Brasil

Today's game is Silent Hill 2. I made my way through the Hospital (I had to call it a bit short though due to being in handheld mode on my Steam Deck and the battery going fast). I wanted to try something a bit different today with the screenshot, so i observed Mary's letter and zoomed in, seeing if i could get a item shot with the angle. I think it came out decent, the lack of control really though makes it feel kind of cheap. still, i think it's pretty and really showcase's how gorgeous this game is.

I also got the shotgun, which made dealing with enemies a whole lot easier. Now instead of loading 4 pistol rounds into an enemies leg, i pop them in the knee with the shotgun and thwack them with Jame's trusty metal pipe. It has definitely made my life a lot easier, though i try to save rounds for the bosses, so lying figures and mannequins i try to melee when i can.

I also got this screenshot of the main wing of the hospital, which i thought showcased the game's pretty atmosphere. Besides just giving me Batman Arkham Asylum vibes, the lighting is so well done that i feel like there's always going to be something hiding right in a corner, like that dark hallway in the screenshot. I few times i jumped because i thought i heard a Nurse, only for it to turn out to be a random background noise.

I'm wanting to do the New Game+ for this too. Seeing as how i have to get both the speedrunning achievement for Uncharted 4 and the speedrunning achievement for this game, i think I'll probably do a brief intermission of popping on over to Uncharted 4, beating that in under 6 hours, and then trying to beat Silent Hill 2 in under 10 hours (assuming i don't get it automatically in my first run, i am already at 7 so idk)

A screen from Dungeon Meshi's extra chapters after it finished.

Mika is Simba's older sister.

O Festival Internacional de Cinema de Realizadoras (Fincar) retorna ao Recife com sua quarta edição, celebrando a diversidade e promovendo debates sobre gênero e inclusão no audiovisual. O evento, que acontece de 29 de novembro a 1º de dezembro no Cinema São Luiz, apresenta 26 produções nacionais e internacionais dirigidas por mulheres cis, trans e pessoas trans

The Korea Meteorological Administration said 16.5 centimetres (6.5 inches) of snow fell by 7:00 am (2200 GMT Tuesday), compared to Seoul's previous record of 12.4 cm on November 28, 1972. Coincidentally being the first snow of the season in Seoul, it is the highest figure in November since the agency set up nationwide observation posts in 1907.

As heavy snow fell nationwide, multiple accidents occurred due to vehicles sliding on icy roads, though no major injuries have been reported. Falling trees caused power outages, affecting more than 150 households around Seoul in the morning. Main roads were closed for maintenance, leading to severe traffic congestion, while at least 22 domestic flights were cancelled, and several others were delayed, according to the transport ministry.

The heavy snowfall was caused by the "significant temperature difference between the sea surface and the cold air," Youn Ki-han, director at Seoul's Meteorology Forecast Division, told AFP. "Over the West Sea, moisture forms, and when cold air from the north moves down as it typically does, if the West Sea is also cold as in previous years, the temperature difference is smaller," said Youn.

Up to 20 cm of additional snowfall is expected to fall around the capital, according to the weather agency.

It is predominantly easy to just accept bad conditions when an alternative is seemingly unfeasible. "I need this software", a lot of us will say when even presented with a better alternative. A lot of us will argue to our bones that being subject to cruelty from software developers is necessary for one potential gain or another. All of which creates a feedback loop of re-enforcement of this parasitic idea that proprietary software is somehow inescapable and we need to give up trying to do something about it. But we shouldn't give up and we should fight. Not just to switch from Windows to GNU / Linux, but to make it so Windows itself will start respecting you too.

...

With software a lot of people lose freedom all the time. Windows is so predominately used that I don't understand why people don't get crazy over this. Yet banning Windows would be a problem, arguably a worse problem, than all those people using it. You should have the right to use software that you want to use, the same way as you should have the right to agree with that drug-lord. The fact that people have the choice to use something like Windows is not a problem. The problem is that Windows is not respecting the person back. There are two ways to solve this problem. One would be to chose something else. Another would be to make Windows better.

If you think that it is impossible to push on corporations with enough force, so they would yield, and start respecting freedom of people, you don't know nothing. Progress in this area has been done numerous times. Netscape Navigator, a popular 90s web-browser, became Free Software, and now it is known as Firefox. Linux, the kernel so associated with Free Software, was at some point proprietary. Blender was proprietary before 2002. Unreal Engine started releasing their sources to people. Not under a very freedom respecting license, but it is a start. And it is way better than having nothing at all. Hell Microsoft, of all companies, started developing Free Software. Visual Studio Code, their text editor from Microsoft is mostly Free Software. Hell "Meta" the Facebook company jumped onto the Mastadon bandwagon with their Threads. Not a very good thing. But them embracing Freedom is progress. And there are more examples of this, which I hope you would provide by using the comment section, that I worked so hard to make, in the bottom of this article.

