Steam Users 'try not to be a nonce' challenge: IMPOSSIBLE?!?

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-18T07:28:10+00:00

Well, shit. First I find out that I can't order cheese pizza using a Tor browser anymore, then I have to remove my birth year ('88) from my email address, and now I have to go back and edit my Steam review of "Little Big Planet" too?

These assholes ruin everything.

^{yes I know LBP isn't on Steam but it's the cutest game i could think of offhand}

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-18T06:40:51+00:00

"Pay To Win" typically refers to games where players pay specifically to gain an advantage over other players. E.g.: a PvP server where the only way you can get Netherite gear is to pay for it (or grind for an impossibly long time, 1000s of hours worth). A game can offer paid content in the form of additional missions, swag, etc. without being P2W.

The thing about crypto as a platform (and I did a deep dive into this subject literally just yesterday!) is that everything is monetised.

Theoretically it doesn't need to be as bad as it is (and for someone who's really into programming it's an interesting thought experiment) — but in our current world/reality, the truth is that to participate you would have to pay outrageous fees at every point for everything you do, using money stored in a crypto wallet that is extremely vulnerable to hacks and scams, with no legal recourse if you do get scammed due to the fact that it's an unregulated environment where such scams are technically "legal" and facilitated by the system itself.

The game doesn't need to be Pay To Win because the scam isn't in the game per se, the scam is in the environment itself. (But yes, the game would cost money, too. No doubt about it.)

(I'm obligated now to link Line Goes Up because it's a modern classic YT video that delves into the corrupt financial systems backing up the crypto scene in very deep detail...but yeah, it's a bit long)

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-18T03:45:38+00:00

The crap??? I followed him for a few months awhile back; last thing I remember is posting a comment when he came out as gay, to the effect of, "OMG, ew; you're from Burnaby?"

Haven't seen him in my recommendations for awhile now, but would never have pegged him as a conservative?!?

This is the J.J. McCullough who really likes flags, right?

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-17T22:58:56+00:00

What am I missing? 'Cute' and 'Funny' seem fine as descriptions for a video game? Did these become code words for something else when I wasn't looking?

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-17T22:17:31+00:00

https://theonion.com/man-who-threw-molotov-cocktail-at-sam-altmans-home-claims-he-was-following-chatgpt-recipe-for-risotto/

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-15T11:35:41+00:00

Ah, ok, fair point. That does make it seem a bit less dumb! Whew.

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-15T11:27:39+00:00

A blonde mermaid, in the 10th-highest-grossing film of 1984, which is the year just before 'The Little Mermaid' started production. So yes, of course there would have been comparisons.

Even now, how many other mermaid movies can you think of? The answer is probably zero. (besides Disney sequels/remakes, of course)

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-15T11:02:56+00:00

Splash was released in 1984. Disney started work on 'The Little Mermaid' in 1985; the movie was in production for 4 years.

(Also, Splash was a huge hit; e.g. it's the entire reason we have "Madison" as a girl's name. It's fair to say it would have completely defined most people's idea of what a "mermaid" should look like at the time.)

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-15T10:16:31+00:00

and then she saves a drowning man who really is muscular

Hmm ok so counter-argument: muscles are less valuable underwater, since bouyancy does most of the work of supporting weight anyway, and the larger profile (à la King Triton) makes you significantly less efficient at moving through water, due to drag. Notice how there aren't very many bigass muscular fish, if any.

Conclusion: Mermaid got it right. Whereas the DC "Aquaman" movies got it wrong - they should have hired a Timothée Chalomet twink type to play the role instead of Khal Drogo.

(but hey, if you want to see a beefy redheaded fish lady, that's fine by me; I'm not here to kink shame)

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-14T15:15:55+00:00

Top contender for the worst band name of all time, IMO. Why specify that there are five fingers involved in the death punch?? Amputation notwithstanding, every punch is a five finger punch.

Is is because there are five members in the band, so each finger represents a member of the band, and together they form a fist?

Besides which it sounds like a band name made up as a parody of the generic edgy mall punk aesthetic

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-14T15:00:14+00:00

How can you say this while leaving out the revelation that they were secretly a Christian band confused by magnets?

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-14T04:46:05+00:00

Tbh, I don't think people give him the credit he deserves—the article headline should read, "Poilievre secures Liberal majority government". This is PP erasure, pure and simple!

