A word on Super Mario Bros & cultural change 🍄 🍄 🍄

[@ray-sattler]

The problem is, when you criticize a company, you mostly have more people defending the companies, posting laughing smileys under your post or attacking you personally, rather than trying to understand your point or think about it... Especially when it comes to companies like Apple or even streaming services like Netflix.

[@johncera3972]

It's a shame. Ethics don't scale. The worries Louis expresses as a small business owner and as an individual get further and further into the rear view when you've got major companies who get away with everything. The things that would shut down a small business (exorbitant fines, for example) just end up being the cost of operation for a major corp. The common person would hold someone like Louis to a higher standard mostly because of how accessible he is in comparison.

[@icedirt9658]

Also consider the possibility of ai powered bots being used to skew the apparent responses on social media. Within the next year I will no longer trust any kind of responses online due to fear it is all ai.

[@blank0the0new91]

they aren't defending the company . they are making fun of you for being a sheep

[@ray-sattler]

@@blank0the0new91 So i am a sheep if i am not ok with what Netflix and Apple do? I would never in a million years buy an Apple product, where am i the sheep?

[@TheTrueNehme]

Lmao, ain't that the truth. Insane that people will shill for a company and die on a hill for them.

[@Bassotronics]

This is not just a computer repair channel. This is a channel of moral integrity and valuable content. 👍🏼

[@The_Penguin_Overlord]

👍

[@Reptilia12]

Every channel should be a channel of moral integrity and valuable content.

[@SuperFlashDriver]

Basically no different from a political channel advising people of what lies ahead.

[@AC3handle]

Wait...this is a computer repair channel?

[@dalazo]

This is why I started watching Louis his board repair videos initially, I have no intention to ever solder anything yet Louis has a very healthy and good world view that doesn't stray away from challenging things and making yourself better.

[@cherrycheshire7555]

I guess the quote feels more complete like this: "These days they don't make money through innovation, these days they make money by extortion."

[@jamesrowlands8971]

Innovation get exponentially harder as time progresses. Marx identified this fact in the 19th. As a result, the only way for the line to go up at a certain point is for companies to find ways to feign innovation, and steal from others in the economy.

[@GSBarlev]

I've been told that there is no greater insult to an economist than "rent-seeking."

[@seenochasm7101]

🛎️🛎️🛎️

[@Pro4TLZZ]

Aye

[@macethorns1168]

That's how Oracle works.

[@LaOwlett]

What blows my mind is that someone would sell me a vehicle that has all the functioning components of heated seats - whether I'm willing to be extorted to turn them on or not. So the components I paid for are there, even if I don't pay to have it remotely enabled. The car is mine, components mine, but my ability to use the property I paid for is being limited remotely unless I pay them to stop. This should be illegal.

[@DarthVader1977]

"You will own nothing, and like it."

[@barongerhardt]

It shouldn't be illegal, but it should be 100% legal for the owner to splice in a switch to the 12v.

[@MazeFrame]

@@barongerhardt It should be legal to break any software locks on hardware that is in ones possession. Because like you said, wiring in a switch is mostly like flipping a bit somewhere.

[@arthurwintersight7868]

@@barongerhardt - That's how you end up with cryptographically signed hardware that's designed to brick itself if you change anything without manufacturer approval. The CEOs need to go to prison for signing off on this garbage. Anything else justifies pulling out a Super Nintendo to play some Super Mario Bros.

[@asidAttack]

​@@barongerhardtIt is legal to do that ...

[@JorgeLopez-qj8pu]

"Yes the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for shareholders."

[@chukkie0001]

"Board member in The Outer Worlds"

[@pbasista]

This reminds me of the movie Don't Look Up where a CEO of huge technology company persuaded the US government to let the asteroid hit the Earth in order to mine rare minerals out of it. After some public backslash they then backtracked from that plan a little and tried to mine the minerals and divert the asteroid away from Earth while it was still on its way. But that has failed because they did not have a reliable enough technology to do so. And there was no plan B. The US mission to stop the asteroid was abandoned in order to mine the minerals out of it. And the Russian mission has failed to even lift off. So the Earth was destroyed.

[@ACCPhil]

There's a Kurt Vonnegut quote about how we will go down in history as the only society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost-effective.

[@jayk806]

The thing that always bothered me about this one... they aren't creating value... they're taking it from somewhere.

[@kaden-sd6vb]

That's basically the end result The Corporations are going for.

[@infinidominion]

I have a macbook that started turning off an alarm would go off and I thought I needed to send it to Rossman Repair. This is a testament to Rossman Repair because the first email I got back was something like "it probably has too much Ram, take a Ram chip out" and I removed an extra Ram chip that someone installed previously to me owning the computer. Didnt even have to send it in. They didnt say "send it in, we'll take a look" and charge me whatever hundreds. Rossman fixed my computer without even trying. That is honest

[@jessl1934]

Proofreading matters

[@NoobsDeSroobs]

Apple... Having too much RAM.

[@bb-wh7eu]

@@jessl1934 take this L

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@NoobsDeSroobs Any computer has a limit to the amount of RAM it is built to manage. There are also specifications for RAM speed and channel width to work around.

[@NoobsDeSroobs]

@MonkeyJedi99 Yes, but not in a laptop. We are not in the age of 32 bit OS anymore, and you can not physically put enough ram in the little dpace there is to overwhelm a properly design circuit these days.

[@MrOldskoolgamez]

I thought this was actually going to be about Super Mario Bros.

[@ProtossHyrdalisk]

Just watched the new movie with my niece yesterday. She loved it.

[@user-ii7xc1ry3x]

Me too, I got clickbaited hard 😭

[@tmacman0418]

It took me a second to relize what he meant by that.

[@drcrankenstein]

Yeah :| I wish he would stick to using cats to draw in viewers.

[@EVPointMaster]

Then Nintendo would send him a cease and desist. Nintendo videos get taken down faster than videos about unaliving people.

[@hangman13]

Remember: Louis Rossmann is not suicidal.

[@kerolokerokerolo]

how do you know? maybe he is

[@LuigiMario-o7o]

@@kerolokerokeroloyou seem suicidal…

[@LemSportsinterviews]

@@kerolokerokerolo shut up fed

[@iilwy]

remdnmber: sloud rkrksnod nyo sucijda 😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮

[@Jago-Shogun]

You'll be able to post again in 24 hours.

[@iamprocrastination.9415]

I thought he had a flintlock strapped to his chest like it's the mf 1700s 💀

[@45545videos]

It's to fight off Apple lawyers

[@myfridgedoesntwork]

@@45545videos as the founding fathers intended

[@doctormidnight]

I love musket balls and my Flintlock Glock - Captain Dan.

[@tenrec]

Yeah, that's one giant microphone.

[@i-love-comountains3850]

​@@tenrec Speak softly and into a big mic. Or something...lol

[@bluedistortions]

As a shade tree mechanic, I can tell you, manufacturers have been putting software in cars to detect non-authorized maintenance on vehicles since at least 2005, that was when I first encountered it. The car will seem to be ok, then run rough, for no reason. I was forced to tell them to go to a dealer, who, for $200, would hit one button to "recalibrate." But the thing is, that same model car with the same engine would also auto-detect maintenance being done, and automatically recalibrate itself. No button from the dealership necessary. The strangest thing to me was how the car would wait until it left the shop, give it a few hours, because completely malfunctioning and revving to 5,000 RPM. that was when I knew it was intentional and malicious.

