My favorite stores in the mall in the 80s and early 90s were the Electronics Boutique, Waldenbooks, Tape World or Sam Goody, and Sharper Image. None of those thing exist anymore. When I go to the mall now, it’s 90% clothes and jewelry, and I’m just not that interested in it.

My kids like the rock/skate shops like B&C, Hot Topic, Zumiez, Vans… but it’s still just basically clothes.

True.

Also, there is a psychological effect of people either feeling excluded from a conversation, or suspicious that they are being secretly insulted when they can’t understand it.

Back in the day, I used to grab any piece of paper, and then walk around the entire office with a slightly angry and urgent look on my face as if I was going to talk to someone important. Do a lap. Back to your desk. Job done.

I still like it. But it does have two problems:

1. Post spam. There is no enforcement of the posting rules, and nobody reacts if they are reported. For example, I’m looking for a Volvo, and people post a Dodge but put every car manufacturer name in the listing so they show up in every search.

2. Scam fucking overload. Every time I post anything for sale, the scam traffic is overwhelming. I listed a car and got like 12 similar scam responses. Most appeared to be chat bots with no human behind it. Some surprised me by responding to my sarcastic replies.

But I still look there. The site works for the most part, especially if you use the search modifiers. And selling stuff works too. Sometimes you get murdered, but it’s rare.

Yep. I use either and both. They are both phones that work well and have annoying issues.

SmartTube Next if you’re on a TV device.

A coworker bought a Jeep and I said “Oh wow, Jeeps are great vehicles! …unless you drive them on roads.”

I test drove one when they first came out. The salesperson was telling me about the continuously variable transmission, and how revolutionary it was.

“It’s a new technology? From an American car company? In it’s first model year? Ok, no thank you.”

In order of use: Smarttube Next (Youtube client), JellyFin, Nebula.

Medical emergency, months of painful rehab, permanent disability.

I’m down about 30 pounds since last Summer, and it’s had sticking power. I went from a few pounds over obese on my BMI to a normal BMI weight (200 lbs to 170).

I’m a data-driven guy, and I started using a phone app where you scan barcodes, or manually enter your food and weight. I got a scale off amazon for like $10. Before I even started changing my diet, I just started entering everything I was eating and drinking. It was a bit eye opening. The calorie count was too damn high. Lots of carbs, cheese, and alcohol.

I didn’t follow any specific diet or anything, but I tried to keep my calorie count around or just under 1500 calories per day. If you’re trying to meet a calorie count and not be hungry all the time, you figure some stuff out. You can eat a lot of vegetables. You can eat a decent amount of seasoned meats. Pasta and bread are things you can only have a little of. Drinking alcohol ruins the day.

Anyway, sticking to the count, I watched 1-3 pounds a week drop off and stay off. It was very satisfying. Math. Data. Measurable results. I recommend it.

I talked to a business leader yesterday who said that their outsourced overseas developers were not performing well, so they were planning to directly contract some overseas developers, because then they would be “captive”. And he proceed to refer to them as “captive developers” for the rest of the conversation.

Sir, you should not refer to people who work for you as “captive”. That has a very negative connotation, and I’m shocked you don’t hear it. Please at least notice everyone else’s reaction when you say it.

I liked that I could get loud bursts of static in real-time!!

This may be unpopular to hear… but most of the justifications for not having roommates are like the ones in this thread. People say they can’t have roommates because they have social anxiety or other people are just jerks.

To an older person it sounds like “My generation can’t have roommates because we don’t get along with other people, and they don’t get along with us.” That’s not an economic problem.

It’s actually far far more worrying than that. What happens to a generation that has no ability to coexist with other people? What happens to the world when they are in charge of it?

Surprised to not see anyone in here mention Movies with Mikey (on YouTube under FilmJoy). He does really thoughtful movie analysis with great audio and video production. He’s one of my favorite creators.

He’s also on Nebula for people who’d rather see a video edit that can employ fair use without being taken down automatically.

https://www.youtube.com/@filmjoy

I’m an American and I had a pretty decent job out of college and the idea of moving out of my parents house without roommates was impossible. In fact I don’t know a single person who did it.

Not to pick on you specifically, but I’ve never understood the modern generations’ seeming aversion to housemates.

I had housemates from after college until 7 years later when I had a wife, starting in the mid-90s. My mom had housemates in the 60s after college (my dad had the GI bill, which afforded flexibility, but had other drawbacks).

It seems weird to me that people these days seem to think that’s unacceptable. That’s how people do it when they are just getting started. Either that, or they live somewhere less desirable, far from cities, small, old, crappy. Personally I did both… housemates in a rural area in a shitty place. :)

In January, I thought I was going to be asked to leave my job. In June they gave me a huge promotion.