Mothra

So there's this post I saw, and the headline says Meta is now arguing uploading pirated books would be considered fair use.

Is it possible to use someone's use of an argument against them in the future? So for example say in the future, in a different case, Meta argues that someone harmed them in some way by uploading pirated books. Can the other party retort with something akin to "ah but that's not what you said about pirated books three years ago, you only complain if it's unfavorable to you"?

Also I noticed this would be the third post in a row about legal questions. I feel like I'm unintentionally contributing to a pattern/trend here, apologies

This morning I found out someone broke into my car and stole some low value junk I had in my glovebox along with a jacket and other stuff. I was home all along and didn't hear it happening. I am usually one to check twice that the car locks when I leave it, and if for whatever reason I don't then it auto locks after a while.

Now I'm a bit clueless with this stuff so I'm wondering 1) how they opened it without triggering the alarm and 2) can I do anything to prevent this from happening again? Any contraption/device I can use ?

TIA

I rarely use over 2GB of data per month. Usually most of my data traffic happens over wifi. Curious.

If you want to know why I'm asking:

My phone provider just decided to upgrade my subscription plan some ridiculous amount. I was on a cheap prepaid 18GB every 28 days plan, with data rollover. (I got nearly 900 GB of rollover data just sitting there, accumulated over the years).

Now they increased both their price and data cap about +60%. For me this is absolutely unnecessary. I was already paying for more than what I used.

Then I tried to switch providers, and realized this is the new baseline in the country, at least for monthly prepaid. Eventually I found a few providers that offer something more affordable, but it's only long expiry plans with a lot less data. Works for me though, not complaining.

I'm just surprised with the sheer amounts in most monthly plans, am I some kind of low usage freak?

Edit: so far Shuma Gorath (from Marvel's Dr Strange in 1973) is the only example. Know another? Please let us know

According to Wikipedia, the Beholder is a Dungeons and Dragons original creation and it is copyrighted. Its first appearance was in 1975.

In case you are not familiar with these, a beholder is basically a floating eye with tentacles that also have eyes, often able to shoot rays off the eyes. You have probably seen some similar creature type in a myriad other media such as videogames, tv shows and whatnot.

Now I'm really surprised something like this only surfaced in the 70s. Is there anything similar in any type of media or culture prior to the 70's? The only thing that pops to mind is the ancient biblical angels with abstract forms and many eyes, but I'm hoping someone here can show me more and better examples.

Or not. I don't know.

I'm a casual gamer so perhaps this has been made hundreds of times and I just ignore it.

So let's say you play your game, things don't go well so you go back and reload a save. Now, with your current knowledge you can get things right and that's usually how it goes with games.

Is there any game that takes this into the plot as something necessary by design (say for example, the main character is supposed to be clairvoyant or something)? You play, your character gets things wrong the first time, but now when you reload your character will obviously do everything right, almost as if they were clairvoyant/psychic/etc because that's exactly what your character is. The only way to beat the game is to explore a variety of outcomes in order to gather information until you get it right, but instead of this being immersion breaking it's actually supported by the plot itself.

Not sure if I'm making sense here or maybe I ate the wrong kind of cookies, you tell me...

I'm just a casual gamer, I absolutely loved the score in Skyrim and Oblivion but when trying to find other good ambience music for caves/ruins/dungeons I was a bit stumped. I've found people creating this kind of ambient soundtracks and that's great, but I'm still curious about the videogame ones. I tried searching for that and failed.

I'm looking for eerie, natural or mysterious types of tracks, nothing too high energy. The platform or genre of the game doesn't matter.

Have you got any good examples?

What do you call someone who is mediocre at best on a variety of fields but likes to pose as a polished and cultured person?

I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well. This person has a "I'm better than you" or "I know better and say it best" attitude, likes to pass as sensible and intellectual but when you contrast how they try to come across with what they actually do, how indifferent they are to others, and the quality of the skills they like to boast about it doesn't add up. It's all superficial, there is no substance to them, and no apparent self awareness ever of any of these shortcomings.

It's like a special brand of "full of it". Is there a word for it?

You know, sailors used to get scurvy because of C deficiency back a couple centuries ago. Vitamin C degrades really easily, but is there any way you can store it long term other than pills or tablets? I'm just wondering if it would have been possible to do this in the past with the technology that was available.

Curious if you have this option where you live and how it works.

So I'm housesitting and the people that live here left their bins about 3/4 full. The collection is fortnightly here in Sydney.

I put the bins out at the right time like every other neighbor, but the next morning all bins were empty, except mine.

I was told to make an online claim to the council, and I did, thinking it would be completely ignored. Their website says that if you put the bins out and they miss collecting, they'll come back and pick it up in two business days. I just entered my name, address and phone and to my surprise, sure enough, after the weekend they came and picked up just my bin. Nobody requested any proof of my claim, they didn't even reply or confirm they were going to do it- they just did it. They also didn't care that my name isn't listed as a resident of the address I gave.

Happy days I guess. But this got me thinking, how do they know the fault is on their side and not mine? How do they prevent people from abusing the system? Do they have dashcams they check to see? Or the number of people asking for collection is so low that they just don't care? Does anyone know?

Privacy friendly ftw. I'm not satisfied with the amount of post processing mine does to images, I have little to no control over it. It's like it adds very aggressive blur and sharpen filters for everything, and when you zoom up everything looks "blobby".

My previous phone took way better photos, and I still use it if I need something looking a bit better. But it would be nice if I could just take decent photos with what I got, since I don't always carry my old phone everywhere.

Suggestions?

I've seen people posting tweets from public figures talking about alligators, seen other people joking about alligators. It appears to me that the issue is political, not environmental, but I don't fully get the picture.

What's going on?

Originally asked in the TTRPG community and was suggested to ask at a printing community, so here I am. Hello.

I'm looking for someone or some place (Australia based if possible) that prints miniatures. I'd be supplying the file. I've never sent anything to 3d print and I must be awful at searching because I can't find a single site that has like a rough quote for minis. Of course I understand they would give me a different quote once I supply a file, but so far I have absolutely no clue on what to expect. $20? $150? Do you get a better deal if you print multiple items? Does it matter if they're different or all the same?

That, for starters. Next - what material should I be getting these prints on? (I hear that's resin?)

What resolution/parameters do I need to keep in mind for my files?

Is there any way to make sure the printer won't be reselling my work? (ie., printing my custom made models and selling them elsewhere)

Does anyone have any recommendations for Australia?

Thanks