[@mecha417]

How long until I have to learn how to build an entire car without being an engineer, perform surgery on myself without a doctor's license and produce my own medicine without being a pharmacist?

[@briguy4781]

The time is now

[@Joe-c1y9d]

I met a bachelor did a frame up overhaul on his pickup every so many years.

[@MyName-tb9oz]

I can tell you I'm currently treating myself for type 2 diabetes and have been for the last six months because the only thing the pharma-rep that pretends to be a doctor cares about is pushing more expensive drugs on me.

[@robinspanier7017]

as a german seeing the american cost of health care i would not hesitate to mix my own medicine or import it over the black market. 1000 bucks for insulin a week? lol

[@ProtossHyrdalisk]

I remember when my mom developed an autoimmune disease in her 60s. After having insurance her entire life, her insurance company decided that her treatment wasn’t medically necessary so they wouldn’t pay for infusions that her doctor said she needed. The risk of not getting the infusions? Complete paralysis including of smooth tissue and lung function. My parents had to pay between 10-20k for each infusion out of pocket after having health insurance their entire life from that provider. What a great system.

[@DerIchBinDa]

As an European I really always wondered what took so long that somebody did a Luigi in a country filled to the brim with guns. I would be livid!

[@Darth_Bateman]

@@DerIchBinDawhat affects most Americans today only affected a small and less “fair” portion of the country…. Now , corporations don’t care, they have smoke for everyone.

[@DerIchBinDa]

@@Darth_Bateman So it did get much worse the last years? More people are affected now and for more and more health issues which do net get covered, do I understand that correctly?

[@1KiloDepartment]

@@DerIchBinDa I'm Finnish, and here some people are scared the current government is going to cause healthcare to become like in USA, due to all kinds of budget cuts being taken due to dept. So hopefully _that situation_ made an example of how mad people might get. At least future _doers_ know they can get away with it, as long as people are willing to impersonate them :P

[@elenabob4953]

​​@@DerIchBinDaAfter watching Jillian Michaels episode on Luigi and american healthcare system I finally understood how insane their "healthcare" is.

[@Stef.Cata051]

Let's be honest here, they're not abusing just the customers, many of these companies are also abusing the employees

[@ProtossHyrdalisk]

The thing is the money is so good most people will put up with it.

[@Stef.Cata051]

@@ProtossHyrdalisk It's not that the money is good, in some places, especially for large corporations people have very little employment options.I don't see myself neither as a socialist nor a capitalist, I simply belive that small bussnises are in most cases more beneficial to employees and costumers, not because small businesses are moral but because they have competition and they have to be better than the competition. For example try to replace amazon as an employer in some areas, it's dificult but if you had 1000 small businesses the costumers and the employee would have a more varied choice.

[@Gelatinocyte2]

It's not criminal to identify as a Socialist

[@SunbleachedAngel]

Let's be honest, all these companies are abusing their employees

[@Stef.Cata051]

@@3nertia yeeee, I don't like that, I like the idea of hard work and being recognized for your work but I don't like the thirst for money.(This comes from a company owner, I own and operate my own logistics and transport company)

[@wasabikemosabe1773]

And here I thought Louis was gonna talk about how much he loves SMB3 and is considered the greatest game of all time.

[@ProtossHyrdalisk]

It’s a great choice. I’ll always be a Super Mario World guy, but do love SMB3

[@AoiHeartStranger]

We, patricians, know that Lost Levels is actually the best game

[@Nyumich]

We all know that Doki Doki Panic was the only Mario game to ever exist

[@vellathewench]

I know it's a bad take, but I've always loved SMB2. Idk why. Ofc 3 is amazing and world is very good as well. Maybe it's throwing vegetables that I enjoyed... lol

[@LA-MJ]

Server Message Block is shit, no matter the version

[@megatronskneecap]

"Deny, Defend, Derail" has to the be the funniest shit i've heard all month

[@one_step_sideways]

It's "Deflect", not "Defend". They know they can't defend this.

[@zh84]

@@one_step_sideways They did deflect the train, though. Off the track.

[@megatronskneecap]

@@one_step_sideways I'm going off of what was originally on the bullet

[@Dargubus93]

@@megatronskneecap it's funny Till the derail part becomes reality because the Break is deactivated....

[@skidooshlayman12]

trolley problem solved

[@S_Roach]

Oh, it's been in education for a LONG time. Textbooks are very expensive, and sometimes the only difference between two editions is the order that subtopics are listed, or the ordering of the questions in the quizzes at the back of the chapter. (JUST enough so that if you have a used copy from last year, you can't follow along with the professor's answer key.)

[@erik_dk842]

I remember it back from 1985

[@Morncreek]

Even worse, I could not purchase used books because professors assigned books that required an online licensing key that would expire within a year. This was back in the early 2010s. I can only dread how it has worsened since then.

[@macethorns1168]

@@Morncreek Books should just be part of the tuition.

[@alexcuevas5633]

@@macethorns1168 I'm lucky that's the case in my university.

[@marioisawesome8218]

​@@macethorns1168but then how are the people at the top of the pyramid scheme supposed to make their money?

[@Dargubus93]

I think the Problem in the last is, that in the last decades the idea shifted from "How can we create/add value and then get paid for that" to "How can we get paid the most for little added value (because that costs)" . That is also visible at the top of companies changing from engineers to finance people and adding more and more companies together where the top has nothing to do with the problem anymore.

[@TiBiAstro]

I hate to tell you this, but capitalism has always been about how to squeeze the most out of the least, always.

[@Dargubus93]

@TiBiAstro well yes and no. The closer the people in charge are to the customer and the produkt, the more they feel accountable. By now the people on top have nothing but numbers. Also they got closer and closer to politics.

[@QuantumConundrum]

This thankfully does open a gap in the market, because I guarantee you as soon as any company actually tries to make things better, people will flock to it (and sure, enshitification will catchup, but just keep switching to whatever is the current best option). That's the beauty of complete freedom of choice without external choice/policy at play. Take your money where it best serves you. I had no issue canceling Netflix when it overstayed it's welcome. It was nice while it lasted, but now the value isn't there for me.

[@Skimpily4426]

@@QuantumConundrumthat would be great, however manufacturers are trying as much as they can to hook up on their stuff and vendor lock you. For example, if your minors have Apple iPhone - good luck performing any parental controls or geolocation tracking from Android phone. So leaving some vendor lock sometimes can be mission impossible.

[@ZippydsmLee-freetube]

Its kinda always been like that, but what use to stop them from getting away with it, was lack of a walled garden. The DMCA prevents you from touching digital locks, and it also nukes fair use because you need an army of lawyers to have fair use rights. With things being digital, there's no easy work around, so the walled garden effect is magnified. Then you have the magnification of the centralization of the market under too big to fail and cost of scale factors, all driven by the thought control of IP rights.

[@mos8541]

if THEY change the agreed upon ToS, im free to do what i want including "pirating" , aaannd so on... THANKS LOU

[@DerekDudage]

Love how THEY say that THEY can change the ToS at any time! Isn't IP law wonderful?

