Looked at that. Seems like it would have worked back back when ?single=1 didn’t break all images. But since the guides are broken up into multiple pages, the automated scraping tends to lose its mind because it will try to get the entire site. Rather than a subset of pages.

Thanks though

A few years back, CBS sold CNET (CNET, Gamespot, GameFAQs, Giant Bomb, and probably one or two others) to Red Ventures who then sold basically everything but CNET proper to Fandom. If people aren’t aware of what Fandom is, just go to basically any video game wiki and see how many pop ups you need to close just to see some misinformation.

Anywho, Fandom have a decent record of killing every property they buy in the interest of monetization. And they can do that because they buy EVERYTHING. And as of a few days ago, one of the long standing admins at GameFAQs announced they were stepping down. Which… suggests Fandom realized they own GameFAQs and are likely about to start gutting it to add as many ads and autoplay twitch pages as possible.

Again, are you paying every single creator you watch?

I keep referencing the helpful home improvement videos but… those are the kind of people who get the most screwed over. Because maybe you rotate between your primary channels. I do too. But maybe I am watching a climbing video and get confused by how that weird bar thing the caver is using actually works. So I search and find a genuinely useful video by some firefighter who was bored. I will probably never watch another video by that person, but I got a lot of value from that. Similarly, maybe I am fixing my dishwasher and can’t for the life of me figure out how to seat the sprayer and need to catch a similar one off video on that.

Ad revenue (or youtube premium money) is how those creators get paid and what encourages people to just do the one off videos. Otherwise, every appliance repair video is 90% an ad for the site that sells replacement parts and so forth.

And that also ignores the other elephant in the room that always comes up when these models are discussed. I have no problem sending William Osman a few bucks every couple months because he usually puts out one or two good videos a month. But what about Not an Engineer? New(-ish) channel. I’ve liked his videos a lot so far but he doesn’t really have a defined upload schedule and is only three videos in. So does he get to be part of the patreon rotation? And should he be less frequent than someone like Michael Reeves who posts one video a year but they are all bangers? Also, I don’t think Not an Engineer HAS a patreon yet so I guess he is just up shit creek for not doing sponsored segments or begging for money in the video about building a mill?

Again, I am not saying you need to throw money at them. I am just saying it is a real asshole move to pretend this is all about supporting creators while actively finding ways not to. Like, I don’t say that me downloading a movie that is only on netflix is about supporting the film industry. It is about me saying that I am not willing to pay 20 bucks a month on the off chance I want to watch The Night Comes For Us again.

If you already have the VPN then yeah, it is like anything else: What are the risks if you “get caught”

But I will just say: The “I pay for patreons” is largely bullshit. Don’t get me wrong, the big creators get paid. But the smaller creators, like the lady who ACTUALLY made a useful video that prevented your kitchen from flooding, get screwed over. Because I have no real problems throwing a few bucks a month at the Remap crew. I watch most of their streams and listen to most of their podcasts and it is awesome. But someone like Allen Pan who MIGHT have one video a month… it is REALLY hard to justify throwing enough to overcome the credit card fee at him. Even if I love his videos. And I have known quite a few people over the years who aren’t even “A Failed Mythbuster” and do it all for the couple bucks a month they get to “justify” the hundred hours or so it takes to make a funny video or to set up a camera to actually make a useful “how to” video.

I dunno. This is just one of those things where: If you wanna steal/“steal”, just do it. You do you. But when people talk about how they want to support creators… and then actively screw over creators? It is downright insulting.

Not really, actually.

At an intentionally vague high level: The main components of a firearm are:

1. The frame
2. Levers/internal bits
3. The barrel
4. Metal springs and wires to connect the internal bits and make semi/full automatic fire possible
5. The firing pin

1 and 2 are 100% able to be made with plastic. And that is increasingly becoming a selling point for a lot of firearms because of “weight”

4 is trivial to pick up at any hardware store and isn’t even conspicuous.

Which leaves 3 and 5. Plastic/polymer barrels are not an issue for small caliber ammunition (e.g. pistol rounds). You just don’t want to use dirt cheap PLA for that. And probably futz with the infill settings a bit.

The firing pin: Most engineering analyses I have seen say that is the one part that needs to be “real” (and, thus, is a traceable purchase). But I’ve seen a few resources tiptoe around how this could be easily improvised from stuff you buy at the local hardware store. And if I cared enough to check The Dark Web, I am certain I could find step by step instructions on how to do exactly that.

