Just curious about Mario's meta lore and how people who are ennemies end-up having fun doing kart race together.

December 12, 2025

[from weekly newsletter about Cuba (with YouTube video links) from the Belly Of The Beast news/video collective. Their videos can also be found at: https://peertube.wtf/c/cuba_botb_videos/videos]

Archivo de Boletines en español - https://www.bellyofthebeastcuba.com/archivo-de-boletines/

Also:

• Cuban Interior Ministry: U.S. is the island's "main supplier" of drugs
• Former Cuban economy minister sentenced to life in prison for espionage
• Journalist Liz Oliva Fernández speaks at Amefrica in Cinema
• We're now streaming on Means TV

Do they really have two balls?

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43927448

Web archive link

The Kremlin's annual 'Direct Line call-in show' in Moscow is an hours-long ordeal in which Russia’s de facto leader responds to carefully vetted questions from members of the public.

A German man has been found guilty of drugging and raping his unconscious wife for years and sharing video of his crimes on the internet, in a case that has drawn comparisons to the trial of Dominique Pelicot in France.

Fernando P., a 61-year-old school janitor, was found guilty of abusing his wife inside the couple’s home, filming it and then sharing it online without the victim’s knowledge.

He was sentenced Friday to 8 years and 6 months in prison following a trial at a court in Aachen, western Germany. An appeal may be filed against the judgment within one week, the court said.

Why should we bend to the will of Nazi's? I don't want to help them exploit us !

End of the year!

This will most probably be the last weekly thread for this year. Next Friday will be 26th, so the weekly thread will be back on 2nd Jan (or if something comes up, 9th Jan)!

Now, without further ado!

Finished Dark Souls Remastered !

Spent the whole weekend playing it and finally finished it! Ornstein and Smough, the boss I was stuck on last to last week, were probably the hardest boss in the game. Only thing that came close was a boss in DLC, Kalameet, an optional boss, but it was also a tough one. Rest of the bosses were much easier.

I would like to reiterate that if you are staying away from soulslike games because of their reputation, ignore that and give them a try. You just need to a bit deliberate in how you play them. Use a guide if you want, to get used to how the game works, but these are fun games. As for dying, I have probably died more times in a single Mario level then whole sections of Dark Souls. Of course, nothing wrong with it if you don't like the genre, just don't want people to ignore them because of the over hyped difficulty.

After finishing that, didn't feel like starting anything new, so went back to Princess Peach Showtime and finished that.

When I played it the first time I gave it a very bad review, but saw my daughter playing it later, and some of the stages looked fun. Not AAA game kind of fun, but a mobile mini-game kind of fun, which suited my current mood. So went ahead, cleared all the levels and finished the game.

Didn't try for 100%, if you miss a collectible you can't just backwards in the level and collect it, you have to replay the whole level. So ignored that completely. Game is too expensive for what it is, but if you can get it at a very good bargain, then not a bad game for little kids who like Princess Peach.

With those two wrapped up, and after the new Mega Man announcement, I wanted to give the series another try (tried them once a long time ago but found them super hard so never tried again), so after some suggestions from the wonderful people here, I decided to go with the published order and got the Mega Man Legacy Collection .

Played (and finished) Mega Man 1 and 2.

These games are hard, specially the first one, but the bosses were interesting so had fun fighting them, though I had to make extensive use of Rewind feature to stay alive. Specially in final bosses sequence. You fight multiple bosses back to back without any healing in between. Would have died over half a dozen times if not for Rewind.

Next was Mega Man 2. It is such an upgrade from the first game, I had to confirm it was still a NES game and not a SNES one. It was much easier than the first one, but still not an easy game. Another set of interesting bosses, and some extensive use of Rewind still required, though I like to think I got a bit better by the time I reached the end.

This is pretty much what I played the last whole week. I did start two new games, but I have just started them so can't say much about them yet.

Started Assassin's Creed: Rogue Remastered. Wanted to get it on Switch, but it's only available in a bundle with AC: Black Flag, and since I have already played that, didn't want to buy that again. So got it on PS5, and playing through it now. Have only played couple of hours yet though.

On Switch, I have been itching to play Skyrim again, was planning to spend dozens of hours in that, but then decided to start Risen . It's remaster of 2009's RPG, originally developed by Pirhana Bytes, developers of Gothic series. I loved Gothic, but never played Risen, or any other game from them, and it has been on my wishlist for so long, so it was a good moment to start that. I have only played an hour or so and the only complaint I have is that jump is on R3, and there doesn't seem to be any way to rebind the keys. Other than that, it's scratching that do-anything-RPG itch of Skyrim.

Will probably have more to say about these next time.

What about all of you? What have you been playing and/or plan to play?

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/55299032

https://archive.is/QHK8m

The trade talks showed just how much leverage China has over the US. This is largely thanks to its near-total domination of the supply chain for rare earth minerals

The US also relies on China for ingredients in nearly 700 medicines—a dependency so sensitive that China’s negotiators didn’t even bring it up in the recent trade talks.

And the decision by China in October to cut off exports of computer chips made by Chinese-owned Nexperia, leading to production slowdowns for carmakers including Japan’s Honda and Nissan, shows just how much disruption it can cause when it wants to.