[@Vladislav888]

Changing the agreement one-sidedly should be illegal with no exemptions other than force majeure like one party being incapacitated or dead.

[@littleshopofrandom685]

No, that is not the correct leap to make here. Companies do this because we let them. Pirating and stealing (of this type) does not hurt them. They already have your money. Taking BACK that money hurts them. If a company changes the terms of purchase and you disagree with them, return the product. If enough people do that, they will be forced into corrective action.

[@isturbo1984]

@@littleshopofrandom685 Yes, it literally is. If a bully punches you, the correct answer is to stand up for yourself and violently defend yourself. Doesn't matter if it is in school as a child or as an adult using 2A. And in this case, if a company bullies you in their many forms, you are entitled to stand up for yourself and hit back in a way you deem acceptable. Companies and bullies do not get to choose what they deem is acceptable retaliation. It's that simple. Always legal? No. But you know what? I always got in trouble along with the bully at school too. Also, you are wrong if you think pirating doesnt hurt them. They have the analytics to know. Gabe Newell once said "piracy is a service issue." And all these companies know it. Enough piracies and they will be forced to make corrective action as well.

[@kavic86]

@@littleshopofrandom685 How do you return a product that you have had for years? Most return policies are between 2-4 weeks, rarely can you return something years later. So unless you want to just return a product and get no refund and just ship it to them and pay for that shipping then go at it. In an instance like this the only thing you can do is hack/modify the product to remove there ability to even control the product after you bought it, assuming that is even possible.

[@jjcc8379]

Ifi recall correctly The Train in Poland situation was a Logic Bomb (when X days inside Y GPS perimeter, start giving issues) rather than remote disabling. But it pretty much is the same field of corporate malpractice (if you don't agree to my brutal practices say bye bye to your purchased EQUIPMENT) .

[@f.g.9466]

It was both, the logic bomb output was that the train system wouldn't start at all, so the trains were effectively being disabled.

[@hossosplitternacken7819]

poland Polska is an US NATO Enclave..satellite these days, nobody should be suprised their Trains lock up😅

[@1337penguinman]

I mean, that's basically what John Deere was/is doing. Multi-million dollar piece of equipment that they can just shutdown whenever.

[@RicardoSantos-oz3uj]

Shouldn't that be a criminal charge for both vandalism and organized crime?

[@robinspanier7017]

as someone coding on machines like that from time to time, i am very ashamed of my peers. its usually middle management that demands it all of a sudden, comming from a executive for some reason. stuff like this is prioritized like there is no tomorrow. its realy hard to say no. i said no every time, guess who is not promoted lol

[@underfasten]

I normally watch KZbin anonymously, but I felt compelled enough to use my account to comment here. Thank you for everything you do, including your FUTO software. I thoroughly enjoy Grayjay and the keyboard. I saw that Grayjay for the desktop just dropped (even though it's in Alpha right now).

[@DDRPriest]

Thanks I had totally missed the entire FUTO thing. Just installed the keyboard and voice. 👍

[@lavender188]

i typed this comment with the futo keyboard. heck yeah 😎

[@Jonathan-Shadow]

MAMMA MIA LUIGI, this is a shitty terms of service…. WAAAAAaaaaoooooooooo

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

It's OK Mario, I've got you... Hold my beer battered shrimp.

[@Jonathan-Shadow]

@ Luigi…. It’s the mushrooms…. Imma think I’m a tripping the ballzzz…. MAMMA MIAAA 🍄

[@wikwayer]

Luigi: where's the CEO ?

[@rhetorical1488]

@@wikwayer he is in another castle.

[@wikwayer]

@@rhetorical1488 Luigi: not for long

[@Diavlox]

DRM is the worst thing to happen since subscription models.

[@AntiGrieferGames]

DRM is there before the suscription models.

[@Mike-yt4jq]

@AntiGrieferGames There are also far worse things lurking in the background which will include these two elements... and a lot more.

[@georgH]

DRM predates these services for a very long time, and many many people like the fsf warned very strongly about it.

[@rossmanngroup]

I like how they included the word rights in DRM. Rights management. They are not managing their rights, they are managing yours. The term itself is so fundamentally dystopian. Your right to ownership is being managed by them. Your right to do what you want with your property is being managed by them.

[@Diavlox]

@@rossmanngroup nothing has changed, in the end, it is all about control, one day I will come to America, and I wish to work for you, hopefully you are alive by then.

[@Ecter]

As a person that had to wait in the cold for a replacement train a year ago because of this crap: We should start calling this kind of practice "corporate ransom". Louis, the scummy repair shop example you said as a though experiment is just straight up ransomware, to the letter. There are businesses holding customers ransom. They are holding legislators ransom. It is just this, we have a word for that already, it's a damn ransom - this should be seen for what it is, a criminal act, no matter what the letter of the law says (because, let's reiterate - legislators are also being held ransom, money buys laws).

[@simonnoble2345]

Enshitification is the natural evolutionary path for any corporation

[@vincei4252]

Microsoft

[@A.A.Rabbit]

It's the carcinization equivalent of the business world.

[@AfonsoBucco]

even if you think profit is okay, even if think being richer than 99% can be okay depending on how did you get it; You still can agree there is a STRUCTURAL problem here; most actions of the state, and most of the media and big companies are ruled by a restrict group of enriched people who is there only due to abuse and exploitation. Capitalism is NOT a synonym of free market. Capitalism is when the power of money is bigger than democracy. It's when the state is ruled by capitalists. And capitalists are who have enough power to hijack the state. So you don't even need to be communist to be against capitalism.

[@Yero_Celgne]

I had this in the background and when i came back i saw the mic at 7:53 and thought " HOLY SHIT IS THAT A SHOTGUN" till i got closer LMAO

[@WhiffenC]

This is why i have a 15 yr old car, a 7 yr old phone and do everything from my computer with cords. No streaming services or nadda. Sick of it all.

[@yoshikinanami7434]

Hanging on to a phone for at least 6 years should be the norm. Phones nowadays aren’t getting that much better each generation.

[@ProtossHyrdalisk]

Yep. Have myself a VCR and a PS2 in my bedroom. Although, I’m not as dedicated as you. I do have an Apple TV in the living room. Although, I’ve turned off the WiFi around my house. Everything that I want connected to the internet is hardwired with cat 5-6 and switches.

[@marcellachine5718]

​@@ProtossHyrdalisk how do you hard wire a device that does not have a rj45?

[@WhiffenC]

@yoshikinanami7434 Exactly. I get what I need from it, and it does everything fine. Big oled screen, good camera, micro SD storage, headphone jack, and USB C fast charge. Don't see myself needing anything else, really. Its way cheaper to repair the screen or replace the battery on an older phone.

[@fr34k0o]

That is the only solution in such a ridiculous clown world :'D

[@MH44444]

There needs to be a political party that has a platform that includes consumer protections, privacy, and ownership rights as part of the platform. Warranty and insurance denial (including heathcare) is also a huge issue. Warranties are just arbitrarily denied. Things have gotten so extreme and out of hand in the US.

[@SuperFlashDriver]

Isn't that what the "Independent" party is for???

