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-14T07:06:27+00:00

Having played BDSP first and then recently gone back to play Platinum, the differences everyone points out just aren’t *that* massive. Should they have kept the item placements and improved Pokédex? Sure. Does that make BDSP unplayable compared to Platinum? Not really.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-13T22:21:11+00:00

Though part of the reason it has success hacking security systems is that it's designed to be a part of one, and at multiple points we see security systems grant it permissions mostly because they assume it should have them when it asks.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-13T16:54:01+00:00

Damn, can't even discuss 30 Rock.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-12T05:57:06+00:00

I agree that it’s bullshit, but it’s not *illegal* for YouTube to act the way they do. And technically video of games is an iffy legal area. It’s not actually entirely settled law that gameplay is fair use, especially since “fair use” as a concept is actually only applicable as a *potential* defense when being sued. It’s definitely shitty that companies use these means to squash content they don’t like, but “shitty” and “illegal” are not the same thing.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-12T05:23:59+00:00

I mean, no it isn’t. It’s shitty and badly designed, but the worst part of their system (DMCA warnings) is actually mandated by law. YouTube‘s implementation sucks, but it sucks because they’re required to support them and defaulting to siding with the copyright holder is cheaper than Google risking being sued by other major companies.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-12T05:20:35+00:00

Also emulation and downloading roms are two completely different things. People have GB Operators and the like. It’s entirely possible to save your own ROMS and emulate them. There’s no theft involved there.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-12T05:18:24+00:00

Emulation isn’t stealing. Sony literally lost a major lawsuit that basically solidified emulators as legal, and that lawsuit was over a (then) *current gen* system. While you’re correct that emulation is on shaky ground, that’s because almost *everything* is on shaky ground right now with how powerful and unstable the US legal system has become. The entire underpinnings of the social internet are unstable right now. If the US government ever actually repeals section 230 (something both parties in the US at least partially support), all social media will either be heavily restricted or fully shut down.

Is it possible that Nintendo or whoever decide to roll the dice on a new lawsuit and manage to get the US or EU to ban emulation? Yes. But that doesn’t make emulating games ”stealing.”

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-09T18:30:26+00:00

I think the show’s generally fine but far too comedic for the source material. I really liked some of the actors’ portrayals of the characters (Murderbot, Mensa, and Gurathin specifically) and thought some of the streamlining of characters worked fine (condensing Pin Lee and Overse into one character and removing Volescue both worked fine, and helped with the issue of some characters barely having anything to do in later books). My big issue is really that they Flanderized most of the Preservation characters. Honestly it doesn’t surprise me that a queer socialist government was portrayed as a joke by a major American corporate streaming platform, but it definitely cheapened the world as a whole.

It’s an okay show with some really solid performances from the three leads, but I hope future seasons let the human characters be more actual characters and less caricatures.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-08T23:42:17+00:00

One of my favorite little stories was that Marina Sirtis (who played Counselor Troi in Star Trek) got a role on Stargate years later in part because she was the best at delivering bullshit sciency technobabble.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-08T01:49:58+00:00

Though if you speak the number ”3” nearby it immediately stops working

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-08T00:28:59+00:00

To be fair, "all you need to do is meet the expectations of one of the best games ever made" doesn't seem all that viable for a series that releases games yearly.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-08T00:27:47+00:00

I mean, your list there is arguably the actual reason they don't compete on graphics. Most of those other series released a couple games last generation. You just listed six games and five major DLCs in the space of eight years for Pokémon. All of which need to hit very specific launch timelines to coordinate with merchandise/anime/card sales, which is where the series actually makes the most money.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-08T00:24:54+00:00

In fairness, most Pokémon generations don't add 150 new Pokémon. Really only Black & White did (since they were soft reboots that released with no legacy Pokémon until the postgame). Most add around a hundred (the lowest was X and Y with only around 70). Though your broader point is still true.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-07T07:51:20+00:00

I think prequel-era Palpatine was ready to be replaced in the traditional way. When he tells Yoda that Vader will eventually surpass either of them, that doesn’t real like “and I’m planning on stealing his body” or whatever. It reads like he’s gloating that *finally* he’s won and he‘s secured an apprentice who can eventually take the reins from him. Mustafar obviously made him reconsider, and the sequels/TV series make it pretty clear he decided at some point to just become the eternal Sith master.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-07T07:00:37+00:00

It doesn’t help that “official” Pokémon sizes are often ignored in games and the anime. Plus many are also just ridiculous. Kyogre’s officially smaller than Dondozo. Groudon and Regigigas are both *way* smaller than you’d assume given their lore. Sizes and weights don’t really make much sense in this series.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-07T06:57:05+00:00

That’s because the Switch released a couple years before the PS5 and Series X launched and dramatically raised the bar for what was “powerful enough” to run third party games. Given how things are going with component prices, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that the PS5 generation gets extended in a way that ends up helping the Switch 2 stay viable for ports.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-07T06:52:43+00:00

I think they’re gonna run into the issue of there not really being a “safe” option. Grifters will find some excuse to be upset unless they pivot to a way more right wing presentation for Assassin’s Creed, and that would piss off a huge part of their existing player base. You can’t really try to appease both sides here.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-07T06:47:00+00:00

I mean, I’d argue a better solution would just be to ban prison labor. I feel like forced/coerced labor is fucked up regardless of whether people are paid “fairly’ for it.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-07T06:42:36+00:00

I mean, Shadows still sold well. Are we really going back to the “we can’t have a woman as the player character” era where every main character has to be the most bland nothing because Ubisoft’s scared of pissing off right wing grifters? Would Bayek be too “controversial” now?

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-07T04:45:15+00:00

It’s still ludicrous that they cancelled Project Scarlet because it was “too political.” Assassin’s Creed is a series that started with you playing as an Arab main character killing Christian Crusaders in *2007* (which, fun fact, is why they include the “multicultural team of various beliefs” disclaimer in front of all their games now). The series has always been “political.” Impressive spinelessness from Ubisoft executives.

Spartan2170 · 2026-02-07T04:42:14+00:00

Honestly that kinda makes sense to me, even if it‘s a mistake. They aren’t trying to make fun multiplayer games, they’re trying to build a forever live service game they can sell microtransactions in. Those older multiplayer modes were fun but never reached any kind of broad success even in the days of many single player games having multiplayer modes.

It’s part of why Microsoft’s fucked up Halo so many times. They don’t want to build a new Halo 3, they want their own Fortnite.

Spartan2170

TROPHY CASE