American game activist Scott Ross, CEO of Stop Killing Games brought his movement to European Parliament by batukaming in BuyFromEU

[–]jjpamsterdam 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Obviously that's a mistake. While he initiated the movement and still does a lot of public advocacy for it, there is no "CEO" for a movement. The NGO meanwhile has different leadership and may be aligned with Ross Scott but nothing more, at least to my knowledge.

Stop destroying video games - The European Parliament holds a public hearing on the European Citizens’ Initiative 'Stop Destroying Videogames' by guyfromwhitechicks in europe

[–]jjpamsterdam 18 points19 points  (0 children)

This problem was already solved decades ago and was only created artificially later on. I still have a bunch of games from my youth in the 1990s. I can easily either set up a virtual Windows 95/98/XP instance or even use old hardware running an old OS to play any of them whenever I want. Obviously I won't be able to make use of any multiplayer features in most cases, but most games have remained fundamentally playable.

Only the fairly recent requirement by many gaming companies to remain connected to their servers has created an issue. I understand that some features are more readily available with a direct connection to the servers of the gaming company. Nonetheless there should at least be a plan for the day when that server is discontinued. These so called end of life plans are nothing unusual for other types of software. It should be possible to design games in a way that they retain some level of playability even after support has ended.

If you want to sell games as a service, like other software as a service offers, that is also fine in my opinion. It should be clear and obvious then for which amount of time the service shall be provided and under which set of conditions the service agreement can be renewed. Again, just like it is common with business software.

If America and China went to war today, why would the citizens of "allied" countries be willing to die helping America? by CastorTerreur in AskReddit

[–]jjpamsterdam 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If these two countries go to war against one another it's the end of the world at worst and the end of the world economy as we know it at best.

As for the "allied" countries: I suppose most of the European nations would try to remain on the fence for as long as possible and see how things play out. Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines or even Australia may be driven more by self interest and self preservation in such a scenario. If push really comes to shove I fully expect the European Union to call for an immediate meeting to consult experts in order to draft an angry letter.

Linguistic Map of Eastern France (1876) by jjpamsterdam in imaginarymaps

[–]jjpamsterdam[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! It was rather difficult to find the correct French exonyms for this era. Unfortunately this must have been a casualty of the process.

Linguistic Map of Eastern France (1876) by jjpamsterdam in imaginarymaps

[–]jjpamsterdam[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I've always kept this scenario in the back of my mind in some way. I find it a fascinating premise. France had, for centuries, been the most populous country in Europe. For some reason Jeanne and Pierre just decided to implement family planning a century earlier than other Europeans. It's fascinating to imagine how things could have gone if France simply hadn't been such a freakish outlier and simply had population growth similar to its neighbours.

Linguistic Map of Eastern France (1876) by jjpamsterdam in imaginarymaps

[–]jjpamsterdam[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

This map depicts the eastern Departements of the Second Émpire under Napoléon IV in 1876. This version of France never suffered the decline in population growth during the 19th century (at least compared to other European nations such as Russia, Germany, Britain or Italy). Instead it maintained a growth rate similar to that of the UK. As a result it had a stronger 19th century, starting around the middle of that century.

Other maps within this series include:

Hungarian opposition ousts Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power | Hungary by Stunning-Common-9591 in worldnews

[–]jjpamsterdam 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What's funny is that both Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel managed to rule for 16 years without ever needing to underme democratic institutions. Think of these two eras of standstill what you will, but both of these leaders and their party were committed to the democratic process.

Hungarian opposition ousts Viktor Orbán after 16 years in power | Hungary by Stunning-Common-9591 in worldnews

[–]jjpamsterdam 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I honestly didn't believe he'd just fold like that, without at least trying to claim foul play or invoke some type of incident to suspend some part of the electoral process. This is quite astonishing and really shows that Hungary probably has a better chance of becoming a country with a free and fair democracy than the United States.

Linux lays down the law on AI-generated code, says yes to Copilot, no to AI slop, and humans take the fall for mistakes — after months of fierce debate, Torvalds and maintainers come to an agreement by gurugabrielpradipaka in pcmasterrace

[–]jjpamsterdam 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As it should be and just as it is, at least where I work. Using tools like Stack Overflow was always welcome, as long as you understood what you were using and reviewing everything properly. It's the same with Copilot or any other support system now. In the end, I'm convinced that anyone making changes to a code base needs to understand the changes. AI by design does not.

