Because we are the product…

Oh yeah, they can get around it, but not without me knowing about it. If I find out, they lose the devices, simple as that.

You are right that parents who aren’t technical will have a hard time, but it’s not insurmountable. No devices in the bedrooms, ever. No downloading apps without permission ever. Google the app and give a yes or no.

When it came to it, wifi off at night and she got the basic Nokia phone. It’s a constant battle, sure but one we must win.

Also reminded her that no matter what, if she’s on our network, I will know what she’s up to. Instilling a healthy sense of fear is good. Router logs do not lie.

I highly recommend Qustudio. It works on phone and PC, and allows you to customise exactly what is monitored or blocked so you can keep an eye on things in an age appropriate way.

We started monitoring after we found out our 12 year old daughter was catfishing a 19 year old boy. He had no idea and after we explained that she could literally ruin his life, and made her tell him her age he noped out of there. (Wisely.)

At first we had it set to monitor everything, report all searches, all app downloads, block porn, etc.

Yes she was able to get around certain features, like when she was young we had the phone locked past midnight… But it logs when it’s in use, so we then had a talk the next day and took away the phone or PC if needed.

As she got older we removed the block on all websites, and stopped monitoring any messages. We kept the software on to let us know when she was using her devices because she would often be up until 3am on her phone on a school night and we would then have a conversation about it.

We removed it when she was 17 or 18.

I used to have a demonoid account too! Back then I could just torrent anything without a care…

Now I would need a VPN and a ton of reading to even begin. Sad times.

I unfortunately am a victim of this. My Sense was great. Then a forced update pushed despite never allowing the Fitbit app to update. Now the battery life is horrible and I am of course encouraged to buy a new one and move my Fitbit information to Google.

Wait, this is going to be a Funcom game?? Oh man, Funcom has made some of our favourite games! We adored Anarchy Online, and The Secret World is still one of the mmo’s I would recommend to anyone who wants to try a really unique modern mmo with an amazing story.

Unfortunately when they were developing TSW and Age of Conan, someone made the call to go all in on AOC which was just… not unique in a space saturated with that kind of WoW clone.

TSW ended up not having the cashflow (devs) it needed to release updates and expansions and it fell into disfavour once the player base reached end game. Which is really sad, because even as a “dead” game the story and gameplay are so good.

I really hope they have retained the devs that worked on TSW and have enough cash to push everything into this game. Make it unique like TSW and AO were, push a couple expansions, and there will be players.

The loyalty thing is what kept me.

I was wary of another gaming platform, there were so many and they all seemed the same, I never liked one over the other - they were just means to an end.

A few years back I really wanted to play RDR2 with my friends. It was expensive and I never pre-order, but as soon as it came out on (a small) sale I bought it for all 4 of us.

It was a lot of money for me, but I really wanted the story to play with everyone.

All was well at first, until we had each completed the tutorial and met up in open world. That’s when we learned that the game was based on GTA and the devs do not care about hackers.

We had one fucking with us for over an hour, teleporting us into the air and dropping us, setting us randomly on fire, spawning space ships and so on.

I begged in voice for them to just leave us be, to no avail.

We are all older, we rarely have time to play together. I was crushed.

I was an hour over the return time on Steam, one of the other friends took a bit longer exploring and was even more than that.

I contacted steam anyway and tried to get a refund, and they granted it for all of us.

Later I learned this was a thing in RDR2 and there was now the ability to create private lobbies, but I just can’t make myself try it and give Rockstar any money.

Steam however, won a lifelong fan. They didn’t have to honour the refund, and they don’t have to provide personal support that offers more than just the canned responses, but they do.

I hope Gabe lives forever, or finds another like him to carry the torch after he’s gone.

My daughter. <3

This was in the side bar of that article.

What the fuck is this timeline?

That is messed up as heck.

WTF puberty blockers aren’t used for only trans kids. They are also used to treat precocious puberty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precocious_puberty

Yeah thats a bit odd. This is the supposed picture of him in the taxi:

and this is the picture of him above, with a unibrow:

It’s weird. How did he grow a unibrow in like 3 days?

I love going to the movies, but they have got so expensive and the snacks are insane, it doesn’t feel like a little luxury we might indulge in every month or so, but like a large luxury we might do twice a year.

We live in Australia where wages are generally higher if that adds any context.

This is the image. (I use imagus or hover zoom which enlarges images all over the web upon hover)

There do appear to be civilian buildings with lights on in the image.

I read every line even though it hurts. I feel I owe it to them, to at least read their stories, remember their faces.

How have we created such monsters?

*80s’

Yup. I hope they make it through this.

80’s, female, born in the US and now (thankfully) an AU citizen.

I wonder why they are banning it? A cursory google says its an insect borne virus found on every continent except Antarctica.

Remember to vote in all local elections. The more sensible people you get into office the more change you create. Look up all the candidates, even for things like education, water treatment, family court judges.

These are all offices that we vote (or not) into office.

When I went to look at who to vote for in the shitty midwest state I am from, (I am an expat. ) sometimes the choice wasn’t clear. Some had no party affiliation, but those who seek positions of power often move on to other positions of power. Starting at the bottom we must vote in good people.

So I looked up their campaign websites or facebook pages, and made my choice from there. Do I want the girl with little background in the subject who has republican affiliations supporting her campaign for the office?

Or maybe the guy who runs free name change clinics for people who need it and works at the local food bank.

The choice was clear to me.

I am sorry fellow Americans. This was an outcome I had greatly feared.

Don’t give up.