I’ve had one instance of a baby in business class. Was flying from Johannesburg to London for work, so was lucky enough that work policy allowed business class for a flight of that length. Someone had a baby with them also in business and that kid screamed non stop virtually the entire flight. Was a lot of unhappy people when we landed.

Was an overnight flight too so the expectation was that everyone would sleep the majority of the trip. Nope.

The last time France used it was in 1977, so while it might have started a while back they only stopped using it less than 50 years ago.

Oh, I missed them having to backpedal on that! That’s good news.

Halocene. They got noticed for their covers of a variety of songs but they’ve also got their own music as well. Here’s a couple of my favourites.

Hold Me Help Me

Maleficent

Devil Inside Me

They’re currently touring as well through Europe and back around the US later this year.

Isn’t Safari WebKit which is different again? Or is that a chromium base as well? (I realise you can’t exactly choose Safari unless you have Apple stuff, but I thought it was its own thing).

Oh, sorry, please don’t read it that way! It’s a game I very much enjoyed when I played it, and I do still today watch speed runners race it occasionally. The bug didn’t impact my enjoyment of it in the longer term, it’s just a fun fact I remember about it from when I did play it all those years ago that I thought I’d share.

Chrono Trigger have played and loved as well, but it’s not one I’ve gone back to and replayed, which was one of my key criteria in this list, longevity (for me - I realise Chrono Trigger does have it between the multiple endings and New Game+ mode).

I have a very distinct memory of first playing it via emulator on ZSNES, and running into a bug in a section in the future that required you to hold L and R and activate some controls to open a door. For whatever reason the emulator wasn’t handling that properly and I got stuck. Eventually went back to it on Snes9x and was able to progress, but that stuck out.

Haven’t heard of Song of Saya though, thanks for the recommendation!

You’re right, you really can. That being said if it’s purely personal favourites I’d put FF6 into that list as well. I would love if they gave that the Remake treatment.

Hmm, tough choices. In no particular order.

The Legend of Zelda - A Link To The Past This game was great when it was released and it’s great now, and thanks to the randomiser community it’s now infinitely replayable as well.

Super Metroid A series that literally helped define a genre, Super Metroid was everything that I suspect they wanted Metroid and Return of Samus to be but the hardware couldn’t keep up. The world is built for speed running as well with so many shortcuts that experienced players can utilise, and again, with the randomiser community making it infinitely replayable (not only on its own, but with a crossover with ALTTP!), this game easily makes it onto my list.

Final Fantasy VII My original introduction to JRPGs and a game whose story and mechanics still hold up today even if the graphics don’t as much. Obviously a lot of people feel the same way thanks to the Remakes, which while slightly out there have had so much nostalgia to play through them.

Final Fantasy XI The original Final Fantasy MMORPG and my introduction to MMORPGs generally, I put about 10 years into this game and still to this today occasionally reinstall it and see where I was last up to.

Final Fantasy XIV I tried several times to start FFXIV, but never got past the first few dungeons until COVID lockdowns hit, and since then am fully on board. The story, while a slow burn, is so good, and being a live service game means there’s always new content coming or changes to learn. But really, the story in FFXIV is easily good enough to qualify as a mainline FF title, and any FF players who haven’t tried it yet, should.

Doki Doki Literature Club You have to play this blind. Don’t watch a let’s play, and avoid any spoilers if you can. It’s worth it. But when it’s all done, if you’re playing on PC, people have written entirely new mods and story for it, and the good ones really know how to make you connect with the characters.

Persona 5 Royal I discovered the Persona series with Golden, and was super excited to play Persona 5 when it released, but Royal is the definitive version that you’ll want to play. The story is great, the gameplay is lots of fun, and the combination of JRPG and slice of life makes you feel a lot more connected to the loveable cast.

Factorio Just perfectly tickles that itch for resource management. The factory must grow.

Metal Gear Solid 2 A main memory I have of this game is the first time playing it where I bought out a whole box of those chocolates they sell for fundraising - was supposed to sell them to other people but they were great for late night snacking while I played. The stealth, the tension, the weird everything towards the end, it was a trip from start to finish.

Duke Nukem 3D Duke wasn’t my first foray into FPS games (Wolfenstein 3D manages that title). But it holds a special place in my heart as it was the first game I ever played online multiplayer on. But I did it before the internet, so literally had a modem to modem connection running over an IPX network. Realistically, there’s been plenty of better FPS games since, both modern and classic, but the irreverent humour, plus the fact I was a teen who probably wasn’t supposed to be playing a game with strippers and highly pixilated tits in it, just edges it into my top 10.

We’ve had a McDonalds getting dragged over the coals this week for using the chip warmers to dry a dirty mop head. The McMop has been doing the meme rounds as a result.

I have a sneaking suspicion when Google’s AI eventually surfaces the story in a search they’re probably not going to mention that fact though.

So if they were basically regurgitating Reddit already, does that mean they were using AI before it was cool? They might have just used the Amazon approach to AI (I.e., why use technology when we can throw a bunch of minimum workers at the problem).

