Nice data, but I think we should take a broader view too:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?end=2023&locations=RU-IN&start=2019

I semi randomly picked India because it is part of BRICS and had a similar economic trajectory: It is quite interesting playing with all those nobs and labels.

In this context I think PPP - which you showed - is a good indicator of the internal quality of living, but as far as I understand it, it has an hard time showing the difference in quality and standards of the consumer products between countries, so a dip in nominal GDP is an interesting context with the PPP adjusted rise. Less expensive things, because they are less regulated?

Aside from that Russia has almost completely pivoted to a war economy which, as far as I know, tends to give a big initial boost but it stresses and makes the real (for lack of a better term) economy crash in the long run.

What do you think about this? It is an interesting topic.

I was reading @superkret@feddit.org and @MaggiWuerze@feddit.org exchange and I found it an interesting - albeit moot - topic. So I went and spent the last hour to download some data and filter it: I will post some numbers with no commentary. I will add my opinions after them in a spoiler.

imf.org GDP, current prices, Billion of U.S. dollars

2023 GDP Nominal
NATO 52392,344
BRICS 27330,345

2024 GDP Nominal (estimates)
NATO 55148,819
BRICS 28442,630

imf.org GDP, current prices, Purchasing power parity; billions of international dollars

2023 GDP PPP
NATO 63996,245
BRICS 66010,889

2024 GDP PPP (estimates)
NATO 66812,821
BRICS 70911,69

imf.org GDP based on PPP, share of world

2023 GDP PPPSH
NATO 34,731
BRICS 35,824

2024 GDP PPPSH (estimates)
NATO 34,339
BRICS 36,446

BRICS

Brazil, People's Republic of China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Russian Federation, South Africa, United Arab Emirates

NATO

Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Republic of Türkiye, United Kingdom, United States

While she has not been named in the police statement about the arrest, it is believed to be Bonnie Spofforth

This, I don't like. If you - the newspaper, the means of information - are not sure about a name you should really refrain from using it.

It would be not the first time people get their lives ruined by some careless journalist because of a namesake or just an error.

It's not that different from "spreading rumors".

That aside, in this case, it is probably a rumor from an inside source. Still. Not a fan.

The Heroic Games Launcher is (IMHO) by far the best interface to gog you can have on linux.

You can find it on the AUR if you use arch, which makes it pretty straightforward to install.

The next version will integrate with the Galaxy API using the comet project, which should make it even better.

The only problem I had with it is that, once upon a time, there was a bug with downloading some games (Cyberpunk 2077, in my case) and I had to compile the git version of Gog-dl and target that in the settings.. but the fact I could even do that is great by itself.

Red Alert 2 Chronosphere

The Chronosphere was a mass teleportation device developed by the Allies during the Second World War. An improved version was used to decisively end the Third World War and was used further until the end of the Psychic Dominator Disaster. Albert Einstein was a notable contributor to the Chronosphere's design.

Good times.

The (IMHO) important bits:

TLDR:

Our continuous internal reviews and beta test groups have highlighted areas that we need to focus on more, mainly performance and content

From the FAQ:

Is the game canceled?
No, the game is not canceled.

What happens to pre-orders?
All pre-orders will be refunded in the upcoming weeks. The option to pre-order the game will be removed and the bonus will instead be added to the base game for all

Is there going to be Early Access or Beta Access to the game?
There will not be an early access or extra beta access right now

In the blog there are the steps to how to get the refunds, I'm not copying them in case they change.

As they say, A Delayed Game Is Eventually Good, But a Bad Game Is Bad Forever ^/s?^

“One of the core requirements here, and this is really important, is for users for this to be opt-in,” says Brouwer. “I can choose whether or not I want to participate in being open to exchanging messages with third parties. This is important, because it could be a big source of spam and scams.”

Let me translate this for you: "We will make users hop on the most cumbersome, frustrating and inefficient way we can think of to enable interoperability. And making it defaulted to off will mean people using other apps will need to find other channels to ask for it to be enabled on our users' end, making it worthless.

And don't forget: we will put a bunch of scary warnings, and only allow to go all in, with no middle ground or granularity!"

