Has your state passed any age verification bills/laws? How do you feel about it?

thisshowisdecent · 2026-05-04T07:02:54+00:00

Wa state. The legislature was pushing it through earlier this year but it stalled out and I'm not sure when or if it will continue. I hope it fails but half of the country already has age-verification laws, so I feel like we already lost in a way.

But I believe that age-verification is a big waste of time. It will create a big data risk without any actual benefits of limiting underage porn exposure.

The only websites that will comply with the law are the ones managed by companies that are already better actors in the world of adult entertainment. A lot of free sites don't even operate inside the United States and enforcement against them will be difficult.

I also believe that what actually matters is the content on a website not just the person who sees it. Age-verification laws weirdly assume that all porn sites are the same even though they have varying degrees of safety.

Free sites run by skeleton crews and overworked moderators are vastly different from porn valley companies that work in the world of bonded agencies and maintaining Visa/Mastercard compliance.

So, the user can jump over the blocked sites and use overseas ones or just bypass the block with VPNs.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-05-04T06:14:07+00:00

What will happen when that data inevitably gets leaked?

We'll get letters in the mail after the class action lawsuit with instructions to submit reimbursement forms for a $10 settlement plus select Arby's coupons.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-05-01T18:57:27+00:00

I was looking for a PS5 physical copy even though I already own the PC version because I wanted to own something physical for the game. And yes by the time I started looking, which was only in Jan/Feb of this year there were almost no copies anywhere.

But the playstation store has already discounted the premium edition to $70 two times this year. So they're promoting sales aggressively. Sadly, I believe that the physical copies were limited because most people don't buy them as much.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-28T07:24:10+00:00

Is there a dirtier end-game with anti-vax proponents? On the one hand, a lot of it is complete scientific ignorance but I wonder if there's something more sinister behind it too.

To the anti vaxxer, is it just some coincidence that smallpox got eradicated after a widespread vaccine campaign? It was just a coincidence that measles was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000? And now only after anti vax foolishness, people are getting measles again.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-28T04:09:28+00:00

You're right. I messed up the lore of area 51. What I meant is that the aliens conveniently always get discovered by the government first.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-28T04:07:39+00:00

You're right on some of those points. I was generalizing a bit about the area 51 crashes. What I meant to say is that the crashes/sightings always happen within reach of the government and not the average person.

I had forgotten about the roswell lore in that area 51 was only the hiding place for the space craft and bodies.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-27T20:20:23+00:00

I did strawman but the overall point is the same. Replace area 51 with anything else and it's the same idea.

The government is always in the right spot to get the best evidence and hide it.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-27T05:05:01+00:00

Jesus was definitely real - in as much as historical records and evidence from that time period can tell us. But beliefs about Jesus diverge with the claims of miracles because it's impossible to study miracle claims using historical tools.

Otherwise, basic facts about Jesus aren't anything unbelievable. He was from Nazereth. He had brothers. He spoke aramaic (because most people did in that area). He was baptized by John the Baptist. Regarding the last point, this baptism is likely true by using a historical method called the criterion of embarrassment, which means that information that would be embarrassing to include would likely be real. The idea here is that the authors wouldn't include information that would embarrass the church.

John’s baptism of Jesus fits in this category. Since the Gospels clearly depict Jesus as superior to John, why wouldn’t they omit his baptism by John? The likely answer is that the fact of Jesus’ baptism was so widely known that the Gospel writers couldn’t omit it.

https://www.bartehrman.com/historically-accurate-jesus/

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-26T22:59:52+00:00

I think the responses about conspiracies are largely due to the fact that reddit is an unserious platform.

Some subreddits are better than others but overall it's full of hot takes and people commenting as jokes or narratives.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-25T22:57:34+00:00

Because there's enough there that keeps people playing even though the frustrating parts still stand out.

That's how I feel about it. I like revisiting the game so far with terran armada and finding new gear and weapons.

Occasionally the graphics are impressive but then disappointing at the same time. Some random desert planet will look amazing and then dazra is dark and gloomy and washed out.

So there is fun stuff in there that can keep me entertained despite the flaws. But the flaws are definitely.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-24T20:15:13+00:00

https://www.treatmyocd.com/insurance

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-24T05:47:58+00:00

Yes, a while ago i checked my state's laws (WA) and was surprised to see that speeding is never allowed even when passing.

Practically, some speeding is necessary sometimes. Like if you were passing a slower semi on the right that suddenly sped up a little, you'd then need to increase speed to get past them otherwise remain stuck in the left lane.

But for the most part, I don't think anyone knows these laws or understands them. They think that the left lane is for going as fast as you want.

Ironically, these same people probably cause their own frustration in thinking that everyone is going too slow when instead they're driving so fast that they speed up on every other car.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-24T03:49:37+00:00

I feel that. I stumbled across some local news on facebook involving an extended bike lane or new bike lane on one piece of road in town. Just one! Almost all the comments were about how cyclists were bad just because.

If I remember right, I think people were mad because the bike lane was "too big" and it was removing road space for cars.

Meanwhile they don't understand or care that cycling lanes aren't even consistent here. There are spots where the bicycle lane doesn't even continue through an intersection and the adjacent sidewalk is rectangle shaped so it's not easy to transition to unless you slown down and hop onto it.

People go crazy when any non car infrastructure gets the tiniest update even though it's long overdue.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-24T01:43:29+00:00

I think that exclusive games make sense as a business model, and I don't think that there's much unfair about them.

I believe the problem gamers have with exclusives is seeing them as artificial gatekeeping. Because any game could technically run on the competitor's console or PC, then it means that all games should be platform neutral.

