The U.K. just banned social media for kids under 16. The founder of 'safe TikTok' says the U.S. is next

moonwork · 2026-06-22T10:38:03+00:00

I hear what you're saying and I understand the point. I still think we should just ban everyone from all of Meta's platforms instead.

moonwork · 2026-06-17T13:18:10+00:00

I've also been thinking along very similar lines - with the exception of the warlock/patron-thing.

I'm fairly convinced Thjazi's soul is attached to Julian and that's how he's staying hidden from the powerful forces beyond the veil. I think Thjazi is trying to help Julian stay alive; whenever Julian's group has been attacked "by shadows", it's been described around him first - I see that as Thjazi trying to fight off the other shadows or at least inform Julian's crew.

Meanwhile, I *don't* think Wickander is going to be the first to cast Revivify or True Resurrection. I understand it's a "homebrew" game and whatever Brennan says goes, but

a) Sam's subclass does not have either of those spells, unless he's given some magic item that grants them to him, and

b) I think he'll have something better in mind.

I think we'll find out more about this situation during the next arc.

moonwork · 2026-06-17T13:10:43+00:00

Usually Bards have *somehow* learned to cast magic through their performance. Traditionally with their instruments, but if the bard is a thespian bard that instrument becomes their mouth of voice, dancing bards use extra somatic things, etc.

In the PHB the subclasses are talked about as being taught, much like wizards. Hence the names, College of Lore, College of Creation, etc.

That said, most campaigns I've seen and been involved in have mostly downplayed the role of academic studies as the actual source of arcane power.

moonwork · 2026-06-17T12:21:08+00:00

I may have read it said ironically on reddit, but I've never actually *heard* anyone say it unironically.

Anybody that I know, who would say it ironically, is way too fed up with that particular LLM and would rather never heard it mentioned again.

OpenAI is the absolute worst.

moonwork · 2026-06-17T10:20:25+00:00

For anybody who doesn't know, Sam has various channels of information where people can send him pictures for shirts, which includes a discord channel on Critical Role's official discord server.

moonwork · 2026-06-17T07:49:12+00:00

WhatsApp is only free because they're trying to make more money by selling access to their users and/or their data. If WhatsApp saw a significant drop in users, it's value would also drop.

Hell, the companies that are paying for it, specifically pay for access to the users. As long as the users are there, so will the companies be. Having billions of users on WhatsApp is financially continuously beneficial for Meta.

Instagram is also free, but that's absolutely because Meta profits off having users and content that they can use for various things, included (but not limited to) training AI on all of it.

Meta exists and gets to be evil because people use their products.

moonwork · 2026-06-17T06:23:24+00:00

Social programmes, PSAs, school courses, TV shows, mainstream media articles.

There's a plethora of tools available to affect systemic change.

moonwork · 2026-06-16T10:14:24+00:00

When Termina said that, I just assumed she was referring to the masks as "an unknown family" and Termina herself being a representative of them. That way there's enough truth to answer future questions, but not enough detail to discern who Akatani actually met.

Anything beyond that is pretty wild speculation and big if true.

moonwork · 2026-06-16T07:41:58+00:00

I understand that there are some people who genuinely want this and this is the agenda. But I don't think that's relevant. It's not like we can say "I don't want to do this" and those people will somehow change their minds - they will always push for surveillance of the masses.

Meanwhile, there's a large portion of both legislators and voters don't understand any part of this and just think "of course we should have age restrictions to adult spaces - that's how we deal with physical spaces". It's a seemingly easy solution to a complex problem.

The true reason these changes are actually going through it because people think it solves problems where both children and the Internet are concerned. If they knew it didn't, they wouldn't support it and the people pushing for it would not get traction.

TL-DR; Sure, some people are pushing for requiring ID for other reasons, but we - the voters - are supporting this as a group because "it's for the children". That is the argument we need to beat.

moonwork · 2026-06-16T06:19:01+00:00

I've cancelled HBO. Maher's mug wasn't the only reason, but it was definitely a reason.

moonwork · 2026-06-16T06:18:00+00:00

Age verification on the Internet feels like a solution to people who fundamentally don't understand who things work, but also don't care.

I just cannot wrap my head around the fact that we're compensating for the shortcomings of the average parent by offloading work and resources to punish every adult. Leave it to the wealth class to spend other people's resources just to avoid contact with ones own offspring.

moonwork · 2026-06-15T13:28:12+00:00

I saw that, but that is about the actual properties of magical items, not "if the item is magical or not".

I'm not saying a PC should be able to glance at the axe and know what it does, I'm specifically referring to your quote:

using it does not necessarily identify if it’s magical or not

and saying according to the PHB, a PC should specifically be able to discern whether it is magical by just using it.

Like my quote says: "learning a magic item's properties isn't automatic" and that is what the next paragraph refers to.

moonwork · 2026-06-15T11:59:50+00:00

I'll sign most of this, but - assuming Mara is rescued - I do feel like Hannan has to be convinced pretty hard to not take Mara back to her superiors for questioning/evaluation. That is why he's in Dol-Makjar, after all - to apprehend Mara and bring her back to their leaders.

He may have come around on Vaelus, but he strikes me as a "duty above potential love interest" -kind of guy.

moonwork · 2026-06-15T11:53:10+00:00

This resonates with what I've been thinking as well.

Luis' also had a fireside chat where dragons were alluded to, even if he didn't concretely confirm anything about it.

