This, I’ve had it happen twice where someone messages me out of the blue with an inane general question. I text the guy in questions old phone asking (hey its duke, are you sending messages on facebook?) And the answer both times was “I haven’t used it in like five years”

One stopped the hacker and the other didn’t give a shit.

Probably dump it all into my mortgage.

I think that would actually give me the most bang for the buck.

The nice thing is that any thrift or second hand store has TONS of children’s books, all for the amount of change you could scrounge up from a couch.

Yeah bit what they’re saying is they’re not online. It’s just slop online.

You, should really watch memento. A movie that dances with this exact topic.

I get lots of compliments on my username. Came up with it in the 90s and I feel like it aged well.

Ironically, kinda.

Think about it. If somebody else threatens you for money, you won’t have any money to give them when they threaten you.

It’s one of the reasons why you’ll often hear about “turf”. “Don’t start anything on my turf” It’s because everyone wants to be the only game on their turf so they don’t have to compete.

If you’re willing to go DIY, you can build some speakers yourself for pretty cheap. They’re very light, so you can easily mount them into a drywall ceiling and save floor space. They also don’t tend to oscillate the bass into the room above. Bass is a little light, but they’re good for the value.

For the projector, if you’re willing to put in some time and effort you can usually find them at auction for dirt cheap every couple months. (especially in an economic downturn…) Mounting is almost always the tricky part though. And the throw distance (how big the screen gets per foot of distance) is the biggest thing to worry about. Depending on the projector’s intended use uh… you can too big real fast. Peruse the manual (find the part number for the projector).

You can get a TV the same way, but projectors are almost always cheaper at auction because they’re niche and not in high demand. Just keep looking, they’ll show up sooner or later.

Keep in mind, projectors are often high latency. You won’t notice it playing movies, but if you’re playing COD or especially DDR, oh my god that will suck. Most newer models have a gaming mode to reduce it, but most models don’t focus on gaming. ALSO, get a spare bulb for the sucker before you actually need it. If you’re buying it used you’re already halfway through the bulb as is. (unless it’s a laser)

White sheet will work fine for a back drop. Official screens will increase contrast but if you have a dark room, not as necessary.

Source: I am literally typing this on a projector. Have been using a PC on a giant projector screen for 7 years now. AMA

I drink with friends, I don’t smoke but I do hang out in the smoking areas though.

I wouldn’t say it’s unusual. Can’t say there was much peer pressure to get me to start drinking. It just was an easy conversation starter. “Whatcha drinking?”

I think it’s also one of the reasons smoking starts so easily. It’s a really easy conversation starter. Gotta light?

It’s not bad that the next generations are doing it less, but it does suck that they haven’t been replaced with a new conversation starter.

Yeah it was bench seating so one guy had the reins and the other had a shotgun. Hence the name.

I once had a study partner who was raised like that. We were scheduling our first after school study session and trying to figure out time. I shoot out sunday and he goes “nah I have church, wait don’t you have church?” “nah, I’m an atheist”

dude vanished. Three days later I notice him trying to like… hide in a hoodie towards the opposite side of the class. I walk over, worried I offended him or something. He basically tells me that he can’t interact with satanists and I just go “look, if you don’t wanna interact with me, don’t. You don’t have to hide in a corner or try to avoid me. If you wanna draw the line at just existing in the same room, ok then.”

To his credit, he did try to have a study session with me after that, but I had to end it early. The dude was so on edge, it was like he was convinced I was gonna stab him at any moment.

Years later he contacted me to apologize out of the blue on facebook. Went completely off grid traveling the world. My guess trying to compensate for just how little he knew of it.

Not a movie but 18 episodes, Arcane is full of massive, massive feels.

Hits multiple times in different ways. If you want the full gamut of emotional.

The sad thing is there’s not a lot of good advice right now.

The world is VASTLY different than 50 years ago. No you can’t just talk to the boss of the building and ask for a job.

The insane numbers game that job applications have become is so opaque that any advice in it is about as useful as sacrificing a goat.

Every company wants to remove as many humans as possible from its payroll. Covid and AI have proven this beyond a shadow of a doubt, loyalty means absolutely nothing now.

Just surviving in this current environment is a brand new challenge and field.

Mostly because when you’re writing a fictional story, you need to remove everything that isn’t necessary for the plot. Is your story about racism? Then your ghost being racist makes sense. Otherwise unless it’s a gag it slows down the plot.

If we wanna get REALLY picky though…

Most ghosts probably aren’t speaking modern English either. A LOT changes in 200 years, how much slang rose and fell in that time? How much did accents change?

The concept of time was massively different too. Keep in mind before trains visiting a state could be weeks not hours. Could explain why ghosts are so patient though.

There’s also just vast differences in priorities, imagine a life where water is a constant mental calculation like your battery life on a phone. If they’re old enough that was the norm.

What you’ve described is every complaint I’ve had with centrists and neocons in the democratic party. I don’t really know where the progressive part comes in.

Bernie did amazing with men to the point where “bernie bros” were being mocked in media, so has Mamdani in NY in polls.

If anything, I would argue that the Democratic party should be more populist and progressive. Focusing on things that pull up everybody, because everyone is struggling right now.

there are actually lots of groups that attempt to rectify this exact problem.

Pathfinder is a tabletop RPG that has a large following and focuses on the ability to jump in and out of groups and games.

Find your nearest game store and see what hobbies show up there. There might be a Warhammer group, DnD, starwars miniatures, magic, or maybe just random board games.

Oh it’s a classic meme.

Basically it was this one moth that uncharacteristically posed for a photo outside a window, then it kinda morphed into a “transform any meme into one about lamps” and add the moth.

Dunno if you have moths or not where you live, but moths LOVE light. They usually smash up against your window or porch light or fly at your face in a well lit place. Terrible for anyone who hates bugs, which just adds to the humor. Adding a mostly annoying bug to your feed.

It’s the same idea where the saying “like a moth to the flame” came from. The idea being the moth flew into the candle and gets burned. You’re going straight into something bad, but you just can’t help yourself.

I’m currently sitting in a modern car dealership and ever single chair SUCKS. Modern chairs are hard, low backed, have funky angles, and if they are high backed, it’s to give this half assed sense of privacy that just isn’t there.

Man old chairs are so much better. You just sunk and could almost take a nap.

Well a good chunk of it is that older games only had ONE way they were played. ONE framerate, ONE resolution. They optimized for that.

Nowadays they plan for 60, 120, and if you have less too bad. Upgrade for better results.

Checks out