Thanks, that song has my attention. I think I’ve been somewhere in the doom or sludge genre with Heriot and Faetooth but the definitions are fuzzy around here. Some Mastodon songs seem to have persistent guitar so I was headed there next. Colony of Birchman, probably. I’ll have to see how long this interest phase. Metal is forever, but playing might be a phase.

Generally, no, I don’t find slurs acceptable. Let me say there are some light-hearted jokes that are more like a group’s preferences than deficiencies, but it seems you’re talking about stereotypical deficiencies. Language evolves and slurs can become terms of endearment

I generally find that the people who use slurs for jokes are really just reinforcing stereotypes to the harm of the named groups, all for a laugh with their in-group. When I’ve seen the out-group name themselves with a slur, it tends to feel like that person is trying to prove themselves to the in-group as not so out of the group. Even when “equivalent” slurs are thrown at the in-group, their weight and historical context tend to be far less impactful. Even when “cracker” is thrown at white United States Americans, there’s a clear and obvious heft behind that “equivalent” term for black people, given that it’s a word with such heavy risk it’s still pronounced “n-word” instead of being said in full. The problem I have with these words, even among friends or when spoken by someone of that slur, is it continues to foster and promote negative stereotypes about ethnic groups, typically. Every group has something they’re cheap about, yet it’s “jewing down” or “gypping” you in the US+.

Personally, the only time I bring out my slurs is when my dad decides to say some oldhead racist shit. I match his harmless/“how I was raised in a different time” terminology with the equivalent words for his ancestry. Suuuuddeeenly it’s a big fuckin problem. .

Two dumb

To serious

I tend to upvote submissions that promote the community, comments that do good jobs explaining things, and comments that have productive controbution. I don’t downvote people that disagree with me. Those are reserved for people being assholes. My vote/view ratio is pretty low

What does paid email offer over all the free options?

Damn. Looks like they ended the lifetime sub in 2018. I just picked up my guitar for the first time in probably 15 years after retrieving it from my parents’ basement. I remembered U-G pro tabs but it seemed so much more pervasive than before. But kinda seemed worth it. Idk about 30/yr at this time. I quickly remembered why my interest faded: my go-to music doesn’t sound great on a single guitar.

Funny sequence, though. I was trying to find tabs for current interests. My recent stream has had more Slipknot than 2010. I’m used to lots of Drop-D tuning and don’t enjoy adjusting. Turns out, between either Duality or Before I Forget and then The Devil In I, I got to enjoy detuning to Drop C and then Drop B. Didn’t even know those existed. 5 strings 5 frets lower and 1 string down 7.

There’s always tomorrow, but you won’t regret doing it today. My 20s were a blur of not taking time for myself, grinding away at a shit job, thinking I’d have more time next week/month/year, and losing touch with friends as they went through the same shock of employment. I can’t truly say I had the resources to do more in my 20s, but somewhere in my 30s, I became notably less anxious and more willing to do things on a whim as I realized time was ticking faster and faster. Not everything needs a full plan. Not everything has to be perfect. Not everything has to be min/maxed. You don’t have to justify your entertainment to anyone.

You’re not out of time. You’re likely at a similar awkward time where you’re still finding your footing as an adult, as opposed to a student. Humans will always continue to party through catastrophe. We wouldn’t be here if our ancestors didn’t. Take a walk. See a concert. Start your cosplay. Try a ren fair. Try a punk flea market. See if anyone wants to meet up.

You have time. I’ve forgotten more than you’ve remembered and I’m still a long way away from being done with this place.

there’s literally no reason to buy a smart TV so long as TVs have multiple Hdmi inputs

Stop tempting them. I’m already down to 2 HDMIs on most of the TVs I’ve touched in the last decade. Some 3, one with 4. That’s anything from a cheap 32"Roku to a high end LG LED 70". I expect to find a 1xHDMI soon enough.

He told me he was Mr 305

Tron: Legacy (that’s 2010) This is probably more driven by limited selection in the cable days than free choice, but I do enjoy these. Not everything has to be a masterpiece to be enjoyable

Demolition Man
Probably most Star Wars between 1-6 Probably Fast and Furious 1, 2, 3.
Jurassic Park 1 and 3 (I swear 2 never aired on cable) Spider Man, Toby maguire, 1 and 2 Probably half the Pirates of the Caribbean
Batman Begins, maybe The Dark Knight
Men In Black, definitely
Shrek
Elf

Honorable mention due to irony: I accidentally watched Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind a second time, forgetting I watched it already.

Fortnite Save the World (paid game mode) made a lot of vbucks originally, but the high-payout challenges (300 vbucks/day) are only available to players who owned that mode prior to some time in 2020. Buying STW now gives a one time pack of 1500 vbucks. So the alternative, given that the vast majority of players didn’t buy the game, play for free in Bottle Royale. It takes 4 seasons to gain enough free vbucks in battle Royale to have enough to buy a season pass. It’s 1000 for the pass and typically has 300 free vbucks (100 near the bottom, 200 around level 80). So then you’re talking like 40 hours of play per season, with strong encouragement to play daily for an easy +1 level. The actual skins are typically paywalled behind the battle pass.

Then there’s the shop. Buying separate skins are anywhere from like 500 to 2000 vbucks. If it’s a full season, there’s probably an extra 500 vbucks available if you hit level 150 or so. So now like 60 hours every 2-3 months to get the free 500 to accumulate after the battle pass renewal.