We did all this by not yielding. Most web-servers are running on Free Software because configuring proprietary software is a nightmare. Proprietary software is basically incompatible with configurability. And configurability is a key to development. Hell, most software development happens on GNU / Linux for that same reason. So much so that Microsoft reacted and put what they call "Windows Subsystem for Linux" on their system, to get some developers away from GNU / Linux. But they are doing bad job themselves. They are constantly worsening the conditions on their systems so much so that people fly out of there as soon as they know how.

Enshitification cannot happen forever. At some point people just can't take this no longer. They would not use computers at all if that came to it. But it doesn't need to come to it. There is software available right now to switch to. Software protected from enshitification by respecting freedom. But no... "I have to use it!", right?

Computers are interesting beasts. They are designed to run anything. Any computation can be done. Any digital information can be processed in any way what so ever. All you need to do is to tell the computer how to do it. And it will!

There was a time where almost nothing was possible with Free Software. It was many decades ago. And what people did about it? Did they yield to the corporations? Well some did, yes. But a lot of us stood up and said "Enough!". And we developed one tool after another. First a text editor. Then a compiler. Then a whole operating system. Why? Because we wanted those same features as in proprietary software, but without the terrible terms. Without the disrespect. Without the slavery. And it was not impossible.

Those corporations did not like it. They still don't like it. But they have no choice. We can always tell the computer to do something ourselves. And the only way they can stop us from having this freedom is if we yield to them.

The more people using Free Software, the less they can control us. The less they will have a choice. More people using Free Software is more pressure on those corporations to release their software as Free Software. They can. And they will. If people will not yield under any circumstances to their dubious demands, they will remove the demands. If people will not blindly use a program that they don't like, that disrespects them constantly, the program will have no other choice, but to stop disrespecting.

But more than that. The more people respect themselves, the more people use Free Software, the more feedback loop, more re-enforcement Freedom itself has. And in a few decades, after the war for Freedom is over, those trying to argue for proprietary software will be met with "I need to use it" as a counter argument. Which this time I will support.

Happy Hacking!!!

https://jakartaglobe.id/special-updates/national-health-insurance-jkn-coverage-reaches-9819-pct

The Jakarta Globe August 9, 2024 | 11:17 am

Jakarta. The National Health Insurance scheme, better known by its acronym JKN, has reached a coverage of 98.19 percent of the total population, according to BPJS Kesehatan.

In other words, around 276.5 million people across the archipelago are registered JKN members. The high membership rate has earned Indonesia the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) award. Vice President Ma’ruf Amin recently said that the UHC status would call for collaboration between all stakeholders.

“The sub-national governments need to make sure that the people in their respective regions are active JKN members,” Ma’ruf said, while also stressing the need to make sure that people have no trouble accessing healthcare services.

According to the International Social Security Association (ISSA), the freshly earned award sought to recognize Indonesia’s success in achieving UHC.

“The UHC is important to make sure that anyone can access quality healthcare services. A UHC status takes great effort, including reaching people from all walks of life and making sure the management of this JKN program in terms of its financial sustainability,” ISSA’s president Mohammed Azman said.

BPJS Kesehatan president director Ghufron Mukti said JKN’s high coverage rate showed the government’s commitment to ensuring healthcare access for all.

“The achievement of UHC is not just a statistical figure, but a real manifestation of the state's responsibility in ensuring that every individual receives proper health services. This is also in line with our 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan that seeks a 98 percent JKN membership rate,” Ghufron said.

As of Aug. 1, BPJS Kesehatan has partnered with 23,205 of the so-called Primary Healthcare Facilities (FKTP) and 3,129 Advanced Referral Healthcare Facilities (FKRTL). BPJS Kesehatan has also partnered with floating hospitals to help people in remote areas.

Since its launch, the JKN Program has continued to show an increase in terms of both the number of participants and fund management. In 2014, BPJS Kesehatan received contributions of Rp 40.7 trillion. The numbers jumped to Rp 151.7 trillion in 2023.

"The collectibility of JKN contributions reached 98.62 percent in 2023. So people are now more aware of the importance of paying the JKN fees to maintain this program’s sustainability,” Ghufron said.

In 2023, BPJS Kesehatan disbursed Rp 34.7 trillion to handle 29.7 million cases of catastrophic diseases.

According to him, this is a major challenge for BPJS Kesehatan because, on the one hand, more and more people are being helped. However, on the other hand, BPJS Kesehatan must be able to control the cost of health services.

BPJS Kesehatan has also launched the JKN Mobile app which includes an online queue feature to cut the participants’ waiting time. The app also offers the i-Care JKN feature, which allows participants and doctors to see medical history, medicines, and actions that have been taken in the last 12 months.