[@MH44444]

@SuperFlashDriver You can't win with an independent party. The existing party needs to be taken over. The far right took over the Republican party on an independent platform. What needs to happen is a platform within the democratic party needs to form. I think Bernie Sanders is trying to do this.

[@soundguydon]

It'll never truly happen because all of washington is bought out by corporations. Corporations own the law makers and can afford high-priced attorneys who will tie you up in the court system until you've used your last cent. Even the woefully few "honest-ish" politicians can't even do anything about it, because their purchased brethren outnumber them.

[@superduperdrew12345]

​@SuperFlashDriver Independent is for supporting third party candidates that won't win anything and don't intend to either

[@SuperFlashDriver]

@@superduperdrew12345 Hmmm...it was just an idea.

[@V4VestA]

Louis Rossmann-many thanks and much appreciation for everything you do. You have 2.2M subscribers. It’s on each of us to discourage these evil corporate practices, wherever we engage in discourse. Thanks for your work!

[@MyName-tb9oz]

The only vote you have that matters is where you spend your money. ― Me, 2000

[@TeianDown]

I feel like "how much money you make" and "how you make your money" are connected. While questionable ethics can exist at all levels of profitability, I wonder whether anyone has amassed a net worth exceeding $1 billion without having caused undue harm - whether it's harm to their customers, their employees, or the general public through externalities like polluting the environment?

[@jamesbyronparker]

This is the exact thing people are saying when they say "eat the rich". Most people, even socialists don't give a shit if the guy that owns a local mechanic shop has a beach house, there is however no POSSIBLE way to get to a billion dollars without stepping on someone else

[@bivtheast]

This is a fact

[@GodOfOrphans]

Not at this juncture no, the ones already at the top will rig it so that nobody of high moral standing can reach their level of wealth and power because they'd be a threat even by just passively leading by example. The way things are set up also systemically favour sociapathic behaviour between the scale being so huge that it's impossible not to fly past Dunbar's Number, and just the amount of politicking that is required to succeed in the corporate world between petty office politics and navigating all the GSR and envious sabotage by coworkers, and the more macro stuff like lobbying and all the lawyering that's required, lawyers and lawmakers especially are both carreers witha perverse incentive in making just basic living for everyone else as difficult as possible because if navigating the law and redressing greivances was easy they'd be obsolete, the entire concept of legalese is less a consequence of things getting more complex and rather a deliberate stumbling blokc put in place to gatekeep laymen out of the big club and featherbed the careers of the parasites.

[@Enclave.]

There are no ethical billionaires. Also yes, I don't begrudge success but there's success and then there's the hyper wealthy. They are not the same thing.

[@GodOfOrphans]

The mega rich actively supress ethical competition because that would just expose what a shameless grift their excuses for needing to do all this unethical crap to be profitable is. So indeed there are no ethical billionaires it's theoretically possible for one to exist but not at this societal juncture where the oligarchy is entrentched and actively rigging the system to only allow the corrupt to be successful.

[@gravelrhoads]

Thank you, Louis! You have such a great way of putting things into proper focus. I don't care how much money a person makes, I care about how they treat their employees AND customers.

[@Archimedes115]

Love what you’re saying Louis, but the issues are at least implicitly linked because the amount of profit a lot of these companies are making is ONLY possible thru extortion, and innovation-based growth of a company is too slow for them.

[@Inspirator_AG112]

*I never expected **_Louis Rossman_** to discuss Super Mario Bros...*

[@Incredible_Mister_J]

Happy new year Louis, may we all strive for the honesty you emulate.

[@RB-bd5tz]

8:56 “My small business can’t do this because I would be held accountable.” Yup; big businesses get away with it simply because they’re so big. Just like the schoolyard bully.

[@christasimon9716]

I recently got myself a new printer at home. It took some serious searching to find a printer that DIDN'T have a monthly subscription. WTF

[@jzlazy05]

Oh man, this actually exists?! Does your printer also take ink instead of cartridges? I'd really appreciate if you could post the model number because I can't stand my printer 😅

[@cgrooney9945]

Im in the exact same boat....can you share which one you purchased? Im still searching for one

[@SlinkyD]

Get a Brother ​@@cgrooney9945

[@diegoaravena423]

Pls share the name

[@vincei4252]

I have ancient Canon and Brother laser printers so I'm safe. I doubt I'll buy another printer.

[@mosiomaaugustine]

Nowadays I am addicted to your updates.

[@fr34k0o]

This has so much therapeutic value, it's insane :')

[@danielsanichiban]

I’ve left companies and given up serious money for lesser reasons. Why are so many people so complacent and willingly complicit in this crap. I think we need more organization and leadership on the people side, the organism is missing a backbone

[@mattrogers6646]

There are plenty of organizations and leaders with integrity... but we will never know or hear about them. There is no significant source of funding to magnify their reach and visibility, and they are opposing the deep pocketed lies of industry lobbyists that fund US lawmakers campaigns. The incentive structures are perverse and the system is broken. At least Europe has decent consumer protections...

[@phatman808]

I'm not in any way being an apologist for people who are complacent in this abuse, but in a capitalist society with almost no social safety net, you either have a job that pays the bills or you become homeless and die, and the system is acutely aware of this reality and vigorously seeks to maintain it. "Maybe if I just keep my head down and do my job I'll be able to survive, maybe even own a house someday. Sure hope I don't have any sudden medical expenses that get denied but at least I have health insurance with my job." The working class in the US has very little solidarity compared to other countries and if that doesn't change then nothing else will, and again the system understands this and actively seeks to divide people. Wait until you see the show trial of Mario's brother, I guarantee they'll pull out ALL the stops to discourage anyone else from taking action because they know how much rage is openly seething against the abuse. "You can only push people so far" a famous computer repairman once said in a video.

[@danielsanichiban]

@ yes, learned hopelessness, I understand it well, firstly by having lived that way for decades, including a time being homeless myself, suffering under financial duress, all that, and then also having grown and learned to take control. Now I see how the lack of understanding around me, the lack of organization, the required leadership, and education, are key to keeping it this way, and fixing that is the way to turn it all around. It helps to call it out, describe it, discuss it. I can’t see that we can ever extinguish greed and exploitation but we might counter it enough to get it under control if we have a can-do attitude and some good ideas. If everyone leads a little, we have global communication at our disposal right now, we just need to grab the bull by the horns as they say. I praise Lewis here for exercising his influence and opting out of so much BS

[@hisham_hm]

9:05 I don't think you're not doing evil stuff just because you're held accountable for consequences. I think you'd rather do the right thing. You've showed us multiple times that between the easy and wrong path, and the tough and right path, you took the right path, Louis.

[@cadturt9295]

one key point to add about the whole "they aren't making money with innovation". most companies never have. most companies historically relied on population growth to increase the bottom line once they have established themselves, but most 1st world countries are decreasing in their replacement rates, and mark my word, once we do fall below replacement, you'll see some truly evil business practices to ensure quarterly growth.

[@antagonist99]

NEWAG really should get nationalized for this. The company fucked around, and it is high time these companies found out this isn't acceptable behavior.

[@tamadeus7189]

Or bare minimum FINED the price of the train.

