WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.459 Hello. I bought an iced tea for 99 cents. But 00:00:05.459 --> 00:00:09.140 stuff still happened. So what's up? Scheduling. 00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:11.279 I'm taking a short break. I'm going to be off 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:13.720 for two weeks after this episode. I'll be back 00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:17.100 August 18th. August 18th. Anyway, before we just 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:18.879 jump into it, we're doing good today, right? 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:20.379 We're all feeling good today. We're feeling good. 00:00:20.539 --> 00:00:22.760 Are you feeling good? Are you feeling good? I 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:25.280 said, are you feeling good? We are feeling good. 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:29.589 Hold on to that. State side. We did it. We outlawed 00:00:29.589 --> 00:00:32.829 poverty and mental health issues and homelessness. 00:00:33.030 --> 00:00:35.929 It's we fixed it So the United States is very 00:00:35.929 --> 00:00:38.310 well understood to be a deeply Christian nation. 00:00:38.310 --> 00:00:40.289 That's what we are. We are fundamentally religious 00:00:40.289 --> 00:00:43.909 That's not true. Oh, but our politicians are 00:00:43.909 --> 00:00:46.149 like that and being the Christians that they 00:00:46.149 --> 00:00:49.429 are They love to criminalize the poor now aside. 00:00:49.429 --> 00:00:52.869 I know that Christian values are not that the 00:00:52.869 --> 00:00:55.420 joke is that they're not doing You get me. So 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:56.880 what am I talking about? Well, the president 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:59.119 has issued another executive order, this one 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:02.359 titled, Ending Crime and Disorder on American 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:06.000 Streets. All that crime, all that disorder from 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.700 people existing, people existing in a state that 00:01:08.700 --> 00:01:12.120 I don't want to see. Disorder! Essentially, this 00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:14.840 is an executive order that clamps down hard on 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:18.140 homelessness and drug use in public and sobriety 00:01:18.140 --> 00:01:20.760 programs and housing assistance programs. It 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:22.799 basically pulls back on any kind of homeless 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:25.560 assistance. It prioritizes funding to states 00:01:25.560 --> 00:01:27.879 and cities that are going to eradicate homeless 00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:30.519 encampments. It pulls money away from housing 00:01:30.519 --> 00:01:32.140 first programs, which are programs that take 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:34.620 people who don't have a home, and gives them 00:01:34.620 --> 00:01:37.780 a home so that they can contribute. to society. 00:01:38.099 --> 00:01:40.379 Instead of doing that, and we'll get to that 00:01:40.379 --> 00:01:42.780 in a bit, but instead of doing that, it clamps 00:01:42.780 --> 00:01:45.799 down more on requirements for sobriety before 00:01:45.799 --> 00:01:49.140 you can get any kind of aid, and otherwise, institutionalize 00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:53.400 people. It's all about finding and institutionalizing. 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:55.879 By force. In fact, it goes as far as to give 00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:58.359 housing and urban development a directive to 00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:00.459 turn over health information from people who 00:02:00.459 --> 00:02:03.549 are homeless. to the cops. Here is a quote from 00:02:03.549 --> 00:02:16.770 the executive order, quote, Surrendering our 00:02:16.770 --> 00:02:20.330 cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither 00:02:20.330 --> 00:02:23.189 compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens. 00:02:23.689 --> 00:02:26.750 My administration will take a new approach focused 00:02:26.750 --> 00:02:29.550 on protecting public safety. Couple things. One, 00:02:29.770 --> 00:02:31.949 not a new approach. You're trying to put homeless 00:02:31.949 --> 00:02:34.030 people in jail. That's what every Republican 00:02:34.030 --> 00:02:37.889 does and most Democrats. Second, housing first 00:02:37.889 --> 00:02:40.650 programs are overwhelmingly successful. We're 00:02:40.650 --> 00:02:42.490 talking about it now. It's been a bit. people 00:02:42.490 --> 00:02:44.210 with no ability to think deeper on literally 00:02:44.210 --> 00:02:46.889 