I thought this was an fairly insightful piece on the topic: https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/how-to-not-build-the-torment-nexus/

I think the author is it a bit unrealistically idealistic at times, but I appreciate what they have to say about the subject nonetheless. It’s easy to tell someone to turn down a big payday on principle, but in reality most laborers are just trying to pay rent and buy groceries.

If the brownouts don’t last long, you could maybe solve this issue with a moderately priced UPS to keep the AC unit from powering off during the brief moments when power goes out.

A decent set of headphones will have an effectively all-day battery, and most people probably aren’t listening to their headphones for 8+ hours a day.

I’ve had my headphones for about 7 years now and they still last for several hours on a single charge, and they support fast charging. If they’re at 0%, I can plug them in for 10 minutes and they’ll have about 2 hours worth of charge. I charge them maybe once a week with casual use.

I just discovered WarioWare, Inc in the Switch’s Game Boy Advance collection. I didn’t expect to get sucked into these little minigames so quickly. The rapid-fire back-to-back format is really engaging some hyper-focus-y part of my brain.

Kinda frustrating at times, though, lol. Some of the games are really obtuse. It took me dozens of attempts at one of the trampoline games before I realized I’m controlling the trampoline, not the guy jumping on it.

That’s what the umbilical cord is for. It’s nature’s leash!

Kudos to Germany for pulling it off. Was also happy to see them mention

Last year […] the government began rolling out LibreOffice as the default office suite to replace Microsoft Office.

I do love when this happens. I could probably think of more examples if I took the time, but the first that immediately springs to mind is Buffy the Vampire Slayer pulling a rocket launcher on a vampire.

I’m a big fan of Time and Date’s Night Sky page: https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/night/usa/knoxville

Great for learning about what stars/planets/comets/meteor showers/eclipses/etc should be visible from your location.

And if one is into stargazing, another handy resource is this Light Pollution Map: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/

If you’re into weather tracking, I like both Windy and the regular NWS weather maps for (roughly) realtime weather maps.

And the potential for finding loot.

I’ve found neat things on the side of the road by walking around my home, ranging from brass knuckles to a case with 3 Nintendo Switch cartridges inside. I tried to find the owner of the games (probably a kid who dropped it when getting off the school bus) but was unable to.

Assuming this isn’t just a shitpost:

Yes, calling someone a useless piece of shit when they are trying hard, but failing, at doing something very difficult makes you an asshole. It is the opposite of constructive feedback; it’s just an insult. In case it hadn’t dawned on you, the guy wasn’t just having to solo parent, he was having to solo parent while presumably worried sick about his hospitalized spouse.

Do I blame you for being frustrated and snapping? No, but it doesn’t mean you weren’t a huge asshole in the moment. Own your mistake and apologize if you have the introspective wherewithal and didn’t just make this post seeking validation.

We’ll have to agree to disagree. If anyone yelled at me in such a manner while I was driving, I’d never offer to drive them anywhere again. If they’re that existentially uncomfortable with the ride, they can drive themselves or walk. Dunno why they’d ask for a ride from someone who they clearly don’t think can get the job done without being yelled at in the first place.

I’d say, even if a driver is making a mistake, yelling at them while they’re driving is not the solution. I understand being nervous or frustrated while in the passenger seat, but yelling at the driver just doesn’t seem helpful, even if you’re yelling useful advice at them. If anything, you’re likely distracting them from making a decision at a critical moment.

I’m very comfortable behind the wheel, but my wife is not. I could not imagine yelling at her while she’s already in an uncomfortable position like that.

About 10 years ago, I read “Creativity, Inc” by Edwin Catmull, co-founder of Pixar. It detailed the ideas and events that lead up to the advent of feature 3D animation and filmmaking. I found it to be an inspiring story that mixed a passion for computer science with the desire for compelling storytelling. I was independently studying animation at the time, and it definitely lit a fire in me, as it was written by and for computer nerds who would like to make art.

I’ve always been more technically-oriented than artistic, so it was nice to see a book written from a similar perspective. I spent most of my young adulthood working on my technical skills so I could get a decent job, but around the time I read this book, I actually started putting time into creative endeavours in my free time as well.

Nah. I’ll continue enjoying Christmas as I damn well please. By all means continue to be a huge asshole about it, though. Happy holidays! 🎄🎅🎁

Whole lotta grinches in these comments. Of course Christmas has been exploited by big business to make money and yada yada, all that cynical bullshit.

To quote Charlie Brown, circa 1965 (which I mention to point out that this problem is nothing new):

I won’t let all this commercialism ruin my Christmas. I’ll take this little tree home and decorate it and I’ll show them it really will work in our play.

You might as well hate Halloween because it gives overly-religious people an excuse for their Satanic Panic every year. It has nothing to do with the actual holiday itself, but how bad actors have co-opted it. And I say that as an atheist who enjoys Christmas in a secular way.

Christmas rules. I love having a time every year where I can reliably take some time off work and spend it with family.

That said, I’m not skipping Halloween by any measure; I love Halloween as well. Our decorations our going up today.

Yeah, I think I’ve only bought one or two PS5 exclusives since I got mine around October 2020. Demon Souls remake and Horizon Forbidden West (though the latter is now available on Steam).

That said, I still think I’ve gotten a good amount of value out of the console by reaping the Patient Gamer™ rewards by picking up many of the major PS3/PS4 titles during good sales. I didn’t play many video games during the PS3/PS4 era, so I missed out on quite a few major releases. I’ve accumulated a pretty great digital library with some fantastic games for a relatively small amount of money (which, like my Steam library, I’ve only actually played a fraction of).

As an aside, probably my favorite PS5 exclusive has just been the free Astro Bot game. The haptics in the DualSense controller are frankly cool as hell, and I hope more games utilize them going forward.

Could be! I’ve often wondered if the problem is something I can’t really overcome with practice. I’ve watched many tutorial videos over the years, but my tongue just ends up doing nothing when I try to practice.

I can’t roll my r’s. I speak pretty decent Spanish (took 5 semesters in high school), but have never been able to figure out how to roll the r’s, despite years of trying on and off to figure it out.

It’s never a problem. On the rare occasions that I actually need to speak Spanish, nobody cares that I can’t roll my r’s.

My parents and all their friends used to use PTT with their Nextel phones. It was a super handy feature. I wonder why it fell out of style. Seemed more convenient and less tedious than a phone call for short communications.