[@andrzejostrowski5579]

People in charge of Newag have political connections. It wouldn’t surprise me if they punished the people who discovered the wrong-doing.

[@devyn7853]

Fined and/or compensate ticket holders (way over the price of tickets) for the stress of stranding them, yes. The government running it instead is not the solution.

[@clementattlee6984]

​@@devyn7853there is no example of privatisation working successfully. I live in Scotland where the trains are nationalised and I can count on one hand the number of times my train has been late or cancelled in the 3 years I've lived there. Meanwhile, my friend in England where trains are privatised just posted today that EVERY train she has caught in 2024 was delayed or cancelled. Every single one. Privatisation👏does👏not👏work👏 (especially when it comes to natural monopolies)

[@ViperOfMino]

@@devyn7853 A fine is gonna do nothing except make them think they can get away with it by just paying a little money to make the issue go away lol. Fines for companies like NEWAG aren't even a blip on their radar, they're just the cost of doing business.

[@ceeaymoore]

I've been writing about this on Threads for the past few weeks, and I agree completely. All the memes, all the "support" of "The Adjuster", is a reaction not to a brazen and brutal daylight crime, it's an unleashing of anger, grief, and dissatisfaction about being constantly exploited. It's a shame a guy died, but all that anger has to go somewhere, and this was the easy outlet.

[@jamesrowlands8971]

Is it really a shame when mass murderers are stopped?

[@MonkeyJedi99]

I call the thing that keeps the violent option from being more widespread the "thin veneer of civilization". And some companies, some politicians, some news outlets... are working really hard with 60-grit to scrape off that veneer.

[@erinmcdonald7781]

@@MonkeyJedi99 Truth! They’ve pulled out the sand blaster!

[@AngelaMerici12]

Indeed! I don't like murder but I don't want to die because my insurance doesn't want to cover my treatment.

[@jannikheidemann3805]

If civilization gets sold out barbarism remains.

[@144IamthatIam]

Been a few good years I've been following the content. It's good to see you haven't changed much. In terms of peaceful cultural change, the probability of that going down is close to none, but I hope I'm wrong.

[@kopasdupas]

To be precise, the manufacturer did not disabled trains remotely. The GPS data of all workshops was hardcoded in the PLC code. If train has been left for more than a number of days in one of the hardcoded locations, the firmware simulated random errors, preventing workshop's engineers from starting it.

[@baddragonite]

Funny thing is at a glance the mic in the thumbnail makes it look kinda like he's holding a short barreled shotgun so I was like, "oh man he's going to war over Mario" lol

[@Nerobyrne]

What's crazy is that economists have been predicting stuff like the "Mario Bros Situation" since the 19th century. It's not hard to look at what people like the robber barons were doing back in the day and think "you know, people can only be pushed so far." Except this time, it's not the workers, but the customers that are getting shafted.

[@QuickNETTech]

It's both workers and consumers, the inevitability of maximal capital accumulation demands it be taken from everyone

[@SenkaZver]

The workers are the customers. These corporations make us for fractions of value that we did decades ago then extort us for every penny of that back.

[@leonro]

Legitimate question: what's up with Super Mario Bros? What connection does it have with people rising up against corporate abuse of customers?

[@Robbedem]

@@leonro The guy who allegedly shot the UH CEO is named Luigi.

[@WDC_OSA]

​@@leonroOne of the Mario brothers is named Luigi, so people are bringing it up in reference to Luigi Mangione, who killed the UnitedHealth Care CEO.

[@jamesm.9434]

Loancare (mortgage servicer)is trying this, I can no longer log in and view my documents. I'm met with a forced arbitration agreement and other forced contracts. I never sign a single document with this company, they purchased the "servicing" contract from my original provider over 8 years ago. I no longer have access to any of my mortgage documents. Cannot for the life of me see how this can be legal.

[@marvinmallette6795]

In USA Federal Law, Forced Arbitration does not apply to outright illegal actions. US Federal Law supersedes local state and municipality law with established precedent in a New York case. Forced Arbitration therefore cannot override existing contracts you signed in a resulting unlawful changing of the contract. Forced Arbitration applies to "controversy". The Terms of Service, Terms and Conditions of software, and the End User License Agreement (EULA) apply to negligible incidents such as typos, as long as those typos do not result in the death of a customer through being served an allergen. Generally, ToS and EULAs are applicable to a "License", like a Driver's License, these are arbitrary attestations of ongoing business between two parties, however a ToS or EULA cannot govern all interactions with a company. It is strongly recommended to maintain physical hard copies of your mortgage documents for reference, should the digital service for accessing them become unavailable. If you feel that your rights are being violated, then you should engage the services of an attorney or other legal representative who can establish that any violations occurring are of a criminal sort and therefore are exempt from any Arbitration clauses whatsoever. If Loancare has broken their contract, you may no longer be bound to the original terms of the contract and may be awarded damages. I am not a lawyer, you will need to engage the services of one to demonstrate a case that a Judge won't be able to dismiss under Arbitration law. Or at the very least, to provide a strongly worded letter to Loancare informing of them of the limitation of Arbitration law, and necessitating compliance with the law within a timely fashion following notification as per the result of any confusion with regards to the governance of Forced Arbitration.

[@DerIchBinDa]

That forced arbitration is legal is just mindblowing, I am so glad it is not legal here in Germany.

[@erik_dk842]

@@DerIchBinDa Germans are fine, unless they speak against the regime, then it's off to jail. #Schwachkopf

[@GalladeTheWarrior]

​@@marvinmallette6795absolutely love the thorough detail but if this person is already in a ton of debt how are they supposed to pay an attorney or other legal expert?

[@TheCatherineCC]

We need so many player twos.

[@LGtheCat]

Thanks for your way of explaining things I can't even bother to explain to my family, I have been sharing these videos with them for a while

[@Golddess]

5:51 It did not cross my mind what "play Super Mario Brothers in Poland" would mean until I checked the comments as I'd completely forgotten the name of the dude who minecrafted that CEO.

[@9OutOfBen]

Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent revolution inevitable...its not a justification, its a recognition of cause and effect combined with basic human psychology.

[@DerekS-kq3zh]

Remember that when the people you dislike have their own violent revolution.

[@SenkaZver]

The Island of Dr. Monroe should be required reading. At the end of the day, humans are still just animals. A bunch of animals with very primal feelings and reactions. Our civility is built upon a fragile balance of satisfying those primal needs enough that the population can continue putting on the facade, the mask of civility and peace. People are about to learn what happens when you knock over that balance and return humans to their true nature.

[@SenkaZver]

@@DerekS-kq3zh Ok corporate simp.

[@PlagueGuy]

I started reading the fourth turning and it goes over this fact in historical detail. We are at a point now where the younger generations don't relate with what was established when the boomers took power. Just as with everything on this planet, entropy happens and you must migrate, adapt, or die (M.A.D for short)

[@mediocreman2]

Hmm, did Pelosi send you in here to find some way to justify and distract from her involvement?

[@midbc1midbc199]

Louis brings out the best point and that's how people's minds have changed when it comes to being ripped off by corporations. When somebody has had enough anything can happen

[@ericpeterson1383]

I'd love peaceful positive change! Thank you for being a voice for it. I really hope there are enough decent human beings running business and making decisions that will listen.