• In clean energy, China is running laps around the rest of the world, building twice as much solar power capacity as the US and Europe combined.
• The country dominates the global EV market, producing 70% of the world’s electric cars. It’s the leader in battery technology too: At this year’s Shanghai auto show, carmaker BYD Co. demonstrated a battery that charges most of the way in five minutes.
• In 2024, China installed more factory robots than the rest of the world combined.
• Shenzhen-based DJI sells 70% of commercial drones for consumers and businesses, and the US lags China in military drone technology as well.

recent report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission found that “China leads the world in quantum communications and is making rapid progress in quantum computing and sensing.” While China is behind on cutting-edge AI, it’s receiving more AI-related patents than any other country and is pushing the limits of what’s possible without the most advanced chips

For awhile I've liked the idea of using a VPS for "critical" services. Currently looking at running:

• Authentik
• Komodo (with periphery agents on local boxes)
• Uptime Kuma
• NTFY
• Panglolin (or Cosmos Cloud?)

So, first of all, to folks already using a VPS, do you think it's worth it? Do you think I'm missing anything? Happy to discuss/research alternatives, too. I've thought about TinyAyuth+PocketID in place of Authentik. While I think Authentik is probably more complex (and likely overkill), it's a single solution. That said, I haven't played with TinyAuth/PockedID.

Second, I was pretty interested in Pangolin until I saw Cosmos Cloud mentioned elsewhere. It seems like it actually ticks a lot of boxes:

• Built-in authentication
• Reverse Proxy
• VPN (At least for local-to-VPS connection, but possibly also for external clients?)
• Docker management(?): They have an "app store" that's all docker images, so there's some docker capability built-in. Not sure yet if it can handle multiple hosts like Komodo.
• DNS (I would still keep at least 1 local pi-hole instance)

Looking at the doc for chaining proxies and hiding IP, here, it mentions creating an A record for services hosted on a different server. I'm curious to know if this means Cosmos will only manage DNS for services hosted on the same box. Honestly this seems kind of odd, unless I'm misunderstanding how proxy servers work.

Anyway, I know this was a bit of a meandering post. Curious to know thoughts on my original plan, but also if anyone has played with Cosmos, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Lastly: This morning, I found this interesting write-up to manage container updates using Forgejo, Renovate, and Komodo. Another rabbit hole to explore!

EDITS:

• Spelling

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/55297366

https://archive.is/LnTjR

The EU committed on December 3rd to end all imports of Russian natural gas by September 2027, and the quantities it buys have already been slashed. But it continues to buy Russian fertiliser that is made from natural gas—more of it, for some types, than before the war.

https://archive.is/LnTjR

The EU committed on December 3rd to end all imports of Russian natural gas by September 2027, and the quantities it buys have already been slashed. But it continues to buy Russian fertiliser that is made from natural gas—more of it, for some types, than before the war.

Hackers gained access to an online coding repository belonging to the University of Sydney and stole files with personal information of staff and students.

The institution said the breach was limited to a single system and was detected last week. It promptly shut down the unauthorized access and notified the New South Wales Privacy Commissioner, the Australian Cyber Security Centre, and education regulators.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/55295459

Archived version

...

Amid the backdrop of its spat with Japan, Beijing has hosted a flurry of recent diplomatic activity with European leaders. German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil visited in November, followed this month by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.

...

This whirlwind of visits follows a similar active scene in the fall, when European leaders visited Japan during the World Expo Osaka.

The timing of the European leaders' visits to China comes at a curious time for Japan. Last month in parliament, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made comments about a Taiwan emergency that triggered a furious response from China.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has been using his meetings with European officials to push Beijing's narrative about the dispute.

...

He reportedly told Wadephul that, unlike Germany, Japan has not thoroughly reflected on its history of aggression even 80 years after World War II.

He told French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot that Beijing believes France will understand and support China's legitimate position, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The European countries have refrained from commenting on these reports directly, an attitude that can be interpreted as tacit approval.

But Japan should not be too concerned about Europe cozying up to China. The recent diplomatic visits were mostly planned before Takaichi took office. European diplomacy in Asia typically balances visits among Japan, China, India and other major countries.

Europe's basic position is to position Japan as a country with which it shares democratic values and the rule of law.

...

Beijing is trying to spread the narrative that Tokyo is reverting to its militaristic ways, but EU policymakers are not buying it. Rather, they see China's hegemonic ambitions as increasing the risk of a Taiwan conflict, forcing Japan to respond.

...

The Chinese government's call for its citizens to refrain from traveling to Japan has been widely reported in Europe. Meanwhile, China has a history of using export controls on rare-earth elements to pressure European companies. When these factors are combined, the image in Europe of China as an authoritarian state that uses economic coercion as a weapon grows stronger.

...

Policymakers in major European economies frequently exchange information and coordinate China policies, though approaches vary across the continent. Long-term plans are emerging to reduce economic dependence on China, tighten regulations on Chinese companies operating in the European market and control the inflow of Chinese products into Europe.

Europe is pursuing strategic autonomy while seeking to distance itself from both Washington -- which it is also at odds with -- and Beijing moving forward. It is quietly working to de-risk from both powers as part of its long-term strategy to strengthen itself as an economic bloc.

Signs are emerging that China's excessive pressure on Japan is failing to win over Europe.

...

Japan must clearly demonstrate that it is a country based on the rule of law and an open society, and that it is a defender of liberal democracy and market economics. If Takaichi uses Group of Seven summits and other forums to explain this thoroughly, Europe will listen.

...

Now is the time to deepen cooperation with democratic forces in the Indo-Pacific region like South Korea, Taiwan and Australia, and gird against authoritarian states seeking to disrupt the international order.

While the yakuza used to pride themselves on not preying on the poor and weak, the tokuryu have no such scruples.

They make much of their millions from conning Japan’s ageing population

Tokyo police – who called them their “biggest public order priority” – set up a 100-officer taskforce in October to “destroy” the groups.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/55295297

SINGAPORE: Scammers, as well as recruiters and members of scam syndicates, will face mandatory caning of at least six strokes under amendments to Singapore's criminal law set to take effect on Dec 30.