anything will hear housing first programs and 00:02:46.889 --> 00:02:48.810 get all butt mad because they're like well why 00:02:48.810 --> 00:02:51.210 are the homeless people getting a free house 00:02:51.210 --> 00:02:55.189 i have to pay my my mortgage my mort gauge because 00:02:55.189 --> 00:02:58.069 the general way this is all phrased is give homes 00:02:58.069 --> 00:03:00.969 to the homeless which yes do that but that's 00:03:00.969 --> 00:03:03.349 not even what housing first programs are they 00:03:03.349 --> 00:03:05.569 still have requirements to actually get the house 00:03:05.569 --> 00:03:07.909 they're still a waiting period sometimes it's 00:03:07.909 --> 00:03:12.110 immediate but it's also a housing first Program 00:03:12.110 --> 00:03:14.930 there are further steps. The idea is that you 00:03:14.930 --> 00:03:17.990 can't fix a broken dam by just plugging a single 00:03:17.990 --> 00:03:20.710 crack You got to take the water out and put it 00:03:20.710 --> 00:03:25.689 behind a new dam Wait, all right awful metaphor 00:03:25.689 --> 00:03:28.789 trying again. Okay different metaphor you work 00:03:28.789 --> 00:03:31.530 at the getting your bones broken factory And 00:03:31.530 --> 00:03:33.870 your bones are always broken. Every day you go 00:03:33.870 --> 00:03:35.930 home and every bone in your body is broken. And 00:03:35.930 --> 00:03:38.389 this makes your life really difficult. So there's 00:03:38.389 --> 00:03:41.430 an idea that, hey, maybe if we get you in a job 00:03:41.430 --> 00:03:43.780 that... isn't at the breaking all of your bones 00:03:43.780 --> 00:03:46.400 factory, then you'll be able to heal your bones 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.240 and move on to do something different that's 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:51.219 gonna benefit you and the people around you. 00:03:51.379 --> 00:03:53.139 But like, it's really difficult to start that 00:03:53.139 --> 00:03:56.460 when you've got only broken bones and nowhere 00:03:56.460 --> 00:03:58.979 to go because you've got too many broken bones. 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:01.300 This is not much better of a metaphor, but it's 00:04:01.300 --> 00:04:03.400 the best I could do. How about this metaphor? 00:04:03.689 --> 00:04:06.349 Help the homeless. That's not a metaphor. I want 00:04:06.349 --> 00:04:08.050 to talk about Baltimore. I want to talk about 00:04:08.050 --> 00:04:10.250 Baltimore because this executive order is just 00:04:10.250 --> 00:04:12.669 going to do harm to people. It just does the 00:04:12.669 --> 00:04:15.189 thing that we know doesn't work, which is criminalize 00:04:15.189 --> 00:04:17.470 being poor. But over in Baltimore, which is a 00:04:17.470 --> 00:04:20.089 city that has a somewhat international reputation 00:04:20.089 --> 00:04:22.810 for being dangerous or having a lot of homicide, 00:04:23.329 --> 00:04:25.629 they've just been enacting social programs since 00:04:25.629 --> 00:04:29.740 2022 that has dropped their homicide rate. To 00:04:29.740 --> 00:04:32.399 record lows, Mayor Brandon Scott has been investing 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:35.100 in after -school programs and social programs 00:04:35.100 --> 00:04:37.439 and housing programs and rehabilitation programs 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:40.620 and recreational programs, and it has plummeted 00:04:40.620 --> 00:04:43.360 their violent crime rates. Even the cops, the 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:44.959 Baltimore Police Department, are like, this is, 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:47.269 um... This is actually, this is going pretty 00:04:47.269 --> 00:04:49.189 good. In addition, the investments for all this 00:04:49.189 --> 00:04:52.170 was just in the millions of dollars, not multiples 00:04:52.170 --> 00:04:54.529 of billions or trillions. And the Johns Hopkins 00:04:54.529 --> 00:04:56.370 Institute of Public Health estimates that for 00:04:56.370 --> 00:04:58.649 every dollar going into these programs, the city 00:04:58.649 --> 00:05:01.449 is getting back somewhere between $7 and $19. 00:05:01.970 --> 00:05:03.910 If there was a box where I could put a dollar 00:05:03.910 --> 00:05:07.490 in and get $7 to $19 out, I would like to put 00:05:07.490 --> 00:05:09.430 dollars in that. But I'll settle for putting 00:05:09.430 --> 00:05:12.370 dollars elsewhere. It's time for our weekly Epstein 00:05:12.370 --> 00:05:16.839 update! It's a new recurring segment of horror 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:20.139 on today's EpState. We've got a handful of bullet 00:05:20.139 --> 00:05:22.600 points. Let's see. We got a Gallup poll that 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:25.120 shows that Trump is not doing very well among 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:27.360 anyone, but especially independents with how 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:29.360 he's handling this whole situation. I mean, Democrats 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:31.459 too, but independents is where the swing happens. 