[@LisaMichele]

keep hoping

[@finalcut612]

why does everyone insist on peace from the exploited while the exploiters get free use of violence? a healthcare CEO gets shot and I'm supposed to hand-wring about the 'culture' and the 'humanity' while said CEO was explicitly letting people die from preventable or treatable illnesses for money and boasting about it to his shareholders? Why is that violence acceptable? because he made the line go up for shareholders?

[@AllfatherBlack]

I'd love it too. But I'm not waiting for it anymore.

[@Claudia-km9lo]

There aren't.

[@bp6942]

People just have to accept that doing what is right is difficult and will have costs. Lead by example. Do the right thing when no one else around you is. It will cost, but it's the only way to break the cycle. It will take courage and strength.

[@josephaltman460]

The main thing I love about you Louis, you call out the monsters.

[@Ozubura]

"That baseball bat fell off the balcony building." That was too specific. lol

[@linamishima]

We live in a time when there’s no faith in the social contract. Human societies, from hunter-gatherer gift-giving economies through to medieval monarchs through to renaissance merchants, have always ultimately run on a social contract. That doing work of value to society is rewarded, and we respect those who benefit from our work. Those calling for communist or socialist revolution are really desperately reaching for a perceived return to the social contract, just as those arguing for neoliberalism or right wing authoritarianism are desperately grasping for a return to the social contract. In these dark times, you are right that the small business owner is held to the social contract, when those with more power are not. And many of those with more power might find themselves constrained in a system that forces a twisted view of the social contract (eg, treating their staff awfully in order to keep costs low, in turn keeping sales up, in turn allowing them to pay their staff).

[@MyName-tb9oz]

It doesn't matter what you call your system of distribution of resources once the sociopaths are running it. The results are the same: A very small group of people with control over most of the resources and a very large group of people living in de facto slavery. ― Me, 2005 The only significant difference between capitalism and communism is that communism _starts off_ with a small number of very powerful people controlling the distribution of all of the resources and capitalism gives you the opportunity to avoid that if everyone is alert and doesn't expect to get something for nothing. Sadly, humans tend to be very short-sighted. ― Me, 2010 The only vote you have that matters is where you spend your money. ― Me, 2000 Really, the destruction of the social contract (or, more directly: common decency) is the fault of people who think that they should get something for nothing. Society gets created from the top down. The people one rung down from the top try to be like the people at the very top and so on all the way down to the bottom. If your business is run by a psychopath they're going to hire psychopaths to do the things they want done, aren't they? Normal people would refuse to do the horrible things that are commonly done and are only now being noticed by the common people. Those people at the top think they are insulated from the consequences of the things they do. To some extent they are right. But not completely. A lot of the 'Boomers' don't see what's being done to their children and grandchildren because they got to play on 'easy mode' back when you could support a family on one factory paycheck and still pay for college for your kids and buy a pretty nice home. They think nothing has really changed except that, "nobody wants to work any more!" Well, no. It's more that nobody wants to work for nothing. Nobody wants to spend their entire life in some job that, when they finally check out, they find that they haven't accomplished anything at all and that their entire existence has served only to make the owners even more powerful than they already were and to make the lives of ordinary people more miserable. This is what happens when your society is ruled by psychopaths.

[@flutebasket4294]

It can be said that all microphones are phallic, but there's something _ESPECIALLY_ phallic about THAT microphone

[@baronvonschnellenstein2811]

A "blue-steeler"?! 😼

[@mikehensley78]

Companies should not be allowed to sell stuff that can't be worked on/repaired! Seems like it would keep more crap out of landfills.

[@arthurwintersight7868]

Alternatively impose a mandatory 25 year product warranty on all electronic devices, where corporations can only evade their warranty obligation by making the devices easy to service. "We won't provide batteries because the battery spec is public and literally anyone can make them." - "We won't provide updates because it's been 10 years, but the bootloader is unlocked so you can install whatever operating system you want." - "We won't fix your screen, but here's ten other manufacturers that make replacements you can slot in, and here's the iFixIt page for DIY repair."

[@roxcyn]

Every boss, manager, director and CEO should watch this video.

[@digbertnelson6842]

You never seem to miss, I always look forward to these "food for thought" type of videos from you

[@jayzo]

Oh my I remember the Polish train DRM scandal. I put the date the "DRM" chose for the trains' secondary compressor to "fail" in my calendar so I never forget. I cannot believe the audacity of the train manufacturer, and I suppose this is a successful example of showing them this behaviour is not acceptable.

[@xpyr]

Very well said. Those who make decisions that consumers hate never seem to have to deal with that hate by consumers. They let their underlings as they would call them, deal with it.

[@lex4478]

2:36 “she looks at me with this 😡“

[@Sokofeather]

Thank you Louis... This is actually the sinest and most rational take I've heard on this. No identitarianism, just historic facts. The reason we have the law in the first place is to prevent people from taking justice into their own hands. When it fails, it's dangerous for everyone.

[@iphatbass]

Yesterday, something similar happened on my sister's TV. Netflix and other apps were working fine for years, but after latest firmware updates all those apps are removed. You could not disable updating, it just forced update when it was turned on and BAM! All those "smart" apps were gone and can't be downloaded again

[@HulluJanne]

It often feels like anyone I talk to is not familiar with companies screwing over their customers, mandating a subscription and giving all your information to them and making products with all kinds of proprietary stuff and closed source shit without giving the customer the right to own.

[@Logicalidea-ni2zv]

Hey Louis, I admit that I do make fun of people who knowingly buy from X companies, and I often say, "You deserve to be screwed." To clarify, this sentiment is directed only toward those who are fully aware of X company’s practices yet continue to support them. I say this because, ultimately, the strongest way we can push back is with our wallets. While advocacy and speaking out against manufacturers' policies are important, consumer spending sends the most powerful message. Unfortunately, many people don't care until they experience the consequences themselves. That’s why I say, "You deserve to be screwed" it’s a wake-up call to recognize the impact of their choices.

[@haraldlonn898]

I agree. The way it once was went sour with the internet. I believe it was then everything started. Long time ago when you bought some product you got a manual with it in how to fix stuf if it breaks. Now you get a qr code to get run over. Thanks for great videos.

[@therationalanarchist]

Changing the terms after the sale is nothing more than bait and switch. It should be a crime because it is criminal. You are so insightful in saying what you've said here. You hit it right on the head for why things are the way they currently are. The real problem is that faceless corporations own the government.

[@swolfington]

changing the terms post-sale is no different then them breaking into your house and stealing 20 bucks from your wallet, and it's a disgusting that it isn't treated as such. if they want the customer to agree to flexible terms, then that shit needs to be defined in a contract, signed at the point of sale, and not some "you agree if you tear open the box" nonsense either. actual, real signed paper that both parties can keep for their records. If companies that engage in this behavior were not thieves to begin with, then they would not be afraid to put their terms out in the open before money is exchanged.

[@gostillerz]

You're a freaking hero dude. Videos are always spot on.

[@Tobiasz931]

Thank you for putting this into words far better than I could. I don't like people getting harmed. I don't think you can only condemn illegal things. I think if you affect other people's lives you should never be immune to consequences. These 3 things are hard to combine, but we had too much of people not feeling the consequences of their actions and I'm sick of it.

