thekerker

It was not an optional boss, sadly.

Nope, I only ever played Quake III Arena.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I got to this part in the game where I absolutely could not beat a boss. Consulted IGN and learned that the only way to defeat her was to have some ability that was only gained at some prior point. Unfortunately I didn't have any save points prior to that, so the only way I would be able to defeat that boss would be to completely restart. I just kind of noped the game after that.

Just FYI, OP: The fee for the PMI is usually based on the difference between 20% and what you put down.

Ahhh, that makes sense. I haven't had to deal with PMI since I bought my first house in 2009, and all I could remember was something about 20% down. Thanks for clarification!

I spent so many hours on that game as a kid. I had a Sidewinder joystick on my Acer i386 running Windows 3.11.

Years later I played X-wing: Alliance but it just wasn't the same.

What the hell was that?

As someone who's been through this 3 times, this all correct but I'll add a few caveats:

• If possible, go with a credit union over a bank. The interest rates may be a little higher, but you'll have fewer fees to deal with and generally have better service since CUs tend to be local while banks are national entities and couldn't give less of a shit about you. You'll have to be a member of a CU, but you can just open a savings account with as little as $5. Some CUs will also pay special extraordinary dividends each year to account holders.
• Get pre-approved for a home loan through your bank or CU and get the pre-approval for a little more than your budget. The pre-approval can help with negotiations and saves time on paperwork when your offer is actually accepted.
• If you pay less than a 20% down payment your mortgage processor will require private mortgage insurance (PMI) which will be added to your escrow. Your monthly mortgage payment will be divided into principal and interest (PI) and taxes and insurance, so you won't have to worry about paying your property taxes or home owners insurance each year: your bank or CU will pay that for you out of your escrow account.
• You will need to pre-pay 1 year of your home owner's insurance premium, so be prepared for that.

Buying a home can be a daunting, overwhelming, and frustrating experience, especially if you're looking at a quick closing timeframe. Just remember: your real estate agent is there to help you every step of the way and it's in their best interest to have your best interest at heart. Rely on them and their guidance and it'll make the whole experience less stressful.

This is something I've noticed about the decentralized platforms in general. Mastodon is way less toxic and hyperbolic than Twitter. There's no main character. If someone has a terrible opinion, they're mostly ignored instead of dogpiled upon.

Lemmy and Kbin are the same way. If people disagree, they're respectful in their disagreements and are by and large open minded and willing to learn something new. It's honestly refreshing and positive.

Okay, that makes a certain amount of sense then. All of the companies and products owned by Alphabet are lumped under "Google", which includes Android, and it's saying that between 2018 and 2022 they've donated just shy of $780K to political action committees (PACs) that in turn give money to anti-trans politicians. According to Open Secrets, which by the way is where Pay Back Pride gets its data by way of Follow the Money, Alphabet sent $3.8M to Republicans during that period, so that figure represents 20% of their total Republican spend during that 4 year period.

However, Google Android is different from the Android Open Source Project, which is where mobile OSes like GrapheneOS, LineageOS, and /e/OS (and Google Android) fork from, so saying that iPhone is inherently better than Android as a whole in this particular area is slightly disingenuous.

All of that said, I think it's very important to vote with your wallet and if a company does or supports something you disagree with, it's entirely reasonable to look for alternatives. From my perspective, and I want to emphasize that I am not defending Google sending money to GOP PACs that promote anti-trans bigotry, Google is not directly lobbying for anti-trans bills and their spend on the PACs that do is paltry compared to others. Do with this information what you will.

• Doom and Doom II: Hell on Earth
• Choplifter
• Duke Nukem 3D
• X-Wing
• Quake III Arena
• MechWarrior
• GoldenEye 007
• Rogue Squadron
• Shadows of the Empire
• Metal Gear Solid
• Siphon Filter
• Ein Händer
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
• Colony Wars
• Colony Wars II: Vengeance
• Counter-Strike
• Half-Life
• Oni
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert
• Total Annihilation
• Dune 2000
• Star Control III
• Delta Force
• Deus Ex

So many great games from my childhood.

This kind of reminds me of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother trilogy. The first book came out in 2008, but I'm just now getting around to reading them, and it's been interesting to read him write about things like ParanoidLinux, Swedish Pirate Party private email addresses, ParanoidAndroid, TrueCrypt vaults, Tor, etc., really things that generally weren't in the mainstream. He also included primers on how to use them lol.

So my roommate has informed me that Android and Motorola donate to Republicans more than Democrats whereas Apple does not, claiming this as a reason that the iPhone is better than an Android phone.

So I'm not sure from where your roommate is getting their information, but according to Open Secrets, Alphabet, Inc. (parent company of Google) donated $27M to Democrats during the 2020 cycle, compared to $1.4M to Republicans. The 2022 cycle is shaping up to be the same. I haven't been able to find much information on Motorola Mobility or its parent company Lenovo.