BPJS Kesehatan also reported an increase in JKN services usage. In 2014, there were 92.3 million service users before it jumped to 606.7 million in 2023. BPJW Kesehatan’s financial reports have also earned high audit rates WTP and WTM for the tenth time in a row. This shows BPJS Kesehatan's consistency in implementing good governance, transparency, and accountability in managing the JKN program, according to Ghufron.

Summary

House Republicans’ key impeachment informant, Alexander Smirnov, has been indicted on 10 charges of tax fraud.

Prosecutors allege Smirnov concealed over $2 million in income, using the money for luxury purchases, while avoiding IRS disclosure.

This follows his earlier indictment for lying to the FBI about President Biden and Hunter Biden, further undermining GOP impeachment efforts.

Smirnov’s testimony had been central to the case, but the inquiry found no evidence linking Biden to illegal activities.

Republicans ultimately failed to pass impeachment articles, releasing a widely criticized report instead.

Artist: Urizaku3 | pixiv | danbooru

Full quality: .png 23 MB (4961 × 7016)

Archived link

Information manipulation tends to have specific aims in the here and now: to shift a policy, to confuse voters, to create instability in a society seen as hostile. But sometimes, these aims are best achieved by projecting manipulation into the past. The symbolic dates of 3 October and 9 November are good recent examples.

3 October, a public holiday in Germany, marks the day in 1990 when the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic were reunited in a single state. German unification had been made possible by the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989.

But 9 November also marks another occasion, as the pro-Kremlin disinformation outlet RT Deutsch gleefully pointed out last year(opens in a new tab) – the first large-scale anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany in 1938, known as Reichspogromnacht or Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass).

[...]

[The] RT German pieces question the meaning of 9 November and how German unification is being commemorated in contemporary politics in Germany. They shed doubt on the historical accuracy of the parallels being drawn between distinct events in an effort to address current issues related to anti-Semitism, violence, immigration, and the European position towards Russia.

While not immediately apparent as disinformation, the cumulative effect of such assertions is clear enough: a wholesale rewriting of recent history, at the service of contemporary agendas.

Frederic Sackrider Remington was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in depictions of the American Old West. His works are known for depicting the Western United States in the last quarter of the 19th century and featuring such images as cowboys, American Indians, and the US Cavalry.

More outdoors:

https://artvee.com/artist/frederic-remington/

Source | Author: fuuzasa | Character: Rin kaenbyou

The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, Taiwan's National Security Bureau said.

'State Organs' (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities.

From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said.

[...]

Threats have also been received from Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Japan, Spain and Russia, suggesting that the criminals are using virtual private networks to hide their origins, it added.

The threats are part of a larger strategy by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to interfere with all levels of Taiwan’s society, the bureau said.

[...]

The bureau vowed to continue to closely monitor the [Chinese Communist Party's] CCP’s cyberintimidation attempts against Taiwanese, bolster domestic security and keep the public informed.

It also said it would seek to build up its international intelligence cooperation as well as domestic security initiatives to confront the CCP’s attempts at isolating and diminishing Taiwan.

[...]

I stumbled over this independent journalist and transparency advocate's website, which has a page titled "123 Things Emma Did", which has highlights like the following and made me want to share

5. I was once chastised for “having a staring contest with a security camera.”
6. They said I wasn’t allowed to use the suggestion box anymore because I kept suggesting design changes for the box.

Looking at the About page, she has an impressive record [beyond trolling/having fun].

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France where she befriended Edgar Degas and exhibited with the Impressionists. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children.

More Cassat:

https://artvee.com/artist/mary-cassatt/

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/28586253

Mastodon.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/5134376

The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, Taiwan's National Security Bureau said.

'State Organs' (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities.

From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said.

[...]

Threats have also been received from Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Japan, Spain and Russia, suggesting that the criminals are using virtual private networks to hide their origins, it added.

The threats are part of a larger strategy by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to interfere with all levels of Taiwan’s society, the bureau said.

[...]

The bureau vowed to continue to closely monitor the [Chinese Communist Party's] CCP’s cyberintimidation attempts against Taiwanese, bolster domestic security and keep the public informed.

It also said it would seek to build up its international intelligence cooperation as well as domestic security initiatives to confront the CCP’s attempts at isolating and diminishing Taiwan.

[...]

fortaleça o cãomércio local! @memes

#meme #dog #QuaChorro

Summary

Tulsi Gabbard has created several PACs, including Defend Freedom, Inc., which raised $1.9 million but only spent $20,000 on candidate contributions.

For Love of Country, Inc., received $280,000 from Republican donors, primarily funding Gabbard’s political team.

Gabbard’s nonprofit, We Must Protect, raised $331,000 for Hurricane Helene relief but has not disclosed its donors or Maui wildfire relief efforts.