[@Nexalian_Gamer]

Another problem that the people don't realize is sometimes it's literally impossible to get these CEO's out of power. You gonna sue a billion or trillion dollar company? Good luck. The gov will bail them out and you'll be left in financial ruin. I'm not saying that Luigi's a hero, but how else are you gonna make these people pay?

[@benwhittle7204]

Stop using these company's services/products. But those who shoot someone in the back, and those that cheered him on, are also probably the same ones too weak to actually choose alternative products on mass.

[@That_One_Annoying_Splinter]

​@@benwhittle7204I'm not condoning their behavior But you do realize almost no health insurance company in the US is for YOUR benefit? Sure they give you options, but they will try to say no when they absolutely can.

[@TheBladzAngel]

Whether we like it or not, at the end of the day, super Mario is the only thing they are going to listen to. The choice of sequels really isn't on us, but them. I'm tired of sequels are would like to see some new IPs similar to those of old.

[@mediocreman2]

Oh boy. Pelosi's connection needs to be investigated.

[@arthurwintersight7868]

@@benwhittle7204 - ...and what happens when those companies buy up all of their competitors and all 20 brands are owned by the same megacorp that does the same stuff across every brand name and product line? Are we supposed to just not have bank accounts? Go without basic phone service?

[@VadimOnTour]

The biggest problem with this train manufacturer is that they blocked trains remotely whenever they appeared in independent workshops for a planned inspection, not related to any failure. Other train workshops did these inspections cheaper, so to prevent the inspection from being cheaper, the manufacturer remotely turned off the train, blocked it completely whenever the GPS position matched the location of such a workshop. Finally, manufacter sued a group of hackers, hired by the train owner (the one who bought the train), who discovered in the source code of the train controller that something like remote blocking is possible for violating copyrights to the code.

[@swolfington]

in a sane world it should not be possible to copyright the code that hard goods require in order to function as sold. at least, it should not be any more illegal to reverse engineer a gear assembly than it is the code that drives the engine timing or whatever.

[@VadimOnTour]

@@swolfington The reality is that these hackers were accused and sued for copyright infringement. Disputes in Polish courts can drag on for 8-10 years or even longer. Even if they win the case in the end (which is not obvious in Polish law), they will lose a few good years of their lives and a lot of money on lawyers.

[@SB-qm5wg]

When you spend more $ on lobbying than improving your customer exp, you're not the good guy

[@MasterDebator-l7u]

Very well stated as always, and I like how you break it down so even a kindergartner could understand. Clear and succinct. Subscribed

[@stourn2399]

did this with doom... paid 60$ for it only to have to sign up a bethesda account to actually play it. wtf???

[@321Jarn]

Yeah it bad. But atleast on steam you can see it before purchasing.

[@GalladeTheWarrior]

​@321Jarn Guy probably just hasn't actually bought a game in a while

[@MarsofAritia]

the real doom doesn't have this problem

[@one_step_sideways]

Mr. Rossmann, what do you think of the soon-to-be-announced ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition which doesn't have a TrackPoint? In their press material, they advertise its... non-soldered SSDs. As if it isn't a given, on a ThinkPad no less. As if it's a feature to brag about. Update: It's worse. It's so much worse... No Page Up/Page Down keys, the Delete button is in the wrong place (remember the transtition from 7-row to chicklet?), the Fn and Ctrl are swapped. This has got to be an out-of-season April Fools joke. It's so over.

[@rossmanngroup]

No track point, no think pad. They have been slowly butchering the IBM legacy. When they remove the track point, They will have completed their mission, and are no longer allowed to call it a think pad.

[@D.von.N]

Is it Lenovo? I know Thinkpad is very popular among comp geeks, but no Lenovo for me I'm afraid. No Huawei, no Opera, no Tiktok... you get it

[@skurwysyn]

@@D.von.N on older thinkpads you can get rid of almost (if not all) spyware etc.

[@stpworld]

@@rossmanngroup When roku added that and prevented me from watching my movies I canceled them and the movie I like that was on roku came out on bluray any way so i don't need them any more I even got a portable bluray player to. I took a picture of me canceling it and posted on there twitter I don't know if they care but I did any way.

[@mrgrumpy888]

Are Framework laptops as good as a classic T-Series thinkpad?

[@JeTTRod]

All cars sold as of 2026 are mandated to have remote shut of and geo fencing.... You can not shut it off remotely or control the geo fencing, so who can, when and why exactly?

[@Morncreek]

Source?

[@JeTTRod]

@Morncreek look it up.. was publicized months ago... multiple youtubers have already covered this.

[@sickofitall8486]

Part of that bi-partisan “infrastructure” bill. Bi-partisan is how you know it’s bad for everyone.

[@robcrawford1968]

One does not have to like/agree/condone something for it to be true. The relentless pressure of helplessness against these forces that people face everyday will eventually create these situations.

[@Pierobon]

I bought a 2001 model year BMW, with heated seats and with no internet connection. Cheers! 🍻

[@TwoBs]

I glanced at the thumbnail and thought it was a bad AI generated image of him holding a baseball bat, except it’s floating away from the hands.

[@docmalitt]

I think (and no, haven't read all the comments on the www) most ppl weren't commenting his salary, but the issue he knew they refuse 33% of the policies (doublr the national standard) and ALSO knew they use AI for processing requests that makes wrong decision in 90% of the cases (was in the lawsuit discovery.. CEO knew that fact, yet he did nothing). THAT was that main content - and not his salary - of the most comments on the entire web. Not important, but just FYI

[@rossmanngroup]

That's what I'm saying!

[@RicardoSantos-oz3uj]

Law is the opinion of politicians asserted trough use of violence. It has nothing to do at all with justice. Justice is to right a wrong. While Vengance to to harm someone that has harmed you. When justice is not possible. The people will seek Vengance. Threats only go so far as people have something to lose. But to be honest. If a loved one died because some unscrupulous company say that they didn't need a treatment. I would problably be the #1 fan of Mario Bros. And the least there would be in my mind is pleasing the opinion of politicians.

[@osirisgolad]

Man, when Louis said "You know when you see in the comments section of an article about this Polish train thing and someone says 'someone should be playing Super Mario Bros in Poland', you know what the fuck they mean" I realised that I must be getting old because I have no clue what that sentence means, absolutely zero. It's like no-one uses words anymore, every sentence is 50% meme language and 50% references to events that completely pass me by.

[@ddkapps]

I'm guessing it's a reference to the first name of the guy who shot the UH CEO. Mario, Luigi... You know, the main characters in Super Mario Bros. The accused killer is named Luigi. Because if it's not that I have no idea what it means either.

[@Morncreek]

​@@ddkapps Thank you, that makes sense.

[@Baron9969]

I totally agree with you about the meme speak (I still say it should be spelled meem) and events I don't focus on. It wasn't until I read the comments here that I figured out what the Super Mario thing was all about. I'm a huge fan of Mr. Rossmann and today was a rough watch. Still I applaud everything he said... now that I understand it. :)

[@TheSpeep]

​@@ddkappsYeah it is 100% that. First time I've seen people reference it like that tho.

