2758 Comments

As a WGA member waaaay back in '81, I walked the picket line for the rights to claim payment for video and cable use. As the Industry changes so must the residual payments. It's not easy to fight the obscenely rich studios but it has to be done every few years.

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"They were interfering with the spread of Trump's lies."

--Musk, on ditching Xitter's Election Integrity Team.

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“𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗲”: 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗸 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗰𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗫’𝘀 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺

"'Election Integrity' Team... was undermining election integrity," Musk writes.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/09/musk-slashes-x-election-integrity-group-claims-they-undermined-elections/

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Excessive wealth causes syphilis.

Prove me wrong.

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rofl

The people I hired to ensure election integrity were undermining election integrity by pointing out all the misinformation being spewed

HELL of a take

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𝗨𝗦 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝟯𝘅 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗘𝗨 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮’𝘀 𝗨𝗦-𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁

https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/09/us-may-pay-3x-more-than-eu-for-modernas-us-funded-covid-shot/

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So, just another drug now?

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Unpossible.

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im_shocked.jpg

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Also, too:

will_no_one_think_of_the_rich_stockholders.gif

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𝘚𝘰, 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴.

𝘐'𝘮 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 10-𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 (𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥) 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴; 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴.

𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝟭𝟬-𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗿𝘀

https://arstechnica.com/staff/2023/09/our-new-ladapo-scale-rates-misinformation-merchants/

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+1 "Ladapo Scale"

😆

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Apparently the plan for the hard right wing is to try to boot McCarthy if he can't keep the govt. open with only GOP votes. Which. Um. I think these people don't know how congress works. At all.

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Meanwhile, they're the reason he can't.

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as if whatever idiot (who is brain-damaged enough to WANT the job) is going to be any more effective..

Seriously, this gang loses at tic-tac-toe when they go first.

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For sake of argument, let's say they succeed in ousting Qev, who do they have who will either want the job or who would get enough votes to get the job. My answer is no one.

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Rather funny considering it is that same hard right wing making it neigh impossible to keep said gov open.

Fun thing: Went to a theater last night with some old southern ladies (long story short:volunteered with their org once, and they believe in payback) and during intermission we got to chatting about shutdown because I may or may not work for a federal entity.

They were ALL sorts of annoyed that congress had time to pretend to impeach the president because he is old, but could not figure out how to pass a budget which is "their only job"

I did not disabuse them of either the "too old" or "only job" bits, because they were this close >>><<<< to getting it.

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Just to break the dry spell of posts here....

I have recently been making noise with a couple of guys I know and one I just met. I happened to see him at a local music event and we chatted for a while about several things, mostly music, and he said to me, "I've been trying to figure you guys out psychologically and you strike me as someone who is dissatisfied and has a lot of ideas." I've been thinking about that for the better part of the last 6 days.

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Perhaps he was riffing on the idea that dissatisfaction can lead to good art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l32VTUsTCqI

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We didn't get deep about it because I can be evasive in conversation but part of it is that I would like to create something new rather than bash out the same old songs. You can make money that way but I'm not interested. He remarked that the songs we suggested to learn just to get going were by well known groups but they were all songs that only people that had the albums would know. And yes, dissatisfaction can lead to something new and exciting. It can also be a spectacular failure but I'd rather try and fail then play it safe, musically, anyway.

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It sounds like you and I have a lot in common about this matter.

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Is a weird thing to say to someone you just met XD

Do you feel you are someone who is dissatisfied and has lots of ideas though? Cause that is all that matters

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I've known him about a month. He's a real nice guy, teaches 7th grade science classes. It took me aback a little bit but he's correct in his analysis. I think he was judging strictly on musical aspects, not my personality as a whole.

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Defund the IRS, eh?

"Over 1.4 million of wealthiest Americans didn't bother to file required tax returns from 2017-2020"

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/28/2196073/-Over-1-4-million-of-wealthiest-Americans-didn-t-even-bother-to-file-tax-returns-from-2017-2020

"Now we have some clear data revealing the reality of what the Republicans’ push to further “defund” the agency that collects our taxes actually means in terms of lost revenue. As the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent reports, new information from the Internal Revenue Service, provided in a letter by Oregon’s Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, addressed to the commissioner of the IRS and provided to the Senate Finance committee, reveals that over the period from 2017-2020, over 1.4 million wealthy Americans failed to file required federal tax returns, potentially depleting the U.S. Treasury of over $65 billion in available funds. Those are the same funds that pay for things like food stamps, interstate highway repairs, and the equipment needed for our armed services to function. "

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Lock them up!

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The rich fuckwads really, really want America to be a feudal system.

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*glances around* hate to break it to you...but....

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Gosh, I cannot fathom why all these rich people are spending so much money convincing people who are either just scraping by or barely into "comfortable" territory that the IRS is gonna come after *them* if they get the funding Biden's tried to give them. It is a headscratcher.

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Sometimes I wonder if rich people taste like chicken.

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Long pig.

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Deep fried everything tastes the same.

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I've had deep fried rattlesnake and it's actually tasty, but as you said...

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Nah. Rattlesnakes.

