I dunno, I have admittedly gotten into arguments on the internet, but the only people I argue with in real life are my friends. I think it’s very easy to dehumanize text on a screen, and like I said I’m guilty of it, not a perfect person (thanks hoobastank, what a fucking stupid name for a band), and interacting with people in your everyday life changes everything. I think, in general, a lot of racism and xenophobia comes from the unknown, and online interaction is basically the unknown.

I think I’ve said enough times on here that the world has gotten too connected, and that there’s a lot of benefit to be had from interacting with the people in your own community. I’d go to war for New Jersey, or the town I live in, because I have so many connections with those people that ascend our stupid colors or our stupid beliefs. You just won’t find that online.

And the problem is that I feel it’s by design. Dial the clock back more than 20 years, I remember building some pretty strong friendships with some random posters on ebaums forums. Eventually we were skyping at night, and I was like a 15-16 year old kid, and we had men, women, black white yellow, really bridged a lot of gaps, and I dunno, is it because the Internet was less sterilized, more “go out there and have fun” than it is now?

I think that Facebook started it, with it’s algorithms, but everything we see is curated, and I just can’t help believe that my anger is bespoke, and that’s fucking stupid. But there’s no way to stop it, save logging off.

So yeah. I dunno. We’re doomed, I guess.

I agree with everything you said except shoe-in, because it’s shoo-in.

But you articulated (better than I was going to) the number one issue. Power companies need insurance and their insurance will be affected if ordinance permits basically unchecked generators being plugged into the grid. And before anyone says it, you are not allowed to just plug your generator into your house. Does it happen? Yeah, people have been dumb since day one.

But there are transfer switches that allow for this operation in a safe manner, and the easiest way to deal with this is to have them installed by default in new construction, and to provide incentive for upgrading your panel to include one.

The Internet kind of eliminates our interaction with society and other people, or it sterilizes it, it something. Less personal, and so easier to not care about people, and this harder to feel connection and get to stages 4, 5, and 6. By design, of course.

I don’t follow Japanese bands, but I find smaller artists, smaller venues, is a great way to avoid TM/LN. It’s also a great way to see a better show, bigger venues just suck, the crowds suck, the logistics suck, I suck, everyone and everything sucks.

NYC is thrice as dense as Berlin, the densest city in Germany. Probably accounts for something.

Yeah, my wife works with homeless veterans. They run the gamut, from hard on your luck to absolutely insane. She had to call PD yesterday because one threatened suicide. She convinced another to speak to a therapist after she acted as a mediator for two hours between the vet and their landlord.

Some of these folks are just off the deep end. Some have very serious drug addictions. And some are fine. If people like my wife got to be part of the process for determining whether someone needed to be institutionalized, I feel like I could trust that process.

I’m trying not to hit things, first and foremost, and I think backing in provides as better opportunity for that.

You know, you are absolutely right and I definitely didn’t think about that. In fact, I pull in in the Costco parking lot, because that’s the one place I really need that trunk access. So great point, absolutely right.

My grocery trips are generally smaller and more frequent, just open the front door, toss things on front seat, and get in the other side.

Yeah, when you back into a parking spot, is there traffic moving around in it? How about when you back out, are you backing into a lane of travel? To me, that’s the logic.

When you back in, you are already occupying a lane of travel, and therefore you have some modicum of control over it. Ideally, what I would love to see are angled parking spots intended for backing in, it is the true superior parking configuration, but falls to an opposition that is afraid to back into parking spots, but has no problem backing into a lane of travel.

Back in everywhere, all the time, is a phrase I’ve said to many people. There is never a reason to not back in, and the end result is always a better parking job and an easier exit.

I picked it up driving ambulances and I’ll never go back. Being able to drive really well in reverse is an added bonus, I had to back an F430 with a box on the back up some steep, thin, windy driveways.

About a third of the illiterates in the US just don’t speak English. They may be literate just fine in their native tongue, but that rate captures English literacy.

Went to a Mediterranean restaurant for dinner with my wife. We celebrated her birthday, and so decided to check the dessert menu. We generally don’t get dessert, just never really lie thing, but this menu has a dessert called amygdalopita, which piques my interest. Why would they name it after part of the brain?

And so upon further research, we discovered that the Greek word αμύγδαλο (amýgdalo) means almond. And this really got my wheels turning, because it brought back memory of EMT classes, way back in like 2003, where they talked about the amygdala being named such due tonit being almond shaped.

So I like a dessert that not only tasted great, but also helped me make connections, maybe fire off some neurons I hadn’t in a while.

They should make an app where you have to swipe right on your driver/passenger, and then the app notifies you and you can strike up a conversation and see whether or not you are compatible for ride-sharing.

Don’t you forget Linux.

I’ve got one sitting on the doormat as we speak. Winter is over around here, and Bruce Willis is back to work at the ripe old age of 14 or 15, nobody knows.

I dunno, I think it’ll stick around, but hopefully in a form that is actually helpful and useful.

My mom texted me 30m ago. I didn’t see it til about 10m ago (that’s 20m for my calculator people). She clicked something on the library website and her shit was no fucked (my words now hers). I call her and she’s already got it worked out, because chatgpt walked her through it.

And so I followed up, said what did it tell you to do, and she basically described the steps I would’ve gone through. So I can’t be too upset about this interaction, not that I don’t like talking to my mom, but sometimes I’m not available and she needs help, so it got the job done.

And yes, could ChatGPT tell her to do wrong things that fuck her shit more? Yeah. But it didn’t and so I feel like there’s some value there. And no, I do not think my mom would’ve been able to Google a solution, which was what I would’ve done 20, 25 years ago, when I fucked up my shit with Limewire.

That bike looks pretty sweet and comfortable AF. And I watched the Top Gear episode on the Reliant Robin, and so I could imagine the front single wheel being super unstable.

Recumbent cycling absolutely appeals to me.

I’m assuming you’re older than me, but I’m on my way to 39. New shoes have really done a lot for some of the aches and pains associated with running, though if the damage is done I think it’s moot.

Agreed, and I addressed that, and I also don’t believe that’s what the OP was getting at.