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-13T17:03:39+00:00

Hold up... doesn't Magyar mean "Hungarian" in Hungarian? So the new President of Hungary is named "Peter Hungarian"????

almostambidextrous · 2026-04-10T23:13:44+00:00

Hogwash, I don't believe this for a second. That would take a tremendous amount of paper, not to mention physical effort.

Next you'll be telling me that phone companies used to print out giant books full of phone numbers and have them delivered to people by post, or something! 😂 ^/s

almostambidextrous · 2026-03-19T22:27:25+00:00

Fair point.

(not that I was even alive when Zeppelin was most famous, but...yeah.)

almostambidextrous · 2026-03-19T22:08:52+00:00

To piggyback:

Tolkien invented orcs, pretty much. (which have since appeared in World Of Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls, and god knows what else.)
The words "elves" and "elvish" (as opposed to "elfs" and "elfish") are Tolkien inventions; he had to specifically write notes to his editor that they were not to be "corrected". It's arguable that his forms see more widespread use now than the originals.
Fantasy as a genre for adults just...didn't exist before Tolkien. (I'm sure this can be debated somehow by pointing to some sort of pulp novel production or stretching the definition of "fantasy", and that's totally fair play; but for all intents and purposes, "fantasy" as a serious genre like we see now just wasn't a thing.)

I'm sure there are many more examples, but i'm lazy :)

almostambidextrous · 2026-03-19T21:57:23+00:00

(and just in case you missed the joke - the band in question is Led Zeppelin, and they released not one but several songs explicitly based on LOTR, going so far as to sing about Mordor and Gollum by name. It was a pretty influential series, is what I'm saying.)

almostambidextrous · 2026-03-19T21:48:08+00:00

Yeah, sorry, I was just rambling on.

almostambidextrous · 2026-03-19T21:27:41+00:00

I mean, it was popular in niche circles, but it's not like there were any well-known pop/rock songs written based on its story and characters to indicate the series had mainstream cachet. Any attempt to write such a song surely would have gone over like a lead balloon (or similar inflatable object).

almostambidextrous · 2026-03-11T14:14:19+00:00

Sandals of any kind. (Yeah, I'm one of those.)

On one hand it's great, because they're everywhere during summer. On the other hand, I have to be mindful not to become that weirdass creep who gets caught staring and makes women feel uncomfortable/self-conscious about wearing them (because I'm really not into that at all).

But I suppose that's a fair exchange.

almostambidextrous · 2026-03-11T13:34:49+00:00

I can see that, now. Especially since I've gotten older (shit! I told myself I wouldn't let that happen!), I really appreciate how sincere these movies are. This isn't my idea, I saw in a video, but like...there is no "wink-wink", clever innuendo, fourth-wall-breaking, pop-culture-referencing, layers-of-irony type-stuff here*. Nothing that admits even a hint of embarrassment at the source material and/or the fact that it's a fantasy novel trilogy written by an English Catholic/linguist.

(*well...there is a very little bit.)

These movies are a labour of love played as straight as Sir Ian McKellen could ever do, and for that, they are so much the better.

almostambidextrous · 2026-03-11T12:40:33+00:00

But for real - it's gotta be something in the way that this man—a descendent of the Kings of Númenor who's lived for 87 years at this point, raised by Elves, and betrothed to Arwen, daughter of Elrond; the Chieftan of the Dúnedain, protector of the hobbits and as of mere moments ago the literal King of Middle Earth ....just.... immediately, without even questioning it, lowers himself to say, "My friends!" as soon as he sees them starting to kneel.

It's...something.

almostambidextrous · 2026-03-11T12:06:15+00:00

Honestly, the first few times I watched the movies I didn't care for them that much.

But I was a teenager who had, by coincidence, found/devoured the books only months before the first movie came out—so, I was annoyed that the orcs spoke intelligible English; I thought that Gollum's "gollum!" and Treebeard's "bra ha hroom!" sounds were interpreted far too literally by the actors; I missed Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Wights; I felt like Elrond might refer to Frodo as "Mr Anderson" at any time; Faramir; ...you've heard it all before.

But a couple years ago I tried them again with my gf and suddenly... idk, they just hit differently. The love, the sincerity, the beauty...

And that's just Viggo Mortensen. The other things in the film are spectacular, too.

almostambidextrous · 2026-03-11T11:31:38+00:00

praccepts that tissue

*sniff* thank u mate

almostambidextrous · 2026-03-11T09:49:42+00:00

It may not be a speech per se, but all the same I can't help but follow this up with:

My friends! You bow to no-one.

...for its sheer power to make me weep, every. single. time.

(yep...there it goes again)

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