That’s not sustainable. It’s not supposed to be. Skins are nowhere near “affordable” with free bucks. They don’t care if it’s your money or your game time that makes the vbucks because it’s time and/or money taken from other games. So what if it’s their limited money? What exactly did you invest in as a kid? All I put it towards was, effectively, entertainment that didn’t last longer as a skin, be it a game, a toy, or candy. Maybe even less, given that fortnite has been running for what, 9 years?

And no, I really don’t give a shit about any complaints about them just being cosmetic skins. They’re kids. I’m sure you had your brand name demands when you were 12. It’s the same shit. Vans are just shoes. Mongoose is just a bicycle. Air jordans are just shoes. JNCO is just pants. Air Forces are just shoes. Louisville slugger is just a bat. Whatever must-have item it was, it didn’t make either of us professionals at the game or sport. Yet, somehow, it still was the most important thing that week.

Can phones read this chip? What if you’re on a standard computer?

These video game ones now have me wondering if anyone else was told they could unlock extra characters in Super Smash Bros (N64) by clicking certain names in the credits.

We had various rules about how to do a “snow dance”. Something about wearing pajamas and walking around a pillow to get school canceled.

Could it be an onomatopoeia of the ringing/shimmering sounds sometimes used? Like an alternate of “ding”?

I somewhat recently found out my SO thought boofing was just chugging. The revelation and explanation changed the meaning of a decade of jokes in an instant.

Oh look, it’s another me.

First off, forget those self help social media posters. Many are full of shit trying to make money off your purchases of their classes. If they sound batshit, they’re not a good fit for you.

I’ve attempted hundreds of projects. Most don’t come through. Many are ongoing. Many are in the forgotten abyss. I used to be sad about all of that. I’d find parts to a project that got superseded by a totally different design. I still find project parts to vehicles I’ve sold. Games I’ve forgotten, games where I suddenly stopped 20% through, “worthless” games where I’ve got hundreds, maybe thousands of hours. I used to be sad about not paying proper respect to great games and instead falling for quick match or battle Royale types.

The root of the sadness is similar to yours: we have finite time. Gotta make the most of it, right? Play the best games, create the art I dream of, build the best version of my car the community has ever seen, ride the most miles on the bike, see the most mountains, try the most beers, have the most nights out.

Not so much anymore. I have finite time to experience things, but I also have a finite rate of consumption. I do not have time to do it all. When I was younger, living with my parents or living in a low maintenance apartment, the world seemed so open. It seemed so devoid of me. Moving into a house of my own was like the dolly zoom moment of my life. Partly because I came face to face with all my incomplete projects and forgotten hobbies as I properly packed them at my parents’. Partly because so many of the “must do” house projects are still not done, not even prioritized, 3 years later.

And yet, the world has not ended. I’m not a failure. I’m still enjoying things. But I have limited time for pleasure and limited money to do so. I cannot do it all, and that’s fine. I say yes to what I can. Does it really matter if I don’t make a drawing because I gave a new album a full listen-through? Does it really matter if my car isn’t the most special build because I took the bike for a dozen rides instead? I’ll do what I can when I can. I still have what I consider to be a high productivity drive, but I worked to be more satisfied with what I have done and less critical of what I haven’t done. I’m not lacking in these fun things because I’m lazy, I’m lacking because work and sleep take more time of my life than anything while chores/repairs/errands eat so much of the rest of it. It’s not my fault, and it’s not yours either - especially with you 65hr work weeks.

Actually, let me repeat that: it’s not your fault, especially with your 65 hour work weeks. Being bored at your job puts the mental restlessness into overdrive. That does not help you feel accomplished with these other interests because I’m sure you aren’t getting into them as deeply with what little time you have left in the day.

It’s OK to relax. If you’re in a comfortable situation, your life is healthy, your home is secure, and you relationships are maintained, then anything else is a bonus. There’s no wrong way to relax. Theres no wrong way to have fun. There’s no way to be perfect so sometimes, relaxing is the best way to better yourself.

PS: books sit somewhere between video games and movies, but not in a line. While I certainly struggle to read at times I’m not trapped in a plane, there’s a good chance you haven’t tried the right book. You don’t have to read the great dramas or the cleverest mysteries. My gateway was Revelation Space, largely because my visualizations and feelings were rooted in 1,000 hours of the game Elite Dangerous. The quasi-personal experiences in the game had some decent overlap with the voids of space and desolate planets, devoid of life. Not that close, but close enough when a plot less game gets paired with the excellent descriptions of an author.

“Unfortunately, AI models are neither smarter nor more sympathetic than the average 4chan user. They’re about as susceptible to astroturfing operations, too”

Yeah, because of the Albanians in Paris featured in the documentary Taken

I can’t believe this product, modeled after humans, would lie and cheat like humans

I’ve played D&D and can’t follow half the BG3 conversations either. Names of places and characters have no intrinsic meaning. I find it to be a major pain in the ass to manage my own character’s abilities, let alone ~8 in total. Yes, there’s auto/suggested builds so you don’t have to choose everything, but it’s still difficult to remember how to utilize everyone. Plus, all that freedom of choice means freedom to pigeon hole yourself into some situation - unintended consequences, missed opportunities, that sort of thing. Yes, that’s great for roleplay, depth of game, replayability, and all that, but I just don’t have the time to get into that anymore.

Still playing tho. Took me like 20 hours to get into the swing of things. That’s also about how long it took me to get comfortable with Elite Dangerous, actually. But the 1200hrs in THAT game certainly paints a different picture about enjoyment