Wasn’t planning on reading since I don’t care about Stellar Blade but thanks for the heads up. Article is hilarious.

Just a small note, you forgot to include quotes in your comment. Didn’t realize you were quoting the article until I read it.

The worse is when a solution seems obvious but doesn’t work. Then you lose your mind clicking everything until you get the actual solution.

To be fair, these last 3 months have felt like 3 years so maybe they’re on to something.

But you’re missing the point that the population of Japan specifically is on the decline and has been for decades.

Even if we take out the cost of pensions for the elderly out of the equation, if people aren’t having kids to replace themselves, there won’t be enough working age people to fill every job needed.

For reference, the Japanese birth rate as of June 2024 was only 1.2. If that trend continues, in say 20-30 years, there will be about 1/2 of adults then as there are now.

The easiest and most immediate solution for Japan (and South Korea which is also having the same problem) would be to ease immigration so that more people can come in to work. But that doesn’t help in the long run nor does it address the cultural and societal factors that have lead to this point. And even then, since both countries are so homogenous, it would be hard for natives to accept a huge influx of immigrants.

On the one hand, yes having a child with a higher quality of life is better than having many children.

However, there’s a good Kurzgesagt video about how the severe decline in birthrate can doom a population. Basically, if a population is not at the very least replacing itself, it will run out of young workers to keep the country going and vastly skew the proportion of elderly people to young workers. Small, rural towns will not survive since young people will flock to cities for work.

Though the video is based on Korea, the same concepts apply for Japan as well.

If you are interested, there are a few you tubers who do a rundown on ceramic keycaps.

Random Frank P and Hipyo both have reviews of them when they first came out.

Keychron might be your best option.

Edit: I am dumb. Forgot you already knew about Keychron.

Thanks for the tip. I had thought of doing Home Assistant to automate things like lights but I use the Echo for other stuff too (like reminders and weather). I guess I’ll just wait for the open source tech to catch up.

How disheartening. I knew going in that there would be privacy issues but I figured for the service it was fine. I also figure my phone is always listening anyway.

As someone with limited mobility, my echo has been really nice to control my smart devices like lights and TV with just my voice.

Are there good alternatives or should I just accept things as they are?

Oh good point. That’s likely what happened

This is all anecdotal but I signed up for the icogni family plan since my parents are boomers who are seriously tech illiterate. After signing up, it seems like I’ve gotten more scam texts and calls, at least initially. I even got a scam letter twice from the same scam. So I would just save your money.

It’s possible that they are doing what they advertise and getting your name off databases but maybe the act of requesting that makes those companies send out your info to another data broker.

Wasn’t aware you could mod a Kindle. What does doing this do?

Does anyone know if using Calibre will be affected by this change?

Unless you play competitive online team games. Then your stress and anxiety go up even higher.

Here’s a full list of crossplay Xbox and PC games. I figure if it’s on the pc, there’s a good chance it could be played on the steam deck as well.

Notable mentions in there that I’ve played and enjoyed are Destiny 2, Overwatch 2, Remnant 2, Left4Dead 2, (I’m seeing a pattern here), and Deep Rock Galactic.

I think the Keychron V6 Max might be right up your alley.

It meets all of your requirements (100% layout, back light, quiet depending on your switches).

It’s also hotswapable so very beginner friendly when you’re trying to find switches you like. Here’s a sound test of all 3 switch options for the Keychron V6. There’s not a huge difference to me but I’m also just on mobile right now. With your budget you can also choose to try other switches too. You can use the stock switches as a starting point to see what type of switch best fits your needs. For example, note the force used to actuate (activate) the switch. If it feels too light, find a switch that has a higher force. Videos can help to identify which sound nice but keep in mind that the keyboard will also impact the sound.

Lastly the V6 can be used via Bluetooth or wireless USB for a cleaner look. I didn’t see gaming as a requirement so the lower latency over wireless connection should be fine.

There are other Keychron keyboards too if you want other options. The Q6 is very similar but is entirely made of metal, thus increasing the cost to $205 for a fully assembled board. Hippyo has an informative video on building and modding a custom keyboard using the Keychron Q6 as a base model.

It’s not out yet but Marvel Rivals looks like it may be a good fit. Hopefully they’ll announce the release date soon now that the closed beta is over.

Thimbleweed Park seems to fit your criteria. One of the reviews even compares it to Twin Peaks. It’s a point and click murder mystery adventure game with where you have to switch between 5 characters.

It’s been years since I’ve played but I think the setting was in a fake Northwest Pacific town.

Fun fact, the names in the phone book and the titles/stories of the books in the library came from Kickstarter backers. Some of the books were pretty funny.

During its weekend convention, the Arizona GOP also passed a resolution to censure Pence and former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley for “their dereliction of duty of refusing to support President Donald J. Trump and by default supporting the democrats.”

An equally concerning, if not more concerning, move by the Arizona GOP was to punish Republicans who didn’t support Trump. Neither Pence nor Haley endorsed Trump for president and that is apparently a bigger crime than trying to overturn an election or being removed from office for ethics violations.

She said her homeowner’s insurance won’t cover anything pest-related because they deem it preventable.

So the real monster was the insurance company. What a twist!