00:05:31.540 --> 00:05:34.259 He's down to a 37 % approval rating, which is 00:05:34.259 --> 00:05:36.959 low. I should note that the Democrats are lower. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:39.600 Speaker of the House Mike Johnson called for 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:41.540 an early recess because he didn't want to have 00:05:41.540 --> 00:05:44.300 to do a vote. on releasing the Epstein files. 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:46.360 Democrats were pushing for a vote on basically 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:48.959 that to happen, and instead of doing that, he 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:52.040 went to an early recess. But meanwhile, a subcommittee 00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:54.560 of the House Oversight Committee has voted to 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.060 subpoena the Department of Justice over the Epstein 00:05:57.060 --> 00:05:59.300 files. As all this is going on, Trump maintains 00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:01.360 his innocence. We had that South Park episode 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:04.439 about the Epstein file stuff. And now he's in 00:06:04.439 --> 00:06:07.540 Scotland, visiting his own golf course in Scotland. 00:06:08.539 --> 00:06:11.060 With our taxes, but hey a lot of congresspeople 00:06:11.060 --> 00:06:12.500 are about to go back to their home districts 00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:14.639 and hopefully We'll be getting another round 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:17.600 of wonderful clips from town halls make them 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:19.800 feel it elsewhere for this section I'm just gonna 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:21.879 talk about Gaza that situation that's going on 00:06:21.879 --> 00:06:23.920 there right now I know I've talked about this 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:28.060 basically every week for over a year, but it's 00:06:28.060 --> 00:06:31.889 It continues to escalate For months now, Israeli 00:06:31.889 --> 00:06:34.430 soldiers with the aid of private US contractors 00:06:34.430 --> 00:06:37.269 and of course US munitions have been unloading 00:06:37.269 --> 00:06:40.230 indiscriminately on hungry Palestinians seeking 00:06:40.230 --> 00:06:42.930 food at designated aid sites. They continuously 00:06:42.930 --> 00:06:46.769 cite chaos and claim that Hamas is doing something 00:06:46.769 --> 00:06:50.449 that merits unloading tank rounds on civilians. 00:06:50.670 --> 00:06:53.990 But the reality is, famine is setting in in Gaza. 00:06:54.329 --> 00:06:56.449 There's already widespread starvation, children 00:06:56.449 --> 00:06:59.170 dying of hunger. And all of this is done because 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:02.259 Israel is intentionally starving them. Now Israel 00:07:02.259 --> 00:07:06.100 has started doing a quote temporary strategic 00:07:06.100 --> 00:07:08.800 pause or whatever where they're gonna bring in 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:10.720 aid trucks and they're gonna claim that they're 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:13.300 gonna allow humanitarian aid in but that's just 00:07:13.300 --> 00:07:15.939 We know that that's not gonna matter. We know 00:07:15.939 --> 00:07:17.560 that there's not gonna be enough aid that's gonna 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:20.230 get there And we know that it's absolute chaos 00:07:20.230 --> 00:07:23.110 already. Slightly reducing the amount that you 00:07:23.110 --> 00:07:25.209 are assaulting them is not gonna change anything. 00:07:25.430 --> 00:07:28.769 But as reporters in Gaza are literally documenting 00:07:28.769 --> 00:07:31.230 their own starvation, the world is starting to 00:07:31.230 --> 00:07:33.750 take a little bit more note as to what's exactly 00:07:33.750 --> 00:07:36.009 going on there. And it's not enough, it's never 00:07:36.009 --> 00:07:38.910 gonna be enough. I'm talking about, like, France 00:07:38.910 --> 00:07:42.569 is going to recognize Palestine at the UN. That's 00:07:42.569 --> 00:07:45.439 not enough, but it's... Something. It'll never 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:47.480 be enough unless everyone that's been involved 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:50.839 in the ongoing support of this genocide are brought 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:53.720 to justice. And I mean everyone. Our politicians 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:56.899 continue to gleefully endorse the brutal annihilation 00:07:56.899 --> 00:07:59.939 of an entire population of people in what is 00:07:59.939 --> 00:08:02.980 supposed to be one of the most sacred areas to 00:08:02.980 --> 00:08:05.199 the religion that's supposed to be the dominant 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:07.199 religion in this country. But what we can do 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:10.100 right now is ensure that the suffering of the 00:08:10.100 --> 00:08:13.660 people in Gaza does not fall silent outside their 00:08:13.660 --> 00:08:17.379 borders. Remain loud on their behalf. Never let 00:08:17.379 --> 00:08:20.379 the politicians live any of this down. And make 00:08:20.379 --> 00:08:22.620 sure that people in your life know what's happening. 