“But it wouldn’t hit the fan so much if we stopped using Microsoft’s half-baked products!”

It always falls on deaf ears. I can’t believe how many millions my employer throws at Microsoft every year just to complain about how broken it is.

Usually organic stuff is 2-4x more expensive around here, so my eyes tend to slip right over them.

Every place I’ve worked for seems to have them figured out ahead of time based on how little they want to give in raises.

My spouse agrees, although I’m leaning more towards Kiki’s.

I see it as a CNC for paper and similar materials. I steal my spouse’s at least once per year, often for making stencils for painting projects or for making layered lightboxes.

Dril is the ultimate spiritual guide. Always the perfect mix of profound and idiotic.

I really thought that slogan was just a bit in Mad Men. I had no idea that was based on reality.

When I was a kid I would see the magazines with headlines like, “Hillary Clinton gives birth to Bat Boy.” I always wondered how they stayed in business; surely even the people buying them for a laugh were a tiny market.

Then I had a lot of jobs that put me at others’ homes and I understood very quickly. Fixing computers, painting walls, census taking, even roofing. People that seem normal out in public seem to feel safe revealing their beliefs when they’re on their own turf, especially when they have a captive audience.

In the US, at least, it’s a frightening amount of people who believe in the really out-there stuff.

Sadly they do not need warrants if they are within 100 miles of a land or sea border, which Newark is definitely in. [https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone](Border Zone) 2/3s of the US population lives in that zone, meaning we’re going to see a lot more of this and absolutely no pushback from officials.

Plus they have two attributes needed to make a great Boogeyman:

1. Very small percentage of the population. You can go your whole life without ever realizing you met one, much less get to know them and start seeing them as human.
2. Not always readily apparent if someone is trans or not. This applied to Jews in Nazi Germany as well. You can really ramp up the paranoia if people start fearing their neighbors and isolate themselves.

Exactly what I thought of.

I got one of these recently and it works well. Much smoother than whatever my Smart TV is natively running and it doesn’t crash constantly.

If it were just me I’d have set up a small HTPC with Kodi, but my family needs something that works without ever needing my intervention, and it needs to run the 100 streaming services we hemorrhage money to. These boxes are super cheap and let me run Jellyfin too.

I think both parts are doable, and I see no reason Republicans wouldn’t try. It seems likely that we are going to see Federal election laws over the next couple years to strengthen GOP control, in addition to the local and state level laws we are already dealing with. This is all going to further strengthen their hold and I think we could see 2/3 majority in both houses in 2026.

Honestly I think the 3/4 would be the easier part. Since it’s done by state instead of electorates he just needs 38 states, and he got 31 to vote for him. We’re also talking about state legislatures, not voters, which means the shenanigans above will also be effective here.

I don’t think this is going to be Trump’s first step; this is going to be the capstone on a campaign to secure power for the party forever.

I am sincerely hoping I’m wrong, but the last decade has shown me I am not nearly pessimistic enough.

I admire your optimism. It would take a constitutional amendment, which I don’t think he would have any issues getting past the GOP Congress. After that it’s less likely, but still possible with his shenanigans. I think the only reason it wouldn’t happen is he croaks first.

Some of the dialogue is not great, but overall he has some fantastic acting that is worth seeing. Not to mention the other actors who are actually likeable and do a great job.

But, yeah, it is Mel Gibson. I wouldn’t buy another copy if it puts money in his hands. If you haven’t seen it I recommend finding an alternative path to watch it.

I disagree that it’s about the graphics (in this specific case). That scene has a scare that, when looked at by itself, is not scary at all. However, the setup is so perfect that it had people screaming when they first watched it. I was definitely the target audience at the time, maybe 11 or 12 years old, but it was incredibly powerful. I still get goosebumps when I see it, even though the graphics are bad. It wasn’t a jump scare; they flat-out said what was about to happen in more ways than one. But there was something so pure and fulfilling about them actually following through with exactly what you expected that it transcended being a simple scare.

Anyway, if you watched it as a kid there’s a decent chance that scene permanently lives in your head. I believe that’s what the poster is referencing.

Yeah, my work has an anti-union section of the employee handbook. It says they are proud to provide such good benefits that a union isn’t needed (definitely not true). And how we need to talk to HR first if we ever feel like our working conditions would warrant one. I suspect you wouldn’t be allowed back to your desk if you did that.

Gotta lean hard in the other direction to flip the gaslighting onto him. If he says he paid for your college then start insisting you never went to college. If he says you owe him for keeping your car running during X-Y years then tell him you didn’t even own a car.

More seriously, though, my mom was the same way. Hers was due to being extremely manipulative instead of memory issues. Either way you aren’t going to get through. Better to start distancing yourself now until you’ve reached a level of contact that isn’t detrimental to you. If that eventually means no contact then so be it; they bring it on themselves and you owe them nothing.

Rural and suburban areas often only get one ISP in the US. Comcast specifically is infamous for using scummy practices to get (and then legally enforce) local monopolies. So the odds are not in OPs favor.

You may like the show Dark, if you haven’t already seen it.