HelixDab2

I don't know if this will actually pan out the way that they imply in the title; armor needs to have a lot of different characteristics in order to be practical. As in, resistance to heat and cold, resistance to acids, alkalines, petroleum distillates, salts, UV, and oxygen, and also resist deformation. Multiple materials have displays significant promise for armor, but had a very short lifespan in real-word conditions. For instance, there was a material trademarked as Zylon that was supposed to be better than Kevlar, and it was used extensively by Second Chance (a body armor company); several cops were killed when their armor failed, and the armor failed because of exposure to sweat and ambient heat.

Yeah, this is a super cool development, but remember that everything that comes out at this stage is hype.

I've already deleted as much of my FB history as I can (I'm getting error messages at this point), but I keep it active solely because Craigslist is effectively dead.

I knew a guy--Ola Bini--that fled the US, and emigrated to Ecuador, because he was afraid that he was going to be targeted by the US gov't. I think he made it less than two years in Ecuador before he was arrested for 'hacking' Ecuador gov't computers; he was jailed during the entire judicial process, almost a decade, before all the charges were dropped, and he was released and deported to Sweden. Best guess is that despite not having a extradition treaty with the US, the US still put a ton of pressure on Ecuador to detain him. (Maybe he actually committed crimes? IDK, it's possible, but all charges being dropped after all that time in jail without a trial seems iffy. )

Point is, there aren't a lot of places you can go if the US wants to fuck your life. Russia and China are the best options, and both are not great.

Trains in the US are starting to have some of the same security measures as airlines... :(

I quit flying (domestically, at least) over the x-rays and TSA bullshit. I'm driving 13 hours today in order to avoid that particular security theater.

Agreed; Veilguard has pretty okay graphics. Not great, but acceptable - the high mark for me is BG3. But moving back to the earlier entries, they may have had stories that felt more 'real' (e.g., the setting felt more internally consistent) and gave more options, but the graphics and gameplay haven't aged well.

Similarly, Fallout: New Vegas hasn't aged so well. It was a great game, but it looks pretty rough now, unless you load it down with hi-res mods.

I don't demand photorealism, but I'd like better visuals than PS3-level graphics.

It depends on what you're doing with it.

I use it solely for Ace XR, which is a dry-fire simulator/tracker. Ace XR is available solely for Meta Quest (2 & 3), so I didn't really have many options. Unfortunately, I'm currently rehabbing a serious injury, and I am unable to practice.

For gaming? Not really. I like the PSVR2 headset more for that; it's a better headset overall. I'm still working on getting it set up to work with my PC though. As other people have said, getting corrective lenses for a headset really makes them more enjoyable if you need glasses; it's a pain in the ass to have to put in contacts when I want to use VR. For the Meta Quest specifically, and upgraded head band and spare battery (that also acts like a counterweight) is very nice to have.

And what, exactly, is positive about it, that has no associated negative outcomes?

They seem to have a foregone conclusion that AI is a positive thing, rather than something that should be eradicated like smallpox or syphilis.

I'm very surprised that you haven't heard of Ghost of Tsushima; it has been a highly successful game.

But maybe I am mistaken? I would swear that I had to accept EA terms and conditions to play, but it's by Sony and Sucker Punch. I dunno.

Eh, I dunno, I'm currently really enjoying Ghosts of Tsushima, although strictly in off-line mode. And I enjoyed the first Jedi: Fallen Order, again, solely off-line.