Great stuff, thank you. I can't wait.

“We don't believe interop chats and WhatsApp chats can evolve at the same pace,” he says, claiming it is “harder to evolve an open network” compared to a closed one.

Ah, so they are going for the Apple's approach with iMessage and Android sms. Cool, cool.

I hope my corporate-to-common translator is broken, because this does just sound bad.

You can find more information in the post "Madison on why she quit" in this community.

To give a really short and unworthy TLDR Madison was an employee of LMG and have shared her - honestly abysmal and abusive - experience working there.
Some noteworthy quotes:

I was asked about my sexual history, my boyfriends sexual history, "how I liked to fuck".

I was told that certain issues were "sexual tension" and I should just "take the co-worker out on a coffee date to ease it out"

I was told I was chunky, fat, ugly, stupid. I was called "retarded" I was called a "faggot"

My work was called "dogs--t" I was called "incompetent".

"I think the reason you try to be funny, is because you lack any other skills." smiled then walked away.

I watched co-workers get what I had asked for weeks before they did. It took 2 months to get mine.

Also apparently some managers didn't like me because I "hadn't gotten drunk with them before" Which was said in that haha just jokin (but actually I'm serious) tone

I sincerely invite you to read the whole thread where she shared her story: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html

It seems that the Reddit admins are currently deleting all threads that link to Madison's experience.

This is the work of the Reddit's (site) admins, not the subreddit moderators. In fact it seems it is getting removed site-wide.

EDIT: It seems the removal got reverted and the post brought back.

It seems Reddit is removing it from everywhere, even the one in pcmasterrace got nuked. It would be interesting to know the reason, but we all know how transparent Reddit's sitewide moderation policies are.

I feel that your post is belittling a situation that, as narrated, is straight up mobbing and bullying, only acknowledging it in a small paragraph which I feel boils down to a dismissive "awful but only maybe malicious, probably just lack of oversight", while the rest of your comment tries to find excuses and normalizing something that is not.

These:

I was asked about my sexual history, my boyfriends sexual history, "how I liked to fuck".

I was told that certain issues were "sexual tension" and I should just "take the co-worker out on a coffee date to ease it out"

I was told I was chunky, fat, ugly, stupid. I was called "retarded" I was called a "faggot"

My work was called "dogs--t" I was called "incompetent".

"I think the reason you try to be funny, is because you lack any other skills." smiled then walked away.

I watched co-workers get what I had asked for weeks before they did. It took 2 months to get mine.

Also apparently some managers didn't like me because I "hadn't gotten drunk with them before" Which was said in that haha just jokin (but actually I'm serious) tone

Are nor normal nor acceptable: for anyone who is in a corporation where this is common place: take a step back and understand that it is not healthy for you, bad power dynamics are a real thing and the abuse of them sometimes can feel normal, especially in small businesses that get a sudden explosive growth. And I don't even want to go into her self harming to get a day off.

You can say it was probably a single person, but the lack of action by management with phrases like "change your priorities", "put on your big girl pants" and stuff like that makes it a Company issue, Company which indirectly accept and endorse that kind of treatment: they being so against unionizing sincerely gets a whole other meaning read under this light.

The notebook case is self evidence of it all: A small thing that normally wouldn't be anything important, but compounded with the stressful environment got emotionally distressful. The fact that such a small thing has stayed with her so long should tell you that she was really not in an healthy mental state.

I don't personally care about the whole LTT fiasco, as an uninterested spectator it's fun to watch from the outside and then change channel, a blip in the media world that will most likely blow down in a couple of weeks. But reading how these actions are belittled is really distressing. Bullying is not normal, and it should never be accepted. Ever.

The full thread for whoever missed it: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1691693740254228741.html

Reading the full thread was stressful enough, I don't even want to image what it was like to live it.

Now I understand why the company is so against unionizing, all this stuff would pretty quickly explode in their face. It's straight up abuse that should be met by the full force of the legal system.

What the fuck is wrong with people that makes them think that if you have the smallest modicum of power over someone else it's your god given right to be an asshole, a sexual predator or just generally toxic.

I don't get it.