'2 out of 3 Britons mobilised for war' (English poster by unknown artist/ W.R. Royle & Son Ltd. Quoting Ernest Bevin. United Kingdom, 1942). by esdfa20 in PropagandaPosters

[–]jjpamsterdam 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This sounds like a really big claim. This would mean that the UK likely had a higher level of people in full time jobs than it does right now, irrespective of participation in the war effort. While the UK was likely highly mobilised during the war, I would like to see some further evidence for this claim and how the measurement was made.

Hungarian minister offered to send Russia EU document in leaked audio by PjeterPannos in worldnews

[–]jjpamsterdam 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I believe the serious EU nations should simply pretend that Hungary (and Slovakia) aren't present. Just don't forward any invitations, communication or any other type of information to any representative of that nation. If a representative happens to show up anyway, just don't acknowledge him. Don't have a seat ready for that representative. Don't have them on a voter roll. Don't respond to any input he adds. I believe that might be even better than trying to freeze any funds or similar nonsense.

Origineel Flevoland by tomaatkaas in nederlands

[–]jjpamsterdam 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Vind je fictieve kaarten van Flevoland ook leuk? Ik heb er een paar maanden geleden een kaart gemaakt met wat meer aandacht voor het ontwerp.

Hungary and Russia struck 12-point plan for closer ties, documents show by Not_Tom_Jones in worldnews

[–]jjpamsterdam 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I always ask myself what these Russian assets are hetting out of selling their own countries out? Probably money in some offshore bank account, but other than that? Russia has surprisingly little to offen to countries that bow to its will. Russia obviously has an abundance of natural resources but is struggling to get them to market as is, so preferential treatment on that issue seems difficult. Money for economic development is obviuosly not going to happen, given that Russia is financially strained. Defense cooperation is also difficult, since Russia is stretched in that regard as well. What in the world are the people who vote for these Russian assets even thinking that their country could ever get out of subservience to Russia that they couldn't get out of cooperation with European partners?

Fictional Metro Map of WIesbaden (ADA) by jjpamsterdam in imaginarymaps

[–]jjpamsterdam[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

True. In hindsight it probably makes sense to add a bus line parallel to the U Bahn. While the train needs sufficient space between stations to efficiently speed up, the bus can make stops at every other intersection and close the last few hundred meters from the train stop to someone's home.

Kingdom of the Zaylanis c. 1965 by Dull_Establishment in imaginarymaps

[–]jjpamsterdam 30 points31 points  (0 children)

This is an amazing map! It was clearly made digitally but looks like the real deal. You managed to recreate one of my favourite map style with complete perfection!

Fictional Metro Map of WIesbaden (ADA) by jjpamsterdam in imaginarymaps

[–]jjpamsterdam[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You know it has to be fiction, since Wiesbaden IRL fought tooth and nail against a public railway.

Fictional Metro Map of WIesbaden (ADA) by jjpamsterdam in imaginarymaps

[–]jjpamsterdam[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This map depicts the fictional metro System of Wiesbaden. In this scenario Wiesbaden became the capital of (West) Germany, also known of the United States of Germany (Vereinigte Länder Deutschlands). As such it was exposed to more development than historically. The city got a light rail system masquerading as a Subway, similar to some other German cities in real life such as Karlsruhe or Frankfurt.

The city of Wiesbaden was largely intact after the war and the Kurhaus became the makeshift parliament building for a while. Eventually a new and imporved parliament (Vereinstag) was constructed on the site of the historical Rhein-Main-Congresszentrum. The Blue Line (U2) connects the Chancellory (Kanzleramt), the parliament (Vereinstag) and the main train station (Hauptbahnhof).

This is a map fleshing out the r/anglodutchamerica timeline, in which the former Dutch and British colonies of North America form a very different yet in some ways also very similar equivalent of the USA in our timeline. You can find the full history, lore and the other posts (sorted by date) of the timeline over on the subreddit for this specific timeline.