00:08:22.860 --> 00:08:25.680 These are our tax dollars. Funding a Holocaust. 00:08:26.060 --> 00:08:29.879 Free Palestine. No child should be dying of starvation 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:33.159 mere miles from opulence. But hey, let's move 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:36.279 on. Because, and this is very important, We still 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:38.980 have to. Let's talk about that tea app. Bring 00:08:38.980 --> 00:08:41.240 the vibes back up. It's not a good vibe story, 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:43.200 but we're gonna bring the vibes back up regardless. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:44.960 You may have heard about this app over the past 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:48.059 week. This app... It actually came out in 2023, 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:50.700 but it exploded in popularity over the past week 00:08:50.700 --> 00:08:53.720 or so. The concept is basically, what if women 00:08:53.720 --> 00:08:56.120 had a place where they can privately discuss 00:08:56.120 --> 00:08:58.679 dangerous men in the dating scene in their area? 00:08:58.860 --> 00:09:02.080 Like, okay, I get it, makes sense. It got hacked. 00:09:02.340 --> 00:09:04.700 So men got big mad about this app. And by men, 00:09:04.700 --> 00:09:07.960 I mean like wee little babies. Wee little babies 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:11.000 with wee little baby hearts and who can't control 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.259 their emotions. They were like, ow, women have 00:09:13.259 --> 00:09:16.019 a place to talk about me behind my back. Why 00:09:16.019 --> 00:09:18.519 is that concerning to you? Anyway, it pissed 00:09:18.519 --> 00:09:20.399 off a bunch of dudes on the internet and dudes 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:22.639 on the internet pissed off at women do dumb things 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:25.379 and so they found a bunch of images that this 00:09:25.379 --> 00:09:28.399 app had been storing in an unsecured place on 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:30.879 the internet. These are images of content from 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:33.879 the app, user profiles, user selfies, in some 00:09:33.879 --> 00:09:36.519 cases identification, and they were storing that 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:39.659 in an unsecure location. I say hack, people have 00:09:39.659 --> 00:09:41.179 been saying hack, headlines have been saying 00:09:41.179 --> 00:09:43.399 hack, it wasn't really a hack, it was just this 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:45.460 app was made by people who had no business making 00:09:45.460 --> 00:09:47.860 an app. I've seen reports that the app was, quote, 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:50.100 vibe -coded, but I was not able to independently 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:53.200 verify that myself. Vibe coding is essentially 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:56.340 letting an AI take the reins and letting it drive 00:09:56.340 --> 00:09:58.320 an app development process. You know, instead 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:00.580 of following best practice, you're just following 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:02.879 the vibes, which is not a good way to make a 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:05.629 secure app. especially a secure app that requires 00:10:05.629 --> 00:10:08.070 people to upload identification and market it 00:10:08.070 --> 00:10:11.009 as private. Somewhere along the lines, they had 00:10:11.009 --> 00:10:14.169 data that found its way into essentially a public 00:10:14.169 --> 00:10:16.669 file server. And they forgot about it. And they 00:10:16.669 --> 00:10:18.990 were like, um, yeah, oh, that data was originally 00:10:18.990 --> 00:10:22.149 secure. Like that was their response. So look, 00:10:22.289 --> 00:10:24.590 this is not me victim blaming, but I do want 00:10:24.590 --> 00:10:27.230 to equip anybody