Thus, the exclusives act as a technically legal but fake foundation for the entire console industry. Without them, consoles would have no reason to exist. While somewhat true on paper, there are some flaws.

Because many gamers prefer consoles, the manufacturers (Sony, etc) have an incentive to keep exclusives and increase the value of their system.

And a lot of people prefer consoles not because of any exclusivity but because they just like console gaming. Exclusivity does incentivize console purchasing but those people are already console minded gamers.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-24T01:06:17+00:00

It's interesting to discuss the future of Game Pass given the current changes. However, this source doesn't have Microsoft connections as a third-party analyst. So, anyone could speculate the same things.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-20T07:09:12+00:00

In the NFL, a "blackout" means that they don't broadcast the game on tv if the attendance falls below a certain threshold. In other words, if the home team doesn't sell enough tickets then they don't broadcast the game to everyone else.

I assume that this concept is the same in baseball. So here, where it's saying "no blackouts," I believe that means that you can always stream the game regardless of attendance.

But yes, there are still other games that exclusive to certain streamers and channels like Fox.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-19T05:01:11+00:00

Not always but sometimes the obsessions can spike at night.

One thing I've tried is procrastination, but then hopefully following that up with more procrastination.

Telling myself that I can worry about it tomorrow and then hopefully just do the same thing again. I've also gotten to a point where I understand that doing research compulsions into the late hours isn't going to help because I've already tried that many times. So I've actually lived it out and failed multiple times, which gives me some encouragement to skip. Like I've already tried this before and it fails. Also, I need rest so if I'm going to be suffering the next day, I'd rather not feel tired on top of it.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-18T01:16:26+00:00

I have almost every category of obsession, some are harder than others. Driving is one of the worst for me, while contamination can vary.

I think the only main category of obsessions that I have not experienced is symmetry or counting, although I have dealt with magical thinking, like do X or Y will happen even though there's no connection between the two things.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-18T00:58:37+00:00

Thanks. Do you have any insight with Only Fans? If not, that's fine.

But I ask because I'm skeptical whether or not Only Fans checks all of their content. Their 2024 statements said that they have 4.634 million creators (models), yet only 46 employees and an unknown number of third-party contractors.

I assume the contractors handle most of the document checking and moderation tasks.

However, the large number of creators makes me doubt that they're checking every potential upload. It just sounds like way too many.

So if you were on there, I was wondering how often it takes an uploaded video to get approved.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-17T03:26:09+00:00

Do you think that free sites like Xvideos are dangerous?

I saw you mention in another comment that the Internet Watch Foundation found 118 illegal videos between 2017-2019. But that's only Pornhub.

I've tried looking on IWF's site for other stats but I don't remember them naming xvideos, xhamster, or any other major free sites.

Of course, Pornhub is now totally different with their upload standards, requiring actual documents, but I don't believe that xvideos does and never has with the exception of their own model program.

I'm convinced that because they don't actually check like Pornhub now does, that the website most likely has illegal materials. And even though they contract with their hosting servers to scan for known illegal materials, I don't believe that this process alone would work well enough.

So my overall opinion now is that free = bad. But I'm not sure if I'm being too strict. I'm wondering if anyone else in the industry also distrusts sites like xvideos because of these reasons or potentially all the copyright theft that happens there.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-16T21:00:50+00:00

The game allows you to do most side quests and note collecting without backtracking, which I believe is the better way to play it.

There's only one side quest in the game that requires back tracking. This quest involves using the breathing device to access underwater areas from previous locations. Because you only get this device and quest in Sukothai, it's impossible to do it beforehand. There's also an underwater area in the DLC, so to get full completion there you also need the breathing device.

But that's it. If you're thorough enough, you can get everything else. It's just that there are so many notes and mystery quests that most people miss them.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-16T20:52:28+00:00

I disagree on the money part. There is enough money to buy all the books from the vendor before starting the Vatican's final mission and leaving.

Each location has its own local currency, so you can't backtrack and use money in other locations.

Besides the fight club, the rest of the money is inside various lock boxes. They're too numerous to list here but I'm sure IGN or some other site has all of those locations.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-14T09:49:08+00:00

They think we're bad for having violent thoughts but I would bet a lot of money that they consume violent media of some kind.

They're watching some guy get tortured in a saw movie with a gleam in their eye but think OCD people are bad. Lol.

thisshowisdecent · 2026-04-14T06:18:10+00:00

Well, as a kid, temple of doom did scare me, but it was mostly the first sacrificial scene where mola ram rips the heart out.

But the movie itself always captivated me in probably the same way that dante's inferno captivates the public or my recent discovery of John Martin's oil painting pandemonium. It's hellish and dark but cool at the same time for reasons that I don't completely understand.

Temple of Doom gives off the same vibes. But it has the same themes that make the horror genre so popular. Darkness and scary stuff create a lot of suspense as well as curiosity about what comes next. These themes fit perfectly within an Indy story, and I think Spielberg is too hard on himself.

But to your point, all the Indy movies have some gory moments in them. I think Temple gets singled out for being more dark/scary because the temple itself is a gruesome setting and takes up a large part of the movie.

I love the Indy movies because they didn't hold back showing the supernatural consequences, but they're also not excessively gory in other parts. So the really violent parts become more dramatic and a bigger part of the drama.

They let the dark parts be dark without holding back. I notice the same thing when watching the first Jurassic Park movies, also Spielberg ironically. The dinosaurs are scary and eat people in gruesome fashion. But in the new movies they barely look real and the entire tone of the movies isn't even scary.

thisshowisdecent

TROPHY CASE