And there are youtubers like Emily the Engineer who have made it a point to show how ridiculously strong 3d printed stuff is. She doesn’t do firearms (mostly because it would get her demonetized…) but 3d printed machetes, lawnmower blades, jacks for pick up trucks, etc are pretty trivial. And I would be pretty shocked if someone who was had a particularly well configured printer and some of the good plastic couldn’t make a (mostly, if not entirely) polymer firing pin (I actually have no idea how modern ammunition works. I THINK it is just compression of the charge which means no metal needed. But if you still need a spark of some form, that is a metal tip instead of a metal pin).

I would assume most free vpns will be blocked period (either intentionally or for triggering the adblock ban).

And if you are going to pay for a VPN to watch youtube… youtube premium actually IS a really good deal for the creators. The specifics are obviously unknown, but most creators have come out that it is incredibly favorable and a lot better than what they get for ad revenue. And that automatically goes to whoever you watch rather than forcing you to decide if you REALLY need to throw a buck or two at the lady who actually showed how to install a sharkbite rather than glossing over it.

Aside from that: Like with anything, just question how much it would impact you to lose a google account… or all your google accounts. If you can eat that loss, yolo. If not, maybe avoid getting into an arms race with John Google.

I would recommend watching a few videos/documentaries on “Ghost Guns”. Vice had a really good one, if memory serves.

It isn’t JUST “hit print, rack the slide, bust a cap”. But with a properly calibrated printer and filament other than cheap PLA, it is real close. Download the STLs, start the build, and then head to the local hardware store for a few small springs and the (REDACTED) that becomes a firing pin. Then spend an hour or two screwing stuff together and filing down a few defects.

But also? Additive manufacturing is a vital part of so many industries at this point that I would not expect a crackdown on the STL files. Probably something similar to how DMCA is used with media files (which artists and engineers would generally tolerate, if not prefer, due to threads like this…). But all the drill bit holders and gunpla mods and the like aren’t going to go away.

Whether we start needing background checks/licenses for the printers themselves is still up in the air. But expect massive lobbying against that since “maker spaces” and even just a printer at the library are a big part of the industry and this is something where The West already do not have any meaningful advantage.

To put it in context. With a decent CNC mill, you can make a straight up “real” gun in a few days for probably less than 500 bucks worth of stock (although, I would not be surprised if aluminum block prices have skyrocketed). But those cost thousands of dollars. A decent 3d printer costs less than 500 for the tool and you need less than 100 dollars of filament for the gun. We don’t ban mills and lathes from private ownership. But I can definitely see something similar to medium sized drones where you need to fill out a form to legally own 3d printers of a certain size/quality

The genericness was very much a large component.

People don’t realize that gaming used to have a lot of “Well, this is sort of like X which I liked so I guess I’ll play it”. That is how we had stuff like the Codemasters version of Operation Flashpoint and so forth. Saints Row and True Crime were this to GTA. The multiple Medal of Honor reboots were this to CoD. And so forth. Hell, the fricking Camilla Ludgarden Tomb Raiders were this to Uncharted (… which was that to Tomb Raider). As opposed to these days where people can’t stop talking about how much they hated Outer Worlds for… making an “elder scrolls” game closer to Fallout 3 than Skyrim.

Which is what makes things “work”. You get a new gun. Time for your obligatory Uncharted style “kill 300 people with this” trophy. Oh no, it is the obnoxious turret sequence. Oh cool, we are doing an airship sequence with these mortars…

Because it is less “Wow, soldiers are assholes” and more “So… remind me. Why did you want to play this? Why did you leap at the opportunity to play a generic ‘murder brown people’ game?”

Which is also why we will NEVER see another game like this. A B-game built around “the twist” that actually encourages the player to question themselves. Release that today and… you get the responses this post got. “Well, I was always above it all so it didn’t impact me” and open discussion of The Twist.

Because when an indie game does this? Oh, golf clap. Really nice but not my thing. When a “mainstream” game does it? #NotAllGamers and this was just a shitty Call of Duty and I hear that they got Clint Eastwood’s son in the new one and that is gonna be so lit.

Probably? I think I still cared about “completion” back then.

But I still always pick “my” ending in any colored lights scenario.

Played Deus Ex Human Revolution when it came out. Picked the destruction ending.

Seven or eight years later I replayed it. Without thinking I more or less immediately chose the Illumanity Ending. And then I just sat there for a few minutes realizing that I no longer trusted humanity to make the right decision. I understood that the reality is we would fuck it all up and at least The Illuminati seemed to have a plan.