who might feel hurt by this 00:10:27.230 --> 00:10:29.610 with some general tools to help prevent this 00:10:29.610 --> 00:10:31.710 from happening in the future. While I understand 00:10:31.710 --> 00:10:33.730 the desire to have a place that feels like a 00:10:33.730 --> 00:10:35.909 safe space to be able to help each other out, 00:10:36.389 --> 00:10:39.690 totally, don't give your personal information 00:10:39.690 --> 00:10:44.080 to relatively new apps. Period. If an app requires 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:46.279 identification, like photos of your government 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:50.100 IDs, and it's not a bank, make absolutely sure 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:52.440 you trust them. Like genuinely go and read their 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:54.700 privacy policy, if you can. If you read words 00:10:54.700 --> 00:10:56.700 that make you scared, even if you don't understand 00:10:56.700 --> 00:10:59.580 them, you probably should second -guess it. Especially, 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:01.559 again, if it says that it's supposed to be private 00:11:01.559 --> 00:11:04.759 and secure. Really, just stay frosty. And I think 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:07.440 this is an okay idea, like the concept of the 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:10.320 app, it makes sense, but that's what, like... 00:11:10.379 --> 00:11:12.679 group chats are for. Because the issue here is 00:11:12.679 --> 00:11:14.919 a bunch of people trusted a single point of failure 00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:17.299 and that single point of failure failed. And 00:11:17.299 --> 00:11:20.179 in doing so, it just shared a whole bunch of 00:11:20.179 --> 00:11:22.480 information about women who are specifically 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:26.360 trying to avoid dangerous men. So, stay frosty. 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:29.200 RuneScape players, rejoice! We've figured out 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:31.460 how to spam high alchemy in real life. What? 00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:33.940 What, you think I didn't know about Falador? 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:37.120 What? You thought I wasn't in with the Lumbee? 00:11:37.419 --> 00:11:40.080 Anyway, disclaimer. I'm about to talk about a 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:42.539 thing that is not peer -reviewed science. This 00:11:42.539 --> 00:11:44.799 story is about a pre -published paper. It has 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:46.899 not been peer -reviewed. It is simply being looked 00:11:46.899 --> 00:11:49.179 at by various people who find it interesting. 00:11:49.399 --> 00:11:50.840 Let's get hyped about it anyway, because it's 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:53.139 kind of cool. Alchemy, like the actual like alchemy 00:11:53.139 --> 00:11:55.399 like turning like lead to gold or really like 00:11:55.399 --> 00:11:58.179 metal to go - something to gold. You know, getting 00:11:58.179 --> 00:12:00.460 all Midas with it. It's a thing that humans have 00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:03.179 been trying to do for basically ever. It's like 00:12:03.179 --> 00:12:06.720 the Holy Grail, which is gold. There you go. 00:12:07.019 --> 00:12:09.179 But a nuclear fusion research company in San 00:12:09.179 --> 00:12:11.759 Francisco has published a paper from authors 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:14.000 that actually have some scientific background 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:17.379 about a potential process to do alchemy using 00:12:17.379 --> 00:12:21.820 nuclear fusion. Now, asterisks. One, we don't 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:24.659 have nuclear fusion energy. We don't have that. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:27.740 Seeing as that's a prerequisite for this proposal 00:12:27.740 --> 00:12:30.320 for how to do alchemy. It's a bit of a roadblock. 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:32.519 It's still very theoretical and pretty abstract, 00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:34.460 but from what I understand, scientists are kind 00:12:34.460 --> 00:12:36.700 of vibing with it. They're excited about the 00:12:36.700 --> 00:12:39.799 idea. I did learn one other thing, re -alchemy 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:42.500 and science. Turns out that researchers at CERN, 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:47.019 the very large... Hadron Collider, they also 00:12:47.019 --> 00:12:49.639 saw alchemy happen. For a tiny fraction of a 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:51.299 second, particles in the particle accelerator 00:12:51.299 --> 00:12:53.820 fucked with their protons and switched their 00:12:53.820 --> 00:12:57.440 elements, which is rad. Temporary elemental shift. 