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.

M as in Mancy?

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.

I quit smoking and got on the nicotine lozenges. I was eating a bunch of lozenges, almost constantly. Then I started kinda smoking again, but didn’t stop the lozenges. Then I had a stroke which left me with a permanent disability, likely partially caused by wild blood pressure swings due to high levels of nicotine.

I quit by default after 3 weeks in a rehab center. The lesson here is… quit before the hospital. It’s worth it.

I got an idea.

Aggressively develop and move everything to non-fossil fuel technology. Share that technology with the rest of the world. Then, boom: Iran loses 70% of it’s GDP, and everyone wins without any shots fired.

The HR person who works with my team actually said “I actually really like firing people. Well, that didn’t sound right… but I do like making these changes.”

ha ha ha… ok. Cool.

“People, selling people, to people”

My HR team has been doing layoffs inside their own department. It’s kind of interesting to watch.

Yeah. To break down why this meme is bad information, in simple terms:

• You can’t deduct “your mortgage”. You can only deduct interest on a loan.
• You can’t take this deduction on a rental property. You have to live in the home part of the year to take this.
• Since the tax changes in 2017, most homeowners don’t deduct mortgage interest anymore, because it’s better to take the standard deduction offered to anyone.

Don’t share or believe bad information.

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.”

lol, what a bunch of bullshit. Trucks are owned by people who want to look like big tough farmers. Drive around any suburban neighborhood and you’ll see giant-ass trucks parked in driveways because they are so stupidly large, they don’t fit in the garages. They don’t do shit that I don’t do more of with a station wagon.

I’m assuming this includes you more than most, because you like to talk about it.

It seems like the “cars tracking you” problem is a very real and very serious thing that should obviously be legislated separately of electric vehicles or country of manufacture.

I got a Mazda recently, and I was reading all the ownership paperwork, and the guy asked me what I was looking for. I said “I’m looking for the language about what data Mazda is collecting about me.” And the guy laughed and said there’s nothing in the paperwork about that. They just do it. You can’t shut it off.

So many of my iPhone fan friends have said “Oh, you finally made the switch, you’re going to love it” after I recently bought my first iPhone.

It’s a phone. It did not magically transform my user experience. It’s 95% similar to what I had on a Pixel. Better low-effort privacy. Better direct hardware access for music and video. Significantly more lag, app freezups, and fragility and some baffling user experience decisions.

I would switch back again, or not, doesn’t matter.

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

welcomed as liberators

Oof. Not sure if English is your first language, comrade, but you should be aware that this direct quote, “we will be welcomed as liberators” was used as justification for the invasion of Iraq by Cheney, and has such a negative connotation that it is now only used sarcastically.

Saying it evokes the strong memory of it being a bullshit statement to justify doing something awful. And, based on what you’re saying… that assessment rings true.