gru:Bz

Disposable vapes to be banned in England and Wales from June

Single-use vapes are difficult to recycle and typically end up in landfill, where their batteries can leak harmful waste like battery acid, lithium, and mercury into the environment, the government said.

This is my biggest concern with disposable vapes. I use one daily, so I’m definitely a hypocrite here. One vape store out of dozens near me has a drop box for used ones and I always dump my old ones off there, but I still have to wonder whether or not they’re actually recycling them.

A Quarter of Smartphone Owners Are Unimpressed by AI

The biggest motivation for US adult smartphone owners to upgrade their devices is longer battery life (61%), followed by more storage (46%) and better camera features (38%). Just 18% say their main motivator is AI integrations.

AI can do some really cool stuff but I’d much rather have a battery I don’t have to charge three times a day. One that doesn’t go to 85% capacity after a few months, maybe. It totally works in device manufacturer’s favor though. Something with onboard AI is probably going to suck down a lot more power, run hotter and wear out quicker, so you’ll still purchase an upgrade in a year or two. Don’t upgrade because you want to, upgrade because you have to.

iOS 18.2 will let everyone set new default phone and messaging apps

…a note on Apple’s developer website states that all users worldwide can set new default apps for calling and messaging in iOS 18.2

But the big stuff, like support for alternative app stores and browser engines, has mostly been confined to the EU.

I wish they’d support other browser engines in the US already. The only thing I miss about Android was that you could actually use Firefox. Like actual Firefox, with extensions. Imagine if Google limited everyone to re-skinned versions of Chrome on every Android device.

The Micro.blog browser extension is super handy for bookmarking articles. I’ve been using it like a read later service for a while now and I noticed I’ve never really seen it mentioned anywhere. Really convenient for sharing links between my iPhone and Linux desktop

Firefox | Chrome

‘Jersey Shore’ Airs as ‘Macaroni Rascals’ in Japan? | Snopes.com

The Japanese translation of “Jersey Shore” is more nuanced than the meme suggests, but the core of the claim holds up. When the Japanese title, “マカロニ野郎のニュージャージーライフ,” is translated to English using Google Translate, it can be read as, “Macaroni Guy’s New Jersey Life.”

However, when that same title is translated using the Cambridge Dictionary Translator, it reads “Macaroni Bastards' New Jersey Life.”

I love Japan 😆

Conservatives tried to start a boycott of LGBTQ+ friendly businesses. Their efforts backfired.

Several small business owners in Lancaster, Ohio, say they saw an increase in new customers after a local anti-LGBTQ+ group tried to start a boycott campaign against them.

I work in Lancaster every once in a while and it’s a pretty backwards, back woods kinda town. I always feel a little uncomfortable there because of all the jacked up trucks with Trump flags, LETS GO BRANDON stickers and even my customers who come in wearing NRA shirts and MAGA hats.

Here’s what a County Conservatives member and director of the local Family Forum has to say:

“None of us have called for anyone to boycott these businesses; we were just trying to figure out who was supporting [the events],” Burgoon said. “Our downtown has suffered greatly, and it has come back now. We don’t want to lose that again, so we haven’t called for anybody to boycott anyone.”

Yeah okay.

But the owners of businesses on the list aren’t buying it. Brandon Love, owner of gift shop Bewilderment argues that the list was always meant to discourage people from patronizing the businesses on it.

“We’ve probably had at least 200 people who have never been to Lancaster that have come to town to support the boycotted businesses,” Love said. “People from, not just Columbus, but out of state have been visiting us on the daily now, and so it’s definitely something I didn’t expect.”

It’s nice to see the LGBTQ+ community standing their ground to all the hate coming from the shit head conservatives who want to run them out, or at the very least force them back into the closet. Even more heartwarming to know people are flocking to this forgotten little town to show their support. I’ll never understand why some people are so hellbent on dehumanizing other people who are a little different than them.

The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds

I was reading a post by Toxicka Shock about this disturbing homebrew Gameboy ROM this morning:

One of the great unsung stories of video gaming in the 2010s was the explosion of high quality homebrew releases. The success of games like Undertale and Cave Story are proof that you don’t need millions of dollars and humongous staff to create an unforgettable title, but where thing get really interesting is when it comes to retro console releases.

It hit me right in the face with a blast of nostalgia and reminded me of my console modding days.

Back in the day, I had a soft-modded original Xbox loaded with emulators and ROMs from all the big 90s consoles. It was my first and, frankly, my best experience with emulators as well as community built, homebrew games and ROM hacks. The 2000s and 2010s were definitely a golden age for unofficial ROMs.

My absolute favorite to this day is still The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds;

The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds is a fan overhaul of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past using new graphics, new music, a new overworld and underworld, and a new storyline. It is for the SNES. As of 2008, the game has been in production for 4-5 years and has had a demo release, a 1.0 release and a 1.1 patch to fix many bugs as well as minor changes in dialogue. A 2.0 release is planned and has been officially announced. This overhaul is infamous for its high level of difficulty

When you picture a homebrew game you probably picture something with lots of bugs, and sprites made in MS Paint. Or maybe the old NES Zelda hack where they make everyone look like South Park characters.

This is definitely not that though. It feels like an authentic Nintendo title. It truly feels like an insanely difficult official sequel to A Link to the Past.

It’s over 20 years old, but it’s still worth playing if you’re a die hard Zelda fan. Especially if, like me, A Link to the Past is your all time favorite in the series.

Autopsy of 78-year-old man reveals he had three penises

Interestingly, it appears the urethra first grew within the secondary penis but failed to entirely develop there, forcing it to change its route and grow through what became the primary penis.

Because of this internal arrangement, medical researchers explained in their paper that it’s possible the man spent his entire life unaware of his situation.

Imagine having not one but two extras and not even knowing it lol