[@osirisgolad]

@@ddkapps Thanks for spelling it out, I would never have figured that out on my own since I've never read or heard the name and am only vaguely aware of the event itself; that one never stood a chance of getting over the recognition threshold in my brain.

[@roearchive6366]

You're AWESOME! Keep it going, man!

[@BlueScreenCorp]

5:00 This is the argument that the general public has been making about the Brian Thompson situation. People were cheering because a bully got retribution, the fact that he was profiteering was only fuel to the fire...

[@Koush88]

Louis the problem as i understand it is that you have to start stepping on people to make more money beyond a certain threshold and this dynamic is not just on the individual level, USA wouldn't be the wealthiest country if it didn't exploit other countries.

[@BentFraKommunen]

The entire intro is just the pitch to be head of the FTC :) #MakeItHappen

[@kyrylosovailo1690]

First they came for electric vehicles, and I did not speak out - because I didn't dive an electric vehicle.

[@rollyourowntech2902]

This speaks to what I finally defined in my mind last year. Institutional accountability. I have observed for quite some time that there is a huge lack of consequences and accountability for institutions. Whether that be companies, foundations, organizations, movements, whatever. People hide behind this big wall (company/institution, etc), and they don't feel the accountability of their decisions. Louis, you are right - as a small business owner myself, I have the exposure directly to my customers. They know who I am, where my business is located. I live in a relatively small town. There is no hiding behind the corporate veil for decisions I make.

[@SargeZeldaProductions]

The consequences for remotely shutting down those trains should have been the same consequences that I would receive if I got mad about the policies of United Airlines and decided to sabotage their software, grounding all their flights for a week. The executives at Newag, the manufacturer who had remotely shut down those trains, should be spending DECADES in prison for opting to shut down critical infrastructure. Domestic Terrorism charges, or similar. Why is it even governments like to accept the premise of assholes?

[@absurdengineering]

Let’s hope for their sake that the extension cords are within length limits and in good repair 👍👍👍

[@beejls]

Well here's the thing, though, with most corporate gazillionaires. It's very rare today to find one who made his big bucks by doing anything other than cheating lying stealing abusing...

[@GalladeTheWarrior]

AKA walking through a series of open doors

[@isturbo1984]

I just wanted to point out you are spot on with people making fun of the customers. It's gotten so bad, there is a war going on within the video game industry and its customers. KZbinrs and influencers are actively siding with companies against customers. Instead of daring to complain to the companies about criticisms they themselves admit to having... I've seen these influencers make videos basically making fun of the customer, telling them not to complain. Often outright lying and pretending said criticism doesn't exist. And I'm willing to bet, half of you reading this side with the companies and corporations.

[@arthurwintersight7868]

How many of those influencers are getting paid?

[@iCookCrystalMeth]

@@arthurwintersight7868Too many, but also not all of them, which means some just do it naturally. Which is a lot worse.

[@junkman8742]

Thumbs down but you can't see how many

[@isturbo1984]

@@arthurwintersight7868 all the ones with sponsors and free copies of games to review, i'm sure. sad thing, is a lot of them do it for free.

[@neonshadow5005]

Yeah, the problem is people normalize this and even defend it. When I point this kind of thing out to people about their electronics or computers, they either shrug it off and say "well it's never going to affect me so why should I care?" or they defend it adamantly because they have to justify that they bought it anyway.

[@DavidH373]

I have been watching survival videos recently to pick up some new skills, first aid, fire starting, to name a few. One video I was watching was talking about people's philosophy about preparing for an apocalyptic event. It talked about how many people in their channel's comments have said they planned on harming others and stealing for their survival. The point they made was preparing to do harm later meant you were a bad person now, and in these survival scenarios behaving in this way would only open bad people up to more danger and karma and to have violence committed against them. You should not be the person preparing to be the bad guy. Do your best to be the good guy.

[@fay876]

Louis, I recall watching a vid where you crashed out from working too much live streaming, watched you repair countless boards in NY, watched your kitties antics in that tiny shop, and biking across NY to get to work. Watched you fight for the right to repair and fight with Apple. Inspired, bought my equipment and F'd up a bunch of things trying to do my own repairs, truly appreciate the fact you are still going...Thank you for that.

[@handle_your_set]

This is that voice in the radio in every book. The signal that sneaks through, between the approved broadcast stations.

[@teridero1]

As doctor who said, logical conclusion to capitalism. Short term profits mean shorter term of life.

[@GoobWasHere]

Louis is 90% of the way there, but just how much money these companies / people make SHOULD absolutely be a point of focus. The fact that these companies make BILLIONS of dollars is more than just salt in the wound, it's a direct contributing factor to the quality of people's lives. Most people agree that we shouldn't print infinite money, so when companies make ever more money with ever increasing profits, where does that money come from? Their profits by definition leave less money in the economy for everyone else. Most people cannot comprehend the amount of money these companies make and how far that money would go to improve society / people's every day lives if it was not off-shored or concentrated to a select few at the top.

[@Dratchev241]

you are almost making the connection... At one time the money companies did make (going with US companies since I am in the USA) did stay here and improved the USA. that company had Americans working for them in factories that was here which those workers spent money in the community in which more people had money and so on.. then NAFTA came which the giant sucking sound started and those local jobs were sucked away, which now all other biz which relied on those people having money to spend all of a sudden didn't have it anymore which meant they closed which meant more people with no money. Where I live in 1990 quality of life was good, by 2001 quality of life was not good due to nafta. 2024 quality of life is still not good. What needs to happen is no more globalism, the US needs to make everything is needs with American labor. no more made in commie china shit imported. If it is to be sold here then it needs to be 100% made here. As for the money printing, that gets to the companies via the fed print and spend into the stock market for the most part. fiat currency is a time b0mb that will go off. Gold/Silver is the only way to correct that.

[@Ruben_M.]

@@Dratchev241NAFTA really isn't the issue or cause for our modern globalism problems. The real problem is the same as it has always been: resources. This includes raw materials, manpower, technical knowledge, research & development, etc. Not every country has the immediate resources to fix their problems. Take European countries for example, most of them don't have access to massive oil reserves, so they need to trade from somewhere like the Middle East. Or if you want a more local example here in the USA, we don't have the manpower to fulfill our agricultural and construction needs, so we hire people from Latin America. Mind you, this is something that has always been a problem throughout history. Kingdoms have always fought for precious farmlands, territory and trade routes, manpower sources (a.k.a. slavery), and important water resources.

[@GalladeTheWarrior]

​@@Dratchev241agreed, but what you're suggesting would require an IMMENSE amount of money and effort, and at least like a decade.

[@GalladeTheWarrior]

​@@Ruben_M.The USA absolutely has the manpower to occupy these jobs without immigrants..... The point is they hire immigrants who accept getting paid pennies for their labor...

[@macethorns1168]

You're completely blowing past the fact that **most** people are not determined and driven to succeed.

[@tamadeus7189]

God bless you, Louis...keep standing for what is right!

[@freeman37]

Happy New Year Louis!

[@misterdeedeedee]

1:40 your point is not wrong, but the issue is that the people who dont know or worse dont care continue to buy these products and validate this behavior by manufacturers. If they refused to buy those products, manufacturers would stop making them that way.