There have been a lot of other ones over the years, but those felt more or less “intentional”. Whereas DX:HR is just… growing up.

It really isn’t. Well, okay, it actually is, but that more speaks to how pointless this issue was.

Much like with “We can’t have online activation DRM, that isn’t steam, because people are active duty military who are overseas!”: Yes, there are people who are going to be negatively impacted by this. But they are very over emphasized and mostly used as a tool for those with other grievances.

Because if you have an emergency hidden phone? You turn that shit off when you aren’t using it. You want to make sure the battery is still charged when you need it and you can’t really leave it plugged in and go to sleep. Same with worries about low battery alerts, amber alerts, etc. Or even just it vibrating and making noise if a telemarketer calls.

Conan is one of the all time great comedic writers. Even his “unscripted” is still “written” by one of the GOATs.

Everyone rightfully gives Leno shit for basically putting on a “normal” show. But Conan knew what he was doing and struck a balance between “tedious”, “intentionally bad”, and “still entertaining enough to get renewed when this all blows over”. His work highlighted the strike so I personally give him a pass, but a lot of other writers did not.

Conan (and I think all of the talk show hosts?) were contractually required to put on their shows and had approval from the WGA. Conan chose to actively put on a bad show to highlight the strike, And, if memory serves, Letterman outright had union leaders do “bits” to further raise awareness as he ways a producer and had his company agree to the terms and could operate normally if he so chose.

In all honesty: Barrymore seems like an idiot and likely thought she had her “Conan moment” before it was explained that “no, this is not happening and we specifically negotiated contracts to not make hosts required to host during a strike because of the last time this happened”

And, in her defense, not all the hosts were supportive of the strike when they came back in '08.

Conan, and even Letterman, were not universally praised among the actual writers but it was kosher and they tend to catch the least heat because they used it as a platform for the WGA.

Absolutely NOBODY involved in… possibly the entire first season? Could act.

But yeah. Gabrielle Anwar’s irish accent was just downright painful. INCREDIBLY attractive, but painful. Like, you are trying to hold a poker face while she talks on the off chance she is dumb enough to find you attractive.

It has nothing to do with the just-ness of the cause or what side you prefer.

It is about the realization that you have been hearing news reports about all the bombings of military forces and possibly even knowing someone who was dumb enough to sign up for the military. And it is the realization that even the people the revolutionary force were fighting for were god damned terrified of being caught in the crossfire because they DEFINITELY know people who have died from bombings.

For the era? It was good. The majority of the cast couldn’t act their way out of a paper bag (The Chin included) but the writers and directors found ways to make the majority of scenes work. And, when it truly mattered, they dug deep.

But also… the premise is that a former CIA agent is an expert at gaslighting and psychological torture. His ex-girlfriend is an IRA bomber who spends the majority of the first season wanting to murder cops and everyone else. And he runs his best friend as an asset. And his mother emotionally abuses and manipulates him. All while kidnapping and psychologically torturing anyone who someone willing to pay them wants to go away. And it somehow gets weirder and darker as more of the overall myth arc is explored.

For those who may not realize how fucked the IRA was: A british friend summed it up as “imagine if James Bond had a girlfriend who was in Al Qaeda but she was really really really hot”. Up to you on how much of a problem that is.

If you can get past that doozy of a premise: it is a fun show with some good humor and action scenes and a surprisingly good guest cast. Rewatched it over lockdown and had a blast.

And Garrett Dillahunt is MAGNIFICENT in his appearances.

I mean, for anyone who was familiar with Freelancer it was largely obvious from the start that there would never be a viable open world game. Seriously, all of this happened… let’s pretend five years ago even though it is likely closer to twenty and now I am sad.

But for 70 bucks or so to get a new Wing Commander at the height of “Kickstarter is awesome”? A lot of us made poor decisions. Although, in fairness, the expectation was that the SP game would be done first and THEN it would all go to shit.

But seriously. None of this is new. The exact same shit happened during Freelancer development. But, back then, Microsoft was able to step in and say “What the fuck? no” and more or less take the game away so it could be finished(-ish).

Does it? I never pay attention to what version work has me running but hitting the maximize button is still exclusive full screen as effectively a new desktop

It doesn’t violate the license but there is definitely a tendency for people to present work as their own and not correct people when they assume they are talking to the designer instead of just a user.

The twenty minutes of training and paperwork usually says not to. And if people do and there are complaints, people get pay docked and teach each other to not be creepers