00:12:57.720 --> 00:12:59.860 Damn. So I guess we've kind of already done alchemy, 00:12:59.940 --> 00:13:02.120 but I can't hold a bar of gold, so what's the 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:05.539 point? Oh, also this proposal would make radioactive 00:13:05.539 --> 00:13:08.100 gold, to be clear. It would apparently have to 00:13:08.100 --> 00:13:10.919 be safely stored for 13 years before humans could 00:13:10.919 --> 00:13:14.200 actually use the gold, so... Gaming! Last week 00:13:14.200 --> 00:13:16.919 Ozzy Osbourne died, and following that, exactly 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:19.639 nobody of any cultural significance died. Only 00:13:19.639 --> 00:13:22.379 Ozzy Osbourne. And so publisher Double Fine, 00:13:22.740 --> 00:13:25.960 the producers of the 2009 game Brutal Legend, 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:30.700 made their game free. for 666 minutes. Brutal 00:13:30.700 --> 00:13:32.759 Legend is a fever dream of a game that stars 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:35.200 Jack Black and it features Ozzy Osbourne and 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:40.360 it's a lot. Oh, hey, I am a liar. I'm a swindler. 00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:43.440 I'm a downright bibber. My pants are on fire. 00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:46.220 One of me only tells the truth and also I only 00:13:46.220 --> 00:13:48.980 lie. I've been made a liar because the developers 00:13:48.980 --> 00:13:52.399 of Hades 2 are doing another patch before it 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:55.740 goes. to 1 .0. It was like two weeks ago that 00:13:55.740 --> 00:13:57.820 I reported that there's not gonna be another 00:13:57.820 --> 00:14:00.440 patch, that the next release of Hades 2 would 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:03.440 be 1 .0 and I would be happy, but they were like, 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:06.080 psych, we're doing one more. All right, last 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:07.919 thing for gaming, you probably knew this one 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:10.580 was coming. Gaming is entering its prude era, 00:14:10.700 --> 00:14:12.659 or it's always been there, and it's just getting 00:14:12.659 --> 00:14:15.899 worse again. So recently, gaming platforms Steam 00:14:15.899 --> 00:14:19.259 and Itch both pulled a bunch of adult -themed 00:14:19.259 --> 00:14:21.120 games from their catalog. They took out a bunch 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:23.600 of porn games, basically, and they cited that 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:26.899 payment processors were pressuring them to not 00:14:26.899 --> 00:14:29.600 list adult games and stop selling adult games 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:31.519 using those payment processors. So both Steam 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:33.360 and Itch were like, ah, you know, the payment 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:35.440 processors are telling us that we can't do this 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:38.500 thing, so we have to take the games down. So 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:40.200 Steam and Itch are pointing to like Visa and 00:14:40.200 --> 00:14:42.039 MasterCard as the reason that this is happening, 00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:44.220 right? There's other stuff going on like, you 00:14:44.220 --> 00:14:46.500 know, Stripe, a very popular payment processor 00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:48.799 that I believe Itch uses. If you've never heard 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:51.240 of Stripe, they just do payment processing. But 00:14:51.240 --> 00:14:53.080 they are essentially just a company that sits 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.960 in front of other banking networks and makes 00:14:55.960 --> 00:14:58.559 it easier to use banking networks. So Stripe 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:00.159 will usually get a lot of flak for taking down 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:02.299 a business that doesn't conform to their relatively 00:15:02.299 --> 00:15:04.960 restricted policies, like you can't sell porn. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:08.649 But... comma disclosure comma as a indie game 00:15:08.649 --> 00:15:12.389 developer and prior employee of stripe i actually 00:15:12.389 --> 00:15:14.950 am aware that they are beholden to the banks 00:15:14.950 --> 00:15:17.350 i don't like it either but they are beholden 00:15:17.350 --> 00:15:19.600 to the bank now don't get me wrong There are 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:21.639 plenty of reasons to criticize a company like 00:15:21.639 --> 00:15:25.120 Stripe. There is a massive industry of just payment 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:27.740 processor middlemen who just each take a little 00:15:27.740 --> 00:15:30.039 bit of money off of each transaction and add 00:15:30.039 --> 00:15:33.039 basically no value to anything. It's very parasitic 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:35.519 and we should just have a standard system for 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:37.700 transferring money for free. That is a thing 00:15:37.700 --> 00:15:39.840 that some countries actually have, but the states 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:43.940 just does not. At least not at scale. But the 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:46.679 actual people setting this policy are The banking 00:15:46.679 --> 00:15:49.360 partners. So your Wells Fargo, your Visa, MasterCard, 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:52.279 even PayPal. PayPal is technically a bank. And 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:54.399 so what happened is like an anti -porn think 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:57.039 tank wrote an open letter to all of these payment 00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:59.919 processor companies and they were like, ah, these 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:03.440 game platforms are selling bad stuff on there. 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:06.059 And it's not good. The group is called Collective 00:16:06.059 --> 00:16:10.039 Shout and they talk about being against the pornification. 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:13.139 It's okay to be sexual. That's what humans are. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:15.580 So this group writes a whole open letter to the 00:16:15.580 --> 00:16:17.620 heads of a bunch of these payment platforms and 00:16:17.620 --> 00:16:20.860 then just days later, foop, no more porn games. 00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:22.659 If you want to make an impact here, I've linked 00:16:22.659 --> 00:16:25.659 to the open letter in my newsletter and it lists 00:16:25.659 --> 00:16:28.519 out the heads of all the companies they actually 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:30.519 reached out to. You can call those companies 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:33.659 and lodge a complaint. Be good to the call center 00:16:33.659 --> 00:16:35.639 people though, they're not the ones setting the 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:37.779 policy. Lightning round. Paramount is finally 00:16:37.779 --> 00:16:40.139 buying Skydance Media after the FCC approved 00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:42.909 the merger after... Paramount capitulated to 00:16:42.909 --> 00:16:46.110 Trump. Very fun. AI Startup Humanly is offering 00:16:46.110 --> 00:16:49.169 an AI -generated video interview system. So you 00:16:49.169 --> 00:16:52.149 apply for a job, and instead of just not hearing 00:16:52.149 --> 00:16:55.929 back, you waste your time talking to an AI. In 00:16:55.929 --> 00:16:58.490 the US, FEMA, our disaster relief organization, 00:16:59.470 --> 00:17:01.389 is now going to be offering a fund to states 00:17:01.389 --> 00:17:03.710 to build concentration camps. Apple released 00:17:03.710 --> 00:17:05.730 betas for the new updates to their operating 00:17:05.730 --> 00:17:07.789 systems across all their devices, and it makes 00:17:07.789 --> 00:17:11.549 everything all glassy. It's weird. It's fine. 00:17:11.930 --> 00:17:14.210 Some interesting new research showed that developers 00:17:14.210 --> 00:17:16.690 who were using AI -assistive tooling thought 00:17:16.690 --> 00:17:19.210 that they were 20 % more productive, but actually 00:17:19.210 --> 00:17:21.609 learned that they were 19 % less productive. 00:17:21.849 --> 00:17:24.710 And finally, for today, a 150 -year -old company 00:17:24.710 --> 00:17:27.750 in the UK was brought to its knees and destroyed 00:17:27.750 --> 00:17:30.769 from a single employee's weak password. That 00:17:30.769 --> 00:17:33.529 is how a ransomware company got in, destroyed 00:17:33.529 --> 00:17:36.329 their systems, and ended the company. the person 00:17:36.329 --> 00:17:39.369 whose password it was has not been informed because 00:17:39.369 --> 00:17:42.269 they were like, who wants to be carrying that 00:17:42.269 --> 00:17:44.069 weight? Thank you so much for listening to today's 00:17:44.069 --> 00:17:46.529 episode of Stuff Keeps Happening. Head to skh 00:17:46.529 --> 00:17:50.029 .news for sources, bonus content, and your very 00:17:50.029 --> 00:17:52.910 own AI interviewer. My name is Endeavorance. 00:17:53.029 --> 00:17:55.849 We'll talk again soon. Take care and be well.