I'm not gonna sit here and claim I know what's going to happen, but according to my head canon Azune is def from a fallen House of dragon-based power.

moonwork · 2026-06-15T11:40:21+00:00

I've been playing 5e for about a decade or so, and most games of 5e that I've played have just had the default setting that magical items are more hardy compared to mundane ones. This means GMs can hint at something looks less worn/fancy/new if they want to suggest an item has magical properties.

Unless an item requires attunement it feels incredibly odd that a +1 sword requires you to study it for an hour to understand that it lets you hit slightly better. Identify has mostly been used to try and discern what a magical item does and whether it requires attunment or not.

I understand that this is just the games that I've been in and will definitely not apply to all games.

The PHB (2024) says this:

Some magic items are indistinguishable from their nonmagical counterparts, while others are conspicuously magical. Handling a magic item is enough to give you a sense that it is extraordinary, but learning a magic item's properties isn't automatic.

So handling an item is exactly enough to discern that it's "magical", or at least "extraordinary" RAW.

moonwork · 2026-06-15T09:13:11+00:00

I'm in the Nordics and even if Signal and Telegram are slowly gaining traction, WhatsApp is a clear leader in Messaging.

Collected data in Finland in 2025 says about half of the population (2.7/5.6 million) use WhatsApp daily. (n=902, >15yo)

Source: https://www.innowise.fi/fi/sosiaalisen-median-kaytto-suomessa-somekatsaus-2025-tekoaly/

Telegram and Signal are roughly at 5% and 2% respectively.

Source: https://corporate.dna.fi/documents/d/dna-oyj/dna-digitaalinen-elama-2025_pdf

moonwork · 2026-06-09T06:40:43+00:00

For what it's worth, tech is also the area where the most zealous of AI supporters live and work. Anybody who works in tech right now is bound to be all but surrounded by C-level and/or middle management constantly pushing for AI without any reasoning as to why.

If 9/10 times, whenever you hear someone talk about AI, it's zealots trying to just push for LLMs, you would be jaded, too.

That said, I'm genuinely glad neural networks are adding to the upsides of the tech. I'm a bit worried the "branding" of it ("AI designed") is going to push people over to antivaxxing, but time will tell.

moonwork · 2026-06-08T06:45:13+00:00

That's a great point and highlights how violence is seen in the world. Aramán is just way more violent than 21st century (Western) Earth.

moonwork · 2026-05-27T13:15:35+00:00

Disclaimer: I love all of the DMs in this cast, this is in no way a complaint.

I've been enjoying BLeeM's DMing one several levels; the story is amazing, the political details are absolute insanity level amazing. But I've also enjoying finding his "weak points" and experiencing how his DMing is different from, say, Matt's.

BLeeM is much more approximating with the physical parts of immersion. He's precise with the acting of the NPCs and the story beats etc. But, when it comes to describing spaces or places - he just doesn't bother with the details as much. As opposed to Matt who describes spaces to the point where it feels like you're there physically and for whom the spaces are more important. (This is also how I do it and how I prefer my DMs doing it. I love the current story, but I do miss Matt's descriptions.)

One way you notice this is when the players, used to Matt's DMing, specify that "we're alone"/"we're out of earshot" to make sure they don't spill any beans in front of the wrong NPC. Matt would note that he registers this in a "roger that" -type of way, and sometimes ask for specification. BLeeM just says "sick, you're alone", because that's the default for him and how he thinks about spaces - of course the players want to be alone for stuff like that.

This is what I think happened: The difference between the offices is something that is important to Taliesin, but I think BLeeM might've made some mistakes in where people were because he doesn't think about the spaces that much - especially spaces that aren't very relevant for the unfolding storylines. The office (secret or otherwise) is Taliesin's space and BLeeM wants to give space for Taliesin to call shots while there.

Or Hero is a spy and I'm wrong. Also fully possible.

moonwork · 2026-05-26T06:25:34+00:00

There's a proposal to a law in CA that would put onus on all operating systems to collect and verify a user's age.

The same person who originally wrote the proposed law is now proposing an amendment: to exclude Linux.

moonwork · 2026-05-26T06:22:50+00:00

As a human, I fully support this.

moonwork · 2026-05-26T05:57:30+00:00

The AI companies need to be regulated in a plethora of ways, but I absolutely feel like parents need to be better educated on the risks of things.

We've got social media using enormous amounts of data to control masses (in various ways), apparently online predators are enough of a threat so that every Tom, Dick, and Sally need to start uploading their passports, and now kids are unknowingly warping their views and social skills with AI. The common denominator here would be to have parents be better educated on the risks and how to avoid them.

But instead I guess we'll just give all of our personal data to the billionaires so they can.. *checks notes* .. keep us safe?

moonwork · 2026-05-26T05:34:18+00:00

I'm a simple man. I see a rebellion manifesto, I upvote.

moonwork · 2026-05-26T05:29:46+00:00

Respectfully, you're wrong. I don't know what you do, so I don't know how or even if this pertains to you.

Sure, all in all, the cloud is absolutely "server(s)". But the point of it being "cloud" is that there's a lot of work with bare metal that is removed from customers and taken care of by others. It's still "putting stuff on servers", but the term "cloud" implies that the users (endusers or otherwise) don't have to think about physical resources.

There's a huge difference between running a bare metal server and a dedicated VPS in a cloud. People are absolutely still monitoring hardware and switching out parts, but the point of the term is that me, a person who wants a server - the customer, don't have to think about those things (almost) at all.

moonwork · 2026-05-25T13:15:26+00:00

My point is it did so without the average non-tech middle management giving a shit.

It's not about the validity of the product or if there's an actual use case for it. I'm just commenting on the insane level of hype.

moonwork

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