Things you might like to know.

[Couchpotato]

You might want to put that chocolate bar down.

23 Of 28 Dark Chocolate Bars Tested Have High Lead, Cadmium Levels

Consumer Reports tested bars from popular brands such as Trader Joe's, Dove, Lindt, and Hershey's.

www.forbes.com

 

[Corwin]

Then I'll just have to stick to milk chocolate!!

 

[Redglyph]

We don't have those problems in Belgium.

Homepage

Certified organic ingredients Rediscover the flavor of natural. All of our ingredients are certified organic and are of the highest quality, with no hydrogenated fat, no palm oil, no coloring, no preservatives and no artificial flavors but only pure flavors made out of natural ingredients. Fair

www.chocolaterie-belvas.be

(don't we say "one bite at a time"?)

Côte d´Or - Home

www.cotedor-chocolat.fr

GODIVA Chocolates | Gourmet Chocolate Gifts and Truffles

Send the most indulgent gourmet chocolates, truffles, holiday gifts and more. Delivering personalized chocolate gifts and baskets for over 80 years.

www.godiva.com

Meurisse — Belgium’s Oldest Chocolate

Meurisse stands for excellence — we source only the finest all natural ingredients and employ the very best techniques to ensure our products will always be the best there is. Certified Organic & Fairtrade. Made in Belgium.

www.meurisse.com

Leonidas | Belgian master chocolatier official site

Leonidas is a Belgian chocolate company that produces chocolate and other related products

www.leonidas.com

Neuhaus Chocolates | Inventor of the original Belgian praline

Neuhaus Chocolates | Inventor of the original Belgian praline

www.neuhauschocolates.com

... and about 500 others

 

[Couchpotato]

Well Belgium isn't called the chocolate capital of the world for nothing. For the rest of us commercialized processed chocolate is all that's available unless you pay import costs.

Hershey's nowadays is nothing but oil and twenty percent chocolate.

Though I do go to an international store and buy the premium bars sometimes. Also some local shops and business's that make better chocolate, but once again it's more expensive.

 

[Redglyph]

Many of us would be happy to exchange oil for chocolate right now.

 

[Couchpotato]

Many of us would be happy to exchange oil for chocolate right now.

Well based on local news things should be better in a few years with a deal with Azerbaijan.

 

[Couchpotato]

For a state on one of the most active fault lines this happens occasionally.

2 dead, 12 injured after magnitude 6.4 earthquake rocks parts of Northern California

The U.S. Geological Survey said an earthquake struck Northern California, at 2:34 a.m. about 7 miles west of Ferndale near the Oregon border.

www.usatoday.com

 

[wolfgrimdark]

Rather random but guess it might fit here: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/new...ore-half-billion-dollars-over-ftc-allegations

The Federal Trade Commission has secured agreements requiring Epic Games, Inc., creator of the popular video game Fortnite, to pay a total of $520 million in relief over allegations the company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and deployed design tricks, known as dark patterns, to dupe millions of players into making unintentional purchases.

Also EPIC settled it seems: https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-U...oving-beyond-long-standing-industry-practices

Epic has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In it, Epic will pay $245 million USD to the FTC to resolve concerns related to past designs of the Fortnite item shop and refund systems in Fortnite, which the FTC will use to distribute to Epic customers at their discretion. Epic will also pay $275 million USD to the FTC to resolve concerns related to children’s privacy in Fortnite.

 

[JDR13]

Also EPIC settled it seems: https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-U...oving-beyond-long-standing-industry-practices

Ouch. They're apparently worth around 32 billion though, so I'm guessing they can absorb this without too much damage.

 

[wolfgrimdark]

Yea they seem wealthy enough. The cynic in me also has another view of this part of their statement (bold from me):

Epic has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In it, Epic will pay $245 million USD to the FTC to resolve concerns related to past designs of the Fortnite item shop and refund systems in Fortnite, which the FTC will use to distribute to Epic customers at their discretion. Epic will also pay $275 million USD to the FTC to resolve concerns related to children’s privacy in Fortnite.


No developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here.

More like no developer plans on getting caught

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I still remember Epic MegaGames being a Shareware distributor / company ...

 

[SirJames]

Imagine getting fined 200 million because you had chat enabled by default in a multiplayer game.

What happened to personal responsibility? If you don't want your kid using voice chat then turn it off.

And these "dark patterns"? I'm just not seeing it. They say people are accidentally buying stuff on the loading screens and shit? Maybe this is a problem thats exclusive to platforms other than PC, but, from where I'm sitting, this whole thing looks like a load of bullshit.

That said, there have been a lot of repeat freebies this Christmas. Gonna have to try a little harder, Mr Sweeny! I could have broken the 300 free games on EGS mark if not for these repeats!!

 

[Couchpotato]

Seems a few idiots destroyed more historical artwork.

30,000-Year-Old Work of Art in Australian Cave Destroyed by Vandals: 'Massive, Tragic Loss'

Vandals defaced carvings on the walls at Koonalda Cave in South Australia, which officials said are "some of the earliest evidence of Aboriginal occupation of that part of the country"

news.yahoo.com

 

[Hurls]

Seems a few idiots destroyed more historical artwork.

30,000-Year-Old Work of Art in Australian Cave Destroyed by Vandals: 'Massive, Tragic Loss'

Vandals defaced carvings on the walls at Koonalda Cave in South Australia, which officials said are "some of the earliest evidence of Aboriginal occupation of that part of the country"

news.yahoo.com

They have a VERY long way to go to catch up with mining company similar damage.

 

[Couchpotato]

That's fine I was never a subscriber anyways.

Netflix to End Password Sharing in 2023

The streaming giant has plans to charge users for sharing their passwords.

collider.com

 

[Couchpotato]

Festivus is a real holiday apparently.

What’s Festivus? A ‘Seinfeld’ scriptwriter whose dad invented the fake holiday has answers

As the story goes, Dan O'Keefe was reluctant to tell the story of Festivus, much less get it out on one of history's most popular television...

www.dallasnews.com

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

In DDO there is Festivult.

 

[Couchpotato]

Time to MeTo and cancel Aerosmith.

Steven Tyler Accused of Sexual Assault of a Minor in New Lawsuit Over a Decades-Old Claim

Julia Holcomb claims the Aerosmith singer, who is not named in the suit, engaged in a sexual relationship with her in the mid-1970s, starting when she was 16 years old

www.rollingstone.com

 

[JDR13]

With the way he dresses, I wasn't sure Tyler was even into girls.

 

[Couchpotato]

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/10614t8

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/10614t8/411_is_going_out_of_service_for_millions_of/

Man the flawed logic that everyone has internet access. Just like everyone has a cellphone. It is in fact not true. Millions don't and at times I didn't either due to personal reasons.