I feel that. My dad sold my childhood home after my mother’s passing and moved out a few years ago. I had not lived there for 25 years or so, but three of my cats were buried in the yard because I lived in rentals during that time. The last walkthrough through the house was of course emotional, but strolling through the yard past the trees where I put the little furballs to rest really hit me.

I don’t like Mondays from the Boomtown Rats.

Mind, when I first heard it my English was not that good so I really only got the Chorus about not liking Mondays (and who does, eh?). Dismissed the “shoot the whole day down” as an idiom for something which I did not know.

Then at some point much later I realized it’s actually a school shooting.

Nucular, it’s pronounced nucular.

In a former job, I developed “software” (I clicked together some LabVIEW…) for custom designed scientific experiments, which many other researchers (mostly PhD students) would use. Wrote detailed SOPs for their usage, because everything was wonky and in constant evolution, and in some circumstances, data generated could be wrong. So I put a toggle switch with some cryptic acronym on the panel which was told to be flipped in the SOP when users reached the part where following instructions was really critical. The toggle switch did nothing but to log time and date and what user was logged in. When discussing weird data later on, first thing I did was to check whether that log existed, and if not heavily scrutinized the data with respect to errors that could be induced by not following the SOP.

… and then having carpet everywhere. Sometimes even kitchen and bathroom.

Also something related I never came to grips with: cat’s breath = the stench of a thousand decaying corpses. Licks fur constantly. Fur = the smell of springtime itself.

My (unfortunately late) void had a scratching post with the top level just at my nose height, so whenever he lolled around there I made a point of taking a deep breath of fluffy freshness.

Yeah, it seems at a certain breaking point in the difficulty curve it becomes “catch up with the AI boni”, which made it a completely different game for me. And as you said, usually by renaissance you know if this is going to be a landslide victory (which at that point becomes a chore), or if you’re screwed.

Oh, I have a similar story from my (unfortunately late) void:

Had a big chunk of pork, which I trimmed for the BBQ. All the cuttings (mostly fat) I put in a pad to render (?) the delicious lard. Somehow I forgot to put a lid on the pan while it cooled down, and the whole thing got forgotten in the mess the kitchen was after a nice Barbie and beers with friends. Next morning I woke up, thought “oh crap, the lard”. Went downstairs, first susicious thing: cat nowhere to be seen. Pan on the stove was completely clean. As in straight from the dishwasher clean. The I saw the cat lolling around on the sofa, barely awake, and almost unresponsive. Even shaking his morning treats did not prompt him to come into the kitchen (which usually was the ritual). And then it dawned on me: the little rascal slurped about a whole pound of pork lard during the night from the pan. Did not eat for two days straight, but seemed happy as a clam.

Wherever he is now, I hope he gets all the lard he wants.

To be less hypothetical and more scary: Think about all the ancient pathogens that are dormant in the permafrost. Those could become a real problem when it starts to thaw because of global warming.

Wait. The OPA from expanse? There is some resemblance, but I’d say it more looks like a gamepad/emoji hybrid.

Schnutzeplotzepfnitzekatz!

Guess the language…

Or whenever using your credit card online. The pro version would be that it turns off functions successively depending on your BAC. At some point the only unblocked function would be to call a cab to go home.

Because if I spend 50k on an ICE car, I get a really manly truck which makes me feel important and not like a wimp driving a car that makes me look poor!

I am so surprised that this stone age reasoning still works so well with cars.

“But I need the space! … once every two years…”

Same with fuel efficiency: “My big ass penis enlargement SUV gets the same mileage like my tiny sedan did 30 years ago, so it’s not worse for the environment!” - “But a car the size of your tiny sedan 30 years ago would now be twice as efficient?” - “Does not matter, I will use up the transportatin CO2 footprint that has been allotted to me, why should I give something up for the benefit of everyone , especially something important like a antiquated status symbol?”

Did they solve their quality problems in the newest iterations? I had a 2 and a 3, and boy were those pieces of crap. Not the 3 I had to replace so many modules over its life span of 5 years that it kind of defeat the purpose, as it probably was a total of electronics enough for three phones. And it had so many weird bugs which took months to fix (the mic stopping to work after using a certain app, the not working auto brightness, just to name the annoying ones).

I really, really like the idea behind the Fairphone, but I just could not see past the crappiness of the phone (especially at their price point).

We had quite the discussion at work about this very scene (I am loosely related to OSHA stuff), at some point people might think of deliberately having work “accidents” so the employer has to pay for superior replacement parts. And then have an advantage on the job market because of this. Same could go for sports.

I guess technologically, we are very close, but might need to work on the whole ethics part a bit more?

Having said that, I would not mind some advanced Kiroshis to replace my screwed up eyeballs.

Whenever someone brings up that argument (windmills are ugly), which is quite a controversial topic in the country I live in, I take them to the open pit coal mines of the area. Those are really ugly.

I do understand the argument that the intermittent shadows the rotating blades may cast on residential areas are annoying.

I picked it up on sale after watching Fury Road, which in turn I put off watching for years because I really like the first trilogy and did not want to have that memory tainted by some cash grab Hollywood sequel. Boy was I wrong about the film, and I was equally blown away by the game, to a point I felt really guilty getting it for 10 bucks or so. I really, really wish there was a multiplayer, though.

Put a smile to my face to see so many cats (and dogs) involved.

When I get up and do my morning business on the toilet, the cat comes and rolls around on the bath mat in front of my ear scratches and cuddles included. Turning on the bidet (yes, hidden flex) is the audible clue that business is concluded, he gets up, wait patiently in the door frame while I start brushing my teeth. I then walk downstairs (while brushing my teeth), cat as added tripping hazard on every step. He again waits patiently while I start the coffee maker, and only when I open the door of the cat food and treats cabinet, he starts being agitated until I put food in the bowl and put it down for him. And then there’s always this glance back, blinking before he digs in, and this very moment is my treasure for the day.

I started with a Santoku brought from a business trip to Japan, don’t think it was a special brand. It was 50 EUR (that was almost 15 years ago), but for me that’s how I got into it. Now I am lucky enough to have a friend who’s a blacksmith to get custom made knives.

I usually recommend the Haiku Chroma series as entry level, or if you are looking for a western style chef’s knife, I’d go with a Wusthoff classic. Both are a bit more than 100 EUR, so I’d always recommend to go to a shop and get a feel for them and what works best for you. Important thing is western or Japanese style handle (shaped vs. round), and a length and weight you feel comfortable with.

A really nice kitchen knife. I use it daily and it makes cooking so much more fun, which translates into eating less junk food and take out, saving a ton of money and being more healthy.