I didn’t know Bluetooth cassettes were a thing, although if I think about it then of course they are. What’s the sound quality like?

Oh crap. I shouldn’t have said there was a meeting. Oh crap. I definitely shouldn’t have said it was a secret. Oh crap. I absolutely should not have said it was to reserve all our 2nm chip capacity.

Oh, it’s too hot today.

Apple’s issue was they timed it around a shift to USB-C chargers. Their argument was everyone already had plenty of chargers, but no one had the new ones (well, some people did obviously but they hadn’t gotten it with a previous iPhone). That’s why they cop so much flak over it.

I agree that conceptually it’s a good change, they just picked a bastard of a time to do it (one could argue that was deliberate of course).

And even if they do they have dedicated offices with doors.

To be fair, with no data to back it up, this is just an anecdote. So saying it’s stereotyping ageist bullshit is a perfectly valid response to it. I just felt it fit the question quite well so I went and dug it up and shared it. If you feel differently, no stress!

The reality is going to be different to everyone, and it’s as much a learned behaviour as anything else. It’s not like collectively an entire generation got together and decided “it’s ‘no problem’ now instead of ‘you’re welcome’, okay?” Language evolves over time after all, and knowing why that happens and the actual causes for it are something that will require a lot more analysis than a couple of anecdotes from the internet.

Here’s a response I’ve seen about this around the net for a while now that feels right.

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"Actually, the “you’re welcome/no problem” issue is simply a linguistics misunderstanding. Older ppl tend to say “you’re welcome,” younger ppl tend to say “no problem.” This is because for older people the act of helping or assisting someone is seen as a task that is not expected of them, but is them doing extra, so it’s them saying, ‘I accept your thanks because I know I deserve it.”

“No problem, however, is used because younger people feel not only that helping or assisting someone is a given and expected but also that it should be stressed that your need for help was no burden to them (even if it was).”

“Basically, older people think help is a gift you give, younger people think help is a requirement.”

https://didyouknowfacts.com/why-young-people-say-no-problem-instead-of-youre-welcome-and-why-older-people-hate-it/

This cover of Gangnam Style is one I’ve always enjoyed.

https://youtu.be/uEHQpYwGIDI

Halocene’s cover of Unholy is pretty good as well.

https://youtu.be/GBEU9tE8X_E

Article text if you can’t be bothered getting around the subscription popup.

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U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she’s not a fan of “green texts on iPhones” and that it’s “time to break up Apple’s smartphone monopoly,” but statistics show the tech giant doesn’t have exclusive control over the market.

The Department of Justice announced a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple in March, accusing the California-based company of engineering an illegal monopoly in smartphones that boxes out competitors, stifles innovation and keeps prices artificially high.

Warren took to social media this week, displaying her support for the suit that takes aim at how Apple allegedly molds its technology and business relationships to “extract more money from consumers, developers, content creators, artists, publishers, small businesses, and merchants, among others.”

Warren specifically called out how people who don’t have iPhones are blocked from sending blue iMessages as messages from Androids and other devices are green. Those without iPhones also face other restrictions, the Massachusetts senator added.

“Green texts on iPhones, they’re ruining relationships. That’s right,” Warren said in a video posted on X Thursday. “Non-iPhone users everywhere are being excluded from group texts. From sports teams chats to birthday chats to vacation plan chats, they’re getting cut out.”

“And who’s to blame here? Apple,” she continued . “That’s just one of the dirty tactics that Apple uses to keep a stranglehold on the smartphone market. …  It’s time to break up Apple’s monopoly now.”

Critics quickly called Warren out for spreading misinformation and for focusing on what they believe is a non-issue.

“It would be nice if Android users could use iMessage features,” an X user responded, “but why would anyone think this sort of micromanaging of businesses is the legitimate role of the government?”

An alert attached to Warren’s post shows context that readers added and “thought people might want to know.” It includes data from Statista highlighting how the iPhone had a 57% market share compared to Android’s 42% in North America, as of January.

The alert, which was removed as of Friday evening, also contained information from Investopedia around how a “monopoly is exclusive control, or no close substitutes.  The current market share of iPhone v Android does not meet that definition.”

Attorneys general from 16 states filed the lawsuit with the Department of Justice in federal court in New Jersey. Massachusetts AG Andrea Campbell did not sign onto the suit which seeks to stop Apple from undermining technologies that compete with its own apps — in areas including streaming, messaging and digital payments.

The suit is the latest example of aggressive antitrust enforcement by an administration that has also taken on Google, Amazon and other tech giants with the stated aim of making the digital universe more fair, innovative and competitive.

“If left unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement last month. “The Justice Department will vigorously enforce antitrust laws that protect consumers from higher prices and fewer choices.”

Apple has called the suit “wrong on the facts and the law” and said it “will vigorously defend against it.”

If successful, the lawsuit would  “hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple — where hardware, software, and services intersect” and would “set a dangerous precedent, empowering the government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology,” the company said in a statement last month.