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Rattlesnakes taste like rich people? Fair enough.

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And chicken.

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In UK news (and worthy of live reporting and Have Your Say from the national broadcaster) a tree has been vandalized.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-66958697

Nice tree though. RIP (Rest in Planks).

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That takes a special kind of fucked-up cretin.

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Currently it's the 4th and 5th most important news story on the BBC, between Laurence Fox being appallimg (hardly news) and Europe currently being better than the US at putting small balls in holes.

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Tragedy.

Something that takes a century or two to grow is gone.

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I saw this Elm in the mid 80's and unfortunately some dickhead teen blew it up with a pipe bomb in 98

Louis Vieux Elm, largest living American Elm in the world, around 300 YO

https://kyozoufs.blob.core.windows.net/filestoragecs4/Pictures/_17/16362/16361264.jpg

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That's why my tree guy doesn't tell anyone where the truly remarkable trees are. (He told me that "the oak that was probably here before Columbus" was in someone's back yard.)

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Why I don't trust a lot of kids.

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I saw hundreds of kids during my career and learned the signs. This one's okay, that one's not, etc.

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I remember those days, the 1970's...good song.

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A good article:

"Trump Wants His Enemies to Fear for Their Lives"

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/09/trump-milley-death-fbi-threats.html

...and one of the best closing paragraphs I've read recently:

"The most salient truth about the 2024 election is that the Republican Party is poised to nominate an authoritarian thug who publishes rationalizations for political violence and promises to abuse presidential authority on a near-daily basis. There is no way for a paper or news channel to appropriately emphasize this reality without sounding like a shrill, dull, Democratic propaganda outlet. So, like the nation writ large, the press comports itself as an amnesiac, or an abusive household committed to keeping up appearances, losing itself in the old routines, in an effortful approximation of normality until it almost forgets what it doesn’t want to know."

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There US a way to say that without sounding like a shrill, dull, Democratic propaganda outlet

JUST SAY IT JUST LIKE YOU JUST DID

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It is exactly like an abusive household.

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Yes, it is.

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Terrorism. Plain and simple.

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Muhahahaha.

"Georgia Republican legislator Colton Moore, who vowed to oust Fani Willis, just got ousted himself"

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/georgia-republican-legislator-colton-moore-who-vowed-to-oust-fani-willis-just-got-ousted-himself/52256/

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He was fine, as long as he was THEIR rabid asshole.

His crime was attacking other GOPpers.

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I always pronounce that (in my head) as "gawpers".

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Hoist with his own petard as William wrote.

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You gotta love a rebound oust.

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as if the gov't shutdown isn't enough..

𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑝𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑛 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑠 "𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑑𝑒” 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 28, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 15, 2023.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒅𝒆?

𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑎 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟, 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐹𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑦/𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟/𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛, 𝑎 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐸𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛’𝑠 𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑠, 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦.

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A million years ago (give or take 100K) I worked for the local cable company. They "educated" us every spring and every fall about solar flares that would interfere with our service so we could tell the customers who would be freaking out that their TV reception had turned to shit.

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Simple explanation: When your satellite dish is pointed at the Sun, it picks up radio noise.

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Mehdi on fire!

"Donald Trump’s extremely fascist week "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpKZeMwkoYQ

"Calling for the execution of Mark Milley, America’s top general; threatening critical media outlets with punishment; visiting a gun shop connected to a white supremacist mass shooter. Mehdi says it’s high time Trump’s fascist playbook got at least as much media attention as Biden’s age."

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Hmm. Okay, I just tried doing the usual routine of flying into a system where a freighter rescue mission was waiting, and then flying into the space station to save the game before doing the mission. Except when I came back out, it was gone. It was gone when I tried to reload the autosave, it was gone when I reloaded the restore save. Well, that's gonna suck if you can't farm for an S-class capital ship anymore, and have to go with whatever happens to spawn when you arrive.

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It might be that if you "rest" or whatever the mission goes away. Time sensitive or something?

Doesn't sound right though. Sounds more like a bug.

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I dunno. IIRC there was a point after one big update where the "save and try again" method wasn't working then, either, but eventually came back. This might be the same.

In tangentially related news, I watched a couple of pointers on killing pirate dreadnoughts, and while I'm still not sure if I can pull it off, I at least have a better idea of what needs to be done now. Looks like I need better guns, though. Those guys were doing damage *way* faster than I do.

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That's one hell of a bug.

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I dunno, I might've held my mouth wrong or something. I'll see next time. If nothing else, I might have to remember to use the old method of saving prior to jumping into a system, and then hoping that the restore point save will take me back to there.

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First World problem?

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I'd say so, yes. I mean, it presupposes I have a computer, an internet connection, and leisure time to play games, as well as the funds to buy the game. Definitely a First World problem. OTOH, I'm hardly treating it like its a huge disaster, just a minor inconvenience. So *not* a FWP in the sense it's usually meant.

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Good morning, all. Worldle in one:

#Worldle #616 1/6 (100%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉

⭐⭐⭐🏙️🪙

https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

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GTFO!!!! I've done 2/6 a dozen times or so but never 1/6.

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