Never heard of it, but I’ll check it out. Thanks!

I had a 13" black and white television in my bedroom when I was a teen. The big, color Trinitron TV that we got later was amazing. Beyond that, I don’t recall the improvement in quality making sitcoms funnier, or the stories better.

In fact, to me, the old, fuzzy NTSC video is better in some ways. It helps with the suspension of disbelief, the feeling of watching a story on the screen. Even 1080p is sometimes too good, to the point that the actors fall into the Uncanny Valley, like I’m watching a live play, but not quite. Instead of a story, I see the makeup on skin, the wardrobe choices, the blocking, and the bad CGI backgrounds.

I can certainly hear the quality differences in audio, but I feel like past a certain minimum, I’m listening to the music, not the equipment. Like, my Shokz had a noticeable lack of bass when I got them, but I’ve adapted, and don’t hear them that way any longer. The convenience of open-ear headphones far exceeds any gain in quality.

Okay, you do you, but my father’s career was as an AODA counselor, so I’ve heard a lot of stories, and “I just use it to relax” comes out of the mouths of alcoholics so often it’s a cliché. There are other ways to relax without the long-term damage to one’s health.

Four or five a day and not getting drunk? Holy shit, that’s a tolerance! If this isn’t tongue-in-cheek, I say examine the list a little more closely.

TIL that this architectural style came from Frank Lloyd Wright’s use of this neologism, which seems to have originated with Scottish writer James Duff Law in 1865. And, that people have been trying to make this change happen for over 150 years. (Seems to me a review of the tale of King Canute and the tide is in order.)

I’ll say it again, if you don’t like the demonym of “American,” feel free to refer to us by our state and territorial demonyms instead.

I think that there’s something to that, at least in the case of large universities which are divided into many, many organizational units. They also offer student jobs, which allow good opportunities for learning.

I started a job at a university department. A previous admin had a habit of re-purposing desktop machines as servers. There were at least a dozen of them. The authentication server for the whole department was on an old Dell desktop. All of the partitions were LVM volumes, and the volume group consisted of 3 physical volumes: The internal SATA drive, a bare SATA drive in an external USB cradle, and an external USB SSD.

This is why we drink.

Great, now I’ve forgotten my keys!

(I don’t need them until I get to work.)

On the original topic, shoes last a lot longer if you don’t wear the same pair day after day. The continual dampness from foot perspiration breaks down the materials much more quickly. Giving each pair of shoes a couple of days to dry out between wearings will greatly extend their lives.

This effect may not be visible to many people, but if you have a physical job, it can save you a lot of money.

Yes, exactly. “They were insurrectionists bent on overthrowing our government, and it was a tough, but necessary, decision to protect the nation, which is my duty as President.”

That claim isn’t even entirely untrue.

They won’t control the House after a few official acts.

If Biden did that the House might impeach him. I mean, the surviving members of the House probably wouldn’t, but they theoretically could.

Yes, but he gets so deep into character, he could turn American!

Sacha Baron Cohen.

The appeal of Trump’s rhetoric and populist message is entirely subconscious, and doesn’t stand up to even a few moments of critical analysis. Baron Cohen has a genius-level understanding of how to get into people’s heads, and what’s more, he can do it fluently, on-the-fly. His U.S. presidential candidate character would totally dismantle MAGA.

Also, it’s not even the same corporation or factories behind them. It’s just a brand name at this point, and the product has nothing in common with the old, good one. For example, Maytag bought Amana, and then Whirlpool bought Maytag. (It’s enlightening to read the list of Whirlpool-owned brands.)

So your decision is to feign helplessness. I can only point this out, but it is your life and your decision to make.

Do you understand? Do you own that decision as your personal choice? I ask because posts like this one indicate otherwise.

Another harsh truth that I learned from existentialist writers, especially Albert Camus, is that we are cursed with freedom. How we choose to deal with what the world gives us is entirely up to us, and refusing to choose is also a choice. If we choose not to try to be somebody worth having as a partner, well, that is a choice.

I also understand depression, and that making that effort may not be possible. Then, healthy alternative is to affirmatively make the choice not to try, and to own it. Sometimes, people call this, “owning your shit .” Paradoxically, it helps a lot by putting you back in control of your own life, instead of feeling like the universe’s chew toy.

So, listen to me or not. It’s your choice.

Harsh truth: No, it’s not enough. You have to convince somebody that their life will be better with you in it. Loyalty and respect are requisites